Rosalie Update

Thursday, July 13, Courier Mail page 4. "Final bell tolls for embattled school"
This is the story about the decision to close. Catholic Education Council Chair Sister Mary McDonald says "it would be unfair to [the students] and the staff to continue to run the College with such a low number of children."

Old Boys' president Joe Nowak describes the decision as a 'disgrace' and the Our Rosa Committee people get a few paragraphs.

Friday, July 14, Courier Mail page 4. "School vows to fight"
"Angry parents of Marist College Rosalie boys have accused the Catholic Church of closing the school to sell the land — prime Brisbane real estate worth tens of millions of dollars."

"[The Catholic Education Council] cited a steady decline in student enrolments during the past five years for the closure.

"But incensed parents say the Catholic Church is compromising their children's education for money."

"The school site at Rosalie, in Brisbane's west, is estimated to be worth $35 million."

**both the above stories had several colour photos.**

Saturday, July 15, Courier Mail page 10. "Parents say they are losing options"
"The days of affordable Catholic secondary education near home were over for many families, parents of Marist Brothers Rosalie students said yesterday."

Small article about how parents would have to send their kids to — shock, horror — State School or pay double the fees to send 'em to a posher Catholic school, and for some of them "schools like Terrace are out of our reach".

Monday, July 17, Courier Mail page 9. "Tears run as Rosa closes"
Poor old Harry Mitchell, 11, won't get to go to Rosalie "in the footsteps" of his two older brothers.

"[Executive director of Brisbane Catholic Education, David] Hutton, a former old boy of the school himself, has denied parents' accusations the school is being sold for the land worth tens of millions of dollars."

Monday, July 17, Courier Mail letters to the editor. "Closure just doesn't add up"
There are four letters in the block on the right-hand page under the cartoon. All are negative, but it wouldn't be hard to find four negative letters on any issue if that's the angle they wanted to play. One of the letters points out that "land in the Pine Rivers area is being made available for a primary to Year 12 Catholic school at North Lakes. One wonders where the money for this will come from."

La Valla
There were also a couple of nights' worth of stories on the local news. The first night both of these had a bit about some old boy ex-international football player whose ashes are scattered at La Valla and they mentioned it would be sold as well (hence the tearful widow.) But the newspaper didn't mention it anywhere.

I took a drive out there a couple of months ago — yes, along part of the walk-a-thon route — and it's a little more developed now out in that part of Fig Tree Pocket. Most notably, the side of the road directly across from the fields has massive houses on it. It's not hard to see that development expanding very quickly. And remember, the fields go on forever: I'm not sure where the property line is but if you've ever been forced to run the cross-country (and I think we all have) you'll know it's a big big piece of land.

[END]