LORETO CONVENT AERIAL VIEW
c. 1965Sepia copy print. An aerial view of Loreto Convent Claremont grounds from Stirling Highway towards the river. Handwritten on the rear of the photo is [The six gravel tennis courts can be seen in this/ air-view. The grass tennis court is at far side of/ the tower. The new Church and administrative block/ is being built in front of the tower and parallel to/ the three storey school building./ The Perth-Fremantle Road can be seen running/ past western end of the grounds- the eastern/ end slopes to Swan River, where we have a private swimming pool (shark proof)/ 1938] On the bottom edge of the back is [ Air View of/ Loreto Convent Claremont Western Australia.] The Perth - Fremantle Rail line is in the top corner of the image.
Mother de Salis Field head of Loreto Convent School in central Perth saw a good opportunity for suitable new premises when the Osborne Hotel came on the market in 1900. It was sold to the Loreto nuns for 12,000 pounds for a boarding school. The school was for 'the education of young ladiess' with music and etiquette parts of the curriculum. The hotel bar became a school library (known as St Thomas'), the dining room the convent reception hall. Honeymooner's cottage on river side of Richardson Ave (opposite main buildings) became Loreto Primary School. Osborne Hotel was demolished 1962 to make way for an administrative wing. Loreto Primary school building demolished in 1971, replaced with a new open plan building named Koolyngarra, 'meeting place for happy children'. The school amalgamated with St. Louis Jesuit Boys School in 1976 to become John XXIII College. In 1986 the school moved to a new location in Brockway Rd, Mt. Claremont.
