Welome to The Convent of The Holy Cross

‘The Convent of the Holy Cross’ constructed in 1848 directly behind St. John’s Pro-Cathedral off Victoria Street, Perth, was the site of the first Sisters of Mercy Convent in Australia erected under the leadership of Mother Ursula Frayne. Construction of the two-storey stone building commenced on 3 May 1847 funded by the Sisters of Mercy and was blessed by Bishop John Brady on 3 May 1848. With great courage, facing primitive conditions and hardship, the Convent and School flourished, and the sisters would recognise this as “the fruit of trust in Divine Providence”. 

 From this Convent, also known as the ‘Mother House’ at Victoria Square, the Sisters undertook the establishment of schools throughout the state and beyond. It was referred to as the “Old House” after the new Convent was complete. Bishop Brady, along with Rev J.J. Joostens and Dom Rosendo Salvado, blessed the new Convent building and laid the foundation stone for the new schoolrooms on 3rd May 1848.  

The Sisters had to fundraise to pay for construction of the new School and it was not completed until 1853.The School was a two storey building consisting of two ground floor and two upper floor school rooms with ground and first floor halls and a small oratory on each level. The school was blessed and opened on 25th July 1853.  

In 1862 a two-storey dormitory and study rooms addition was constructed for boarders at the east end of the School building. After the opening of the new 1871 Sisters of Mercy Convent on the corner of Victoria Square and Goderich Street, the former Convent building became a home for female orphans. The original 1853 School building and dormitory was demolished in 1980/81-for new tennis courts and later in 1990’s the current ‘Ursula Frayne Centre ‘was constructed on the site of the Old School and dormitory.  

The limestone rendered first Convent building (1848) remains today and is now used as a building for Art and Design by Mercedes College.