Establishment In August 1948, the Brothers received a letter from
Archbishop O'Brien on behalf of
Norman Cardinal Gilroy, requesting staff for a new boys' school planned for Fairfield. At this time, Fairfield was an outer and rapidly expanding
suburb of Sydney with a large concentration of post war migrants from
Europe. While there was a primary
convent school at nearby Cabramatta, Smithfield and Villawood, there was no opportunities for senior primary and secondary Catholic Education for boys in Fairfield. Provincial, Brother Norbert and his Council agreed to the Cardinal's request and Brother Kevin Samuel, Brother Eugene Kelly and Brother Peter Johnson (Superior and Principal) formed the first Patrician Community at Fairfield.
Early developments In the early days, the students were mainly of established Australian background with a strong representation of children of East European parents as well as Maltese and Italians of fairly significant but there is a very large second generation Italian and Maltese group of students now, as well as many students of East European, Middle East, South American and Indo-Chinese background. 1956 was the year in which the students sat for the first public examination – the
Intermediate Certificate – for candidates of present Year 9 age. The Intermediate level was the terminating year in the school until 1961, when the first group of students sat for the Leaving Certificate. This development marked a significant event in the life of the school as the first Leaving Certificate class contained students from Patrician Brothers' Schools at Blacktown,
Granville and Liverpool. This intake of students from other Patrician Schools for their final years of secondary schooling continued until these areas gained their own senior secondary school.
Golden Jubilee In 2003, Patrician Brothers' College celebrated its 50th Golden Jubilee year. The celebrations included a Golden Jubilee Opening Mass at
St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, presided by
Cardinal George Pell and concelebrated by priests from Fairfield, Cabramatta, Smithfield and Villawood parishes, as well as priests who are old boys of the college. Other celebrations included an Old Boys' Reunion Dinner and a staff reunion, a golden jubilee ball and a concert, plus closing ceremony in December. (officially, a geographical region in South-West Sydney that comprises 16 Sydney Archdiocese parishes) with the WYD cross and icon for the day of 2 July 2007. The WYD cross and icon was hosted Patrician Brothers College, Fairfield for three hours that day for public veneration, which was attended by 5,000 people.
Patrician bicentenary celebrations The Patrician Brothers were established by Bishop Daniel Delany in 1808 in the Name of St Patrick and in 2008, the Patrician Brothers celebrate their 200th anniversary. The following Patrician linked schools joined in and celebrated the Patrician bicentenary: •
Holy Cross College Ryde •
All Saints Catholic College, Liverpool •
Patrician Brothers' College Blacktown •
Delany College The college has had two major bicentenary celebrations: • St. Patrick's Day – a mass was held at the State's Sport Centre on 17 March, with over 5000 people attending – celebrated by Bishop David Cremin and guests included the Superior General of the Patrician Order, Brother Jerome, the entire Patrician Brothers Congregation of NSW and abroad and members of parliament. • Patrician Bicentenary Concert – this was celebrated on 30 April, at Acer Arena with musical performances from all the patrician colleges. • Concluding Mass – The concluding Mass was held in Tullow Ireland (the birthplace of the Patrician Order) and was attended by various Brothers of the Patrician Order and Principals of Patrician schools from across the globe. ==Headmasters==