As a Marist school, Marist College Eastwood traces its inception to
Marcellin Champagnat, a Catholic Priest and Pastor of
La Valla in France who established the order of the
Marist Brothers in 1817. Emphasising equality and support for all students, regardless of circumstance or privilege, Champagnat is considered the forefather of the Marist institution worldwide. From establishing these Brothers, the first Marist School in Australia, St Patrick's, was established in 1872 by four Marist Brothers: Ludovic Laboureyras, Jarlath Finand, Augustinus McDonald and Peter Tennyson, at
The Rocks in Sydney. On 2 February 1937, Brother Leopold Smith and three other Marist brothers (Brothers Ervan McDonough, Loyola Sullivan and Kenneth Harris) came to Eastwood and opened St Kevin's Boys' School, with 100 students. The school was established on the site of Eastwood House, the home built by William Rutledge and purchased by Edward Terry in 1863. Terry became the first mayor of Eastwood and later a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and Eastwood House, with its extensive gardens, orchards and sporting grounds, was the location of many hunts. The house, built in 1840 and extended in 1863, forms the central administration block for the College today, having been purchased by the
Catholic Church using the
Vatican's finances in 1929. The building's awnings, roofing, window panelling and structural support was renovated in 1990, and has since been partially rendered as recently as 2019. In further developments, the school purchased the remaining front terraces it was neighboured by, being preserved and renovated to serve as classroom and administrative spaces as three separate 'cottages'. These buildings have since been
heritage listed by the
City of Ryde local government area. The school's colours, being red, yellow and black were chosen for their iconic relation to the
North Sydney Bears Rugby League team. The colours have since become an integral part of the school community, being used as a distinguishing scheme for school uniforms, musings and other media. Following its founding as 'St Kevin's Boys' School', the 1960s saw the school being named as Marist Brothers' High School, Eastwood. In this timeframe, male students from the adjoined St Kevin's Primary School would graduate by
Year 4, joining the college aged 10 in
Year 5. All teachers and administrative peoples were part of the Marist Brothers or another religious missionary group, and would receive funding for the school from the local parish church and parents. To aid expansionary numbers of students, the parish allocated funding to build a new academic complex in the early 1970s, now used as the school's main science and HSIE faculty building. However, such a system was short-lived, with the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese ordering a change in curriculum and pastoral-related development that would necessitate students graduating to the college two years later in
Year 6, now the final year of primary school in Australia. By 1985, the early adoption of students in a 'primary' based stream was abolished, with the school still accommodating its remaining enrolments from Year 5 and 6. Following the influx of lay teachers and other external personnel, notably with the appointment of the college's first lay principal in 1987, the name of the school was changed on 2 April 1993 to Marist College Eastwood. This was coupled with the school's transition away from the sole governance of the Marist Brothers, whose authority was amalgamated to what is now recognised as the Catholic Education Office of Sydney, or Sydney Catholic Schools. Today, Marist College Eastwood is known as a 'systemic catholic school', meaning that funding from the community is directed to the Sydney Catholic Schools body, who are responsible for adequately redistributing the resources gathered to meet the different financial needs across school communities. In 1972 Brother Oswin McKinney formed the Marist Singers of Eastwood, they performed in "Carmen" a musical and in 1974 were the official choir in "Joseph's Technicolor Dream Coat" which performed at the Seymour Centre, with Mark Holden. In 1977, the late Paul Bateman OAM became the Artistic Director and produced a record called "I'm a Song, Sing Me". At the same time, Penshurst Marist boys joined the Choir and later, Hamilton Marist boys. Also in 1977, the Choir performed the opening song for the movie, Break Of Day. The choir in 1978, changed its name to The Marist Singers Of NSW. Br Cyril Quinlan was the Manager, with Paul Bateman OAM as Artistic Director. And in 1978 they toured Canberra and Melbourne, singing in concert with the National Boys Choir. In April 1999, teacher and student representatives of the school were sent to Rome, joining with other teachers and students from Marist Schools around the world to celebrate the canonisation of
Marcellin Champagnat. Through the turn of the century, the school has celebrated numerous events and experienced several renovations. In 1982, the graduating class of Year 12 donated a flagpole for use in the main school yard. This gesture was repeated in 2010, with a secondary flagpole purchased by the leaving students. The poles are now used to raise the
Australian and
Aboriginal flags during each morning administration period. In 2006, the backyard area of the acquired cottages was resurfaced, irrigated and landscaped to become a grass playground. The area was later redeveloped into a synthetic grass area fenced by a cage. In 2010, the college's library underwent significant redevelopment - being reopened as the 'Father Peter Ryan Learning Centre', aided through a
government grant of $200,000 from the now defunct National School Pride Program, instilled by the
Rudd Government in 2009. In the same year,
laptops were deployed to all students in accordance with the
National Secondary School Computer Fund. Being beneficial to backpack weight, academic research and technological integration, laptops remain in use throughout the school; albeit in a
BYOD (bring your own device) scheme. In 2012, the school celebrated its 75th anniversary at
St Mary's Cathedral, with the college's first enrolled boy, Jim Maloney, in attendance. In February 2017, the college celebrated its 80th anniversary, coinciding with the 200th year of Marist-led education in Australia. In 2015, following an extensive 10-year planning process, the multi-purpose 'Montagne Centre' was built on the fringe of the college campus, facilitating greater enrolment capacity and recreational activities. In anticipation for the centre's construction, students established a
YouTube channel documenting the process of its creation, titled 'MCETV' in 2014. The channel is currently used to publicise commentary on wider school life, including sport reports, academic events and 'Malloy Cup' proceedings, and often livestreams content pertaining to school assemblies and other internally based material. In 2019, the school refurbished a variety of classrooms, installing new chairs, tables and other technology. The main renovations were made to A-Block, installing new carpet flooring and overhanging LED lights. Some classroom walls were also rendered, with a set of wooden facades placed on each room's ceiling for decorative purposes. Furthermore, most closed windows were replaced with a single sliding door. The main college offices were also renovated with the same new interior design. In 2020, the college transitioned away from its traditional Latin motto of 'Respice Finem', replacing its past ubiquity on all school material with a slogan describing 'A Daring Faith', 'A Dynamic Education' and a 'Holistic Personhood'. The Latin phrase, however, remains on the college crest. In 2021, with an additional variety of grants and other monetary support, the school erected several demountable structures at the once vacant block adjacent to Shaftsbury Road, accounting for further enrolment expansions. Other classrooms and previously defunct facilities in the cottages in C-Block were additionally renovated, and are now used as speciality classes and office spaces. With an emphasis on environmental sustainability, the college has also installed solar panels on the library, now formerly known as the Father Peter Ryan Learning Centre. This facility, having been renovated in 2010, was rendered and redesigned once again in 2021 with new interiors and solar powered electricity generation. Furthermore, an indigenous mural was placed on the face of the library building itself, representing the
Wallumettagal people associated with the Ryde, Hunters Hill and Parramatta regions. In 2022, the college celebrated 85 years of existence. B-Block was renovated through removing two administration offices on the ground level in order to add an additional classroom. The scaffolding staircase accompanying the demountable buildings were removed, with a permanent concrete stairwell and walkway installed. In 2023, the school renovated the existing Champagnat Court area, installing new outdoor seating and a painting a walkway in place of the existing handball courts. The Creative and Performing Arts rooms located in the A-block precinct was refurbished with new TV equipment and drones to support the college's ongoing MCETV initiative. In 2024, the college renovated the basketball courtyard behind E-Block with an acrylic surface. ==House system==