In 1949, the seeds of faith were planted for what would become Our Lady of The Assumption Catholic Church. Before Our Lady of the Assumption had a home, Cheltenham’s Catholics journeyed to neighboring parishes for Sunday Mass. These included churches in Mentone, Highett, and Black Rock. Father Gerry Quilter, then the parish priest of St Agnes in Highett, stepped up to shepherd the Cheltenham flock. Initially, Mass was held in the RSL hall on Nepean Highway, thanks to an arrangement with Father Frank O’Hanlon of St Patrick’s, Mentone.
Our Lady of The Assumption’s story truly begins with the growth of Cheltenham. The burgeoning population meant the RSL hall was bursting at the seams. Father O’Hanlon had the foresight to secure land on Centre Dandenong Road. This would become the site of Our Lady of The Assumption. The initial structure was a combined primary school and church, a common “church-school” model of the time. By April 1952, the building, constructed by Tom Bonnice’s workers, opened its doors for its first Mass, celebrated by Father Quilter. The school welcomed its first principal, Mother Mercedes Brown, a Mentone local and Brigidine nun.
The early days of Our Lady of The Assumption were marked by practicality and community spirit. The church-school’s flexible design featured large rooms separated by folding doors. This allowed the space to transform from classrooms to a hall for Sunday services. Every Friday evening, the men of the parish would perform the ritual of moving desks and setting up pews, reversing the process on Sunday afternoons. The hall wasn’t just for worship; parishioners hosted fundraisers like square dances to support the growing church-school. By 1958, Our Lady of The Assumption had blossomed into a separate parish, no longer under the wing of Mentone or other established parishes.
The church-school continued to evolve under the leadership of Father Day and then Father Bracken, who served for thirteen years. Father Bracken oversaw significant development. This included the addition of classrooms, a new brick presbytery by 1963, which replaced a condemned eighty-year-old timber cottage previously used by the priests. Expansion continued in the 1960s with the purchase of a house east of the school in 1965, and a relocated ES&A Bank structure becoming the parish hall in 1969.
Our Lady of The Assumption’s history is intertwined with the stories of its people. Two young men from the parish, Robert McCulloch and John Rate, answered the call to priesthood during this era, much to the delight of Father Bracken and the community. Robert served as a Columban missionary priest in Pakistan, while John joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Order. Both celebrated their first Masses at Our Lady of The Assumption. Sister Geraldine Lannan, the first from OLA, was professed as a Brigidine Sister in 1983.
Even with the changes over the years, the heart of Our Lady of The Assumption remains its community and its faith. It’s a place where hearts and minds flourish.