St John the Baptist, Tamborine Mountain

St. John the Baptist is the newest church within the Parish and was opened by Bishop Oudeman on June 24^th 2005. The church on Tamborine Mountain had its beginnings with the moving of Marist Brothers College from Ashgrove to Eagle Heights. There was no church on the Mountain until the Brothers arrived in 1940-41.

Prior to the arrival of the College and its chapel, Mass had been held in Gomm’s Guest House and Pat Walsh’s café alternatively, at about six weekly intervals.

In 1940, during the war, there was a fear that the Japanese would attack Australia and the Marist College was right next door to the Ashgrove Army Camp. The Australian Army came up with the idea of a Brisbane line, giving everything north of that to the Japanese. The army was concerned about the College’s proximity to their base, and the school was told to evacuate. The College moved to Mt Tamborine, at Eagle Heights, under the guidance of Br. Ignatius O’Connor, where three or four guest houses were rented.

The guest house known as “Bungunyah” was chosen as the headquarters of the new College, this was a two-storeyed wooden building with many small rooms, quite unsuitable for a college of boys, but nothing else was available at the time. Davidson’s cottage, a mile distance and an old fruit packing shed and roughly a half mile in another direction were also rented and were used as classrooms. Mass was celebrated at Davidson’s with the chaplain Fr. Lythchens and Br. Ignatius coming down each morning from “Bungunyah”. Another guest house “Semloh”, the largest on the mountain, later became headquarters and further classroom accommodation was provided under Davidson’s. A building was then bought and the school was centred there. In May of 1941 a procession in honour of the Blessed Virgin took place with Archbishop Duhig carrying the Blessed Sacrament.

The College continued to advertise for students in the school magazine, as school numbers increased, a large dormitory of fibro-cement was erected on high stumps, with the underneath being floored and closed in to provide a classroom, laundry and a Mass Chapel. Brother Ignatius suffered a stroke in 1944 which undermined his health and left him bed-ridden for the remainder of his life. He did not return to Ashgrove with the senior students in 1945 after the military occupation of the college had ended, but remained with the Marist community at Eagle Heights until his death, on the 19th of March 1949, at age 52. 

Br. Ignatius O’Connor was buried in the Catholic Church beside the school, with Archbishop James Duhig presiding over the Requiem. His burial at Eagle Heights was attended by many friends, including the Premier of Queensland, Ned Hanlon. The school remained opened at Eagle Heights until 1964. It was sold and became St John the Baptist Preparatory School and Mass continued to be held on site until the opening of the new church.