Reverend Brother B. NugentPrint Page

The statue of the Virgin Mary commemorates Reverend Brother B. Nugent, a teacher and Superior at the college who died in 1914. 

We much regret to learn of the death of a veteran member of the Christian Brothers, the Rev. Brother Nugent who passed to his reward on Friday, the 14th inst., fortified by the rites of the Holy Church at Toowoomba, Queensland. The deceased Brother was well known in Melbourne, and was associated in the early labours of the Order here with the Rev. Brother Lynch, now of St Vincent de Paul's Boys' Orphanage, South Melbourne. The late Brother Nugent, was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, 67 years ago, in which city he was educated at the Christian Brothers' schools. He taught in the Dublin and the Waterford schools of the Brothers. In 1878 he came to Australia with Rev. Brother W. P. Nunan, and taught in St. Francis' schools with Rev. Brother Lynch.

He spent 41 years in the work of teaching in Australia, the field of his labours including the Parade, East Melbourne; Gregory Terrace, Brisbane; St. Kilda (Superior), Ballarat (Superior); and he spent a second term at the Parade, and was then transferred to Toowoomba. For 21 years Brother Nugent was connected with the Victoria Parade College, the mother house of the Order. For 13 years he was Superior there, and for eight, or nine years he had the management of the University classes. His list of old pupils makes a long and distinguished display.  As a disciplinarian he was unrivalled, and as a consistent and successful teacher, he can point to repeated and magnificent results in University and Public Service examinations. His death has been deeply felt in the Order, and all feel that they have lost a dear and true friend, a keen educationalist, and an enthusiastic upholder of the work of Catholic education. R.I.P.
Advocate (Melbourne), 22 August 1914.

St. Mary's Christian Brothers' College, Toowoomba, in which the silver jubilee celebrations took place on the 9th inst., is one of the most notable institutions of the Darling Downs. Twenty-five years ago the parishioners, with the aid and direction of the parish priest, Rev. Father Fouhy, now Right Rev. Monsignor Fouhy, inaugurated the movement which led to an invitation being extended to the Superior of the Christian Brothers to send a community to conduct a school for the education of the boys of the parish.

The mortal remains of only one of the Brothers who have laboured in Toowoomba rest here. Rev. Brother B. Nugent, who acted as Superior from 1912 to 1914, was buried in the Drayton Cemetery, and before the close of this year a stone and cross, a tribute from past pupils, will have been erected there. In front of the residence in West-street stands a beautiful marble statue of the Blessed Virgin, erected in 1915, by the pupils. A marble shield, set on the pedestal, bears the inscription: Sacred to the memory of Rev. Brother Nugent, by the pupils of St. Mary's, 1915. 
Excert from Catholic Press (Sydney), 20 November 1924.

Location

Details

Dedication