History of St Martin’s College
St Martin’s College was established in 1992 through the vision of the Right Reverend Barry Hunter (Anglican Bishop of Riverina), Glenn Maytum (the first Chaplain to the College), and the generosity of Mr George Tassell whose bequest made possible the building of the first cottage and St Mary’s Chapel. In 1992 the college had one cottage and 8 students (pictured above). The generosity of other benefactors, Richard Johnson College and the Fairfax Family Foundation enabled us in 2008 to fulfill the initial vision of 12 cottages, a community centre and a chapel.
Motto
The Motto for St Martin’s College is: “Building Hope and Faith” This expresses the College’s desire to enable the development of young people who will become leaders in their local churches and communities.
Who was St Martin?
The College was named after the Anglican Church in Moulamein where George Tassell worshipped faithfully for many years. St Martin is a saint from the fourth century and is best known as the Bishop of Tours, France. Notably he cared for the poor, fought for truth, spread the good news of Jesus Christ and lived simply. St Martin was conscripted into the army when he was fifteen. It was while he was in the army that on a bitter winter day, during a severe frost, Martin saw a near naked man at the city gate trembling from the cold begging for charity from passers by. Seeing that the passers by took no notice of the man, Martin cut his cloak into two pieces. He gave one half to the beggar and wrapped himself in the other half. While he was sleeping that night, Martin saw Jesus Christ dressed in the piece of cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say “Martin… has covered me with this garment”.