ALUMNI from Trinity's class of 1971 have come together and shared their stories of success during a heartwarming 50-year reunion.
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Among the students at the Mount Erin Heritage Centre on Saturday morning was teacher Brother Tony Hamilton, one of the founding staff members of Trinity Senior High School.
Brother Hamilton first came to Wagga following the inception of the Higher School Certificate in 1965.
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At the time, local Catholic schools were struggling under the new Wyndham Scheme, which completely re-organised the secondary education system in NSW.
Trinity opened its doors to year 11 and 12 students from Mount Erin High School and St Michael's Regional High School to remedy the problem in 1968.
"The new bishop eventually decided to set up this senior school with nothing, just a bit of paddock," Brother Hamilton said.
"We had our first classes in the Mount Erin hall, one class on the stage, and two classes with a little partition in between. It was primitive, and it was a typical summer of Wagga at the time."
Despite the irregular setup and later demountable classrooms, many of the students who enrolled in his science class went on to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.
The stories for those who graduated from Trinity senior school have been rewarding for Brother Hamilton to hear during Saturday's reunion.
"It'll make me cry thinking about it," he said.
One of his students, Andrew McClure achieved the second-highest mark in science during the HSC in 1971.
Dr McClure went on to study medicine and establish a successful career in psychiatry.
"Many of us that have gone through here have gone places and been successful in our careers," he said.
Chemist Michael Ryan and dental surgeon Paul Hedditch were also taught by Brother Hamilton and agreed their senior years at Trinity Senior High School were truly formative.
"So much happened in that two years in a place that we're only now becoming aware of the history of," Dr Ryan said during Saturday's reunion.
"The struggles so many people had in starting the school, we were oblivious to at the time. We just turned up to those demountable classrooms as they were and just thought that was normal."
In 2003, Trinity, Mount Erin and St Michael's joined together to become Kildare Catholic College, becoming the seventh school to open on the Mount Erin site.
Today, the Mount Erin Heritage Centre documents the history of each school, dating back to the inception of St Mary's School in 1877.
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