Our Alma Mater

Our Alma Mater (OAM) was produced for the first time in December 1886.  It is now one of the oldest Australian literary periodicals, still in existence. 

OAM was first published when the college was still in its infancy giving us an almost complete picture of the growth and development of a great education institution. 

The first issue of OAM chronicled the co-curricular activities of the college, which included, football, rowing, cricket, rifle shooting, athletics, swimming, handball, lawn tennis and debating. It also included some early photographs of the college buildings and grounds, which provide a fascinating insight into the facilities offered to the students at that time. 

 The volume finishes with a photograph of the New College which was more a dream than a reality. The fact that this photograph was included in the first OAM and was also used on the cover of several early volumes, signifies how the students and Jesuits alike shared the dream of a grand Catholic college. Although the dream was not realised in the way that it was envisaged in the first volume in 1886, the subsequent years of the OAM document the growth and development of the college and the Riverview community. It was only natural that as the college grew, so did the OAM. 

OAM continues to hold a special place in the life of the college. Throughout its history the OAM has continued to fulfill its early aim of establishing and increasing the esprit de corps of the Riverview community. At the same time, the OAM has expanded and changed as the needs of the Riverview community grow and change over time.