Principal 1945

Br Oswald Stanislaus Adams was appointed Principal in 1945.

The ninth child of a West Melbourne family, his mother spent 30 years as a cook and seamstress to the Christian Brothers in the community room in North Melbourne. His grandfather James Fox, had been part of the movement which brought the Christian Brothers back to Australia in the 1860's. Br Adams wend to Strathfield at the age of 14 and received his habit from Br Richard Xavier Butler in 1924 - both were to become Principal's of St Joseph's.

Br Adams teaching career saw him teach at Waverley, Ipswich and Brisbane. He was Principal at Maryborough in Queensland and St Laurence's in Brisbane before coming to St Joseph's.

Br Adams was a strong supporter of the College magazine "Virtus" replacing "The Josian" which was published in 1945 covering the first decade of the school's existence. Later as member of the Provincial Council he was instrumental in transferring all archival and library materials to the Treacy Centre in Parkville. Without these invaluable resources, the history of St Joseph's would be much poorer.

In addition to his responsibilities as Principal, Br Adams regularly did a full days teaching and received parental and other visitors to the school. He took a keen interest in family circumstances of his students which enabled him to help them when illnesses or other problems arose.

One of his last activities was supervising and assisting with the construction of the now Zampatti Oval, taking quite literally a hands on role removing grass and assisting with digging an removal of stones.

Br Adams returned to Brisbane in 1950 where he hoped to complete his arts degree. The St Joseph's College Gymnasium and Multi Purpose Centre is named in his honour.

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