On 27th September 1959, His Lordship, Bishop H. E. Ryan, officially blessed and opened a new school and residence in Mount Isa.  It was St. Kieran’s Christian Brothers College.  St. Kieran of Ossary was chosen as the patron of the college.  At one stage of his life St. Kieran was the abbot of a monastery in Wales and after his death he was regarded by the inhabitants of the Welsh tin mining district as their special patron.  His association with mining then led to his selection as patron in Mount Isa. 

On 25th January 1960 the school opened with a roll of 132 boys, the grades ran from four to grade seven.  In 1961 a science room was built under the main building and the school kept on expanding rapidly. 

The first concert and speech night was held at St. Joseph’s Hall in 1962 and attracted a large turn-out of parents and friends. 

Brother Tracey formed the first Parents and Friends Association. H was actually a local from Mount Isa.  The first meeting of the P & F was held on 16 June 1964 with Mr. Bob Davidson as the first President. 

As the years went by enrolment figures continued to rise and in 1967 the roll exceeded 300.  The grades by this time ranged from Grade four to grade 10 and the staff comprised five Brothers and two lay teachers. 

In 1967 extensions were added to the Brother’s monastery and two new classrooms as well as an office, storeroom and a staffroom were added to the school.  In 1968 the school was fully air-conditioned with a lot of hard work and generosity.  The handball court was built in 1973. 

1973 was a Jubilee Year for MIM and St. Kieran’s joined with the other Catholic schools to put on a pageant called “Mount Isa - the Old and the New”.  Every boy in the school took part and the pageant was generally voted a spectacular success. 

Brother Rochford was the third Principal, a man of strict discipline and great fairness.  The building of the swimming pool was his greatest achievement and he was a very proud man on the night it was opened, 19^th April 1974.  The debt for the pool was completely paid off by October of the same year and this was achieved with the help of the Parents and Friends and by the efforts of the boys who each brought 10 cents a week for as long as it was needed. 

The school continued to grow and it reached the stage where classroom space began to be short, so in 1970 it was decided to let the Grade Four boys stay at St. Joseph’s and St. Kieran’s would only begin at Grade Five.  In 1974 a new classroom block, comprising four classrooms, was built with government aid and two streams began with two Grade Five classes. 

Brother Feeney came to the school from Gregory Terrace, Brisbane. He was young, enthusiastic and full of ideas.  Lots of undercroft, bitumen and cement appeared and two new classrooms and a well-equipped library were built.  Audiovisual equipment was added and the old classrooms were updated and a new staff room and study area were added. 

The Brothers of the early years are remembered as some of them spent many years in Mount Isa. Principals were Brother T. Higgins 1960-1962, Brother K. Tracey 1963-1968, Brother G. Rochford 1969-1974, Brother N. Feeney 1975-80, Brother P. O’Doherty 1981-83 and Brother J. Edwards 1984-86. 

Brothers B. Robertson, B. Warner and D. Baldwin spent many years during those times and did a tremendous job teaching double classes as well as taking an active part in sports and after school activities.  Forty-four Brothers have served in Mount Isa, involved in education at St. Kieran’s Christian Brothers College to 1984. 

Sport played a large part of the activities carried out at the school.  With a first class oval, cricket was a popular sport, as was swimming, handball, and tennis.  The school entered inter-school swimming and athletics carnivals. The primary section combined with girls from St. Joseph’s and Good Shepherd. The secondary combined with San Jose girls to form the Combined Catholic Schools team.  A very popular event was organised by the P. & F. in 1977 called the “Moondarra Marathon”, which was a 20 km walk from the school to Warrina Park out at Lake Moondarra.  This walkathon raised funds used for projects at the school. This was a very popular event for the students and carried on each year, even into the Mount Isa Catholic High School, with the girls joining in the walk. 

1985 will long be remembered as the year of rationalisation.  This project meant the re-organisation of every Parish facility in Mount Isa.  In 1976 there had been a reorganisation of the schools, but this was only temporary as each primary boy had to attend three different schools and each primary girl had to attend two.  In 1985 the primary/secondary boys’ college was converted into a secondary co-educational school for Years 8-10, including San Jose Secondary School girls, and renamed Mount Isa Catholic High School.  The Good Shepherd Church and the Brothers’ residence on the site were converted to school facilities.  The priests' residence in Simpson Street became the residence for the Brothers. 

After an expenditure of over $2 million, the official opening and blessing of the three schools took place on the same day – 17^th March 1985. This became known as the educational hat trick performed by Bishop Raymond Benjamin. 

Brother John Edwards was the first Principal of the new school with Sr. Vicki Ward (former Principal of San Jose) the deputy.   Other principals were Brother P. McGuran 1987-88, Brother Brian Cumming 1989-91 and Brother Bill Tynan 1992-99.   Brothers M. McHugh, J. Vella, S. Brown, L. Walker, P. Fagg, T. Bourke and M. Talty have served since 1985.   

The Brothers presence may have decreased over the years as there are only three in Mount Isa,  Bro. Lou Walker, Mick Talty and Jim Cameron. However their ministry and commitment has always remained a great example to us all.