Cabra Dominican College

Our story

Cabra’s story starts in 1868, when Dominican Sisters invited by the Bishop of Adelaide opened a day and boarding school in Franklin Street in the city. The foundation stone of the original Cabra building at Cumberland Park was laid in March 1885, when the area was still largely farmland, and the school officially opened in February 1886 with nine sisters, 37 boarders and three day girls. It took its name from Cabra in Dublin, the sisters’ mother house in Ireland.

By the early 1950s there were more than 300 pupils. Boys were first accepted in 1978, and the boarding school closed in 1999 after more than 110 years. Today Cabra is a co-educational Catholic college in the Dominican tradition for Years 7 to 12, with about 1,165 students (2025).