 In 1888, the Christian Brothers established St Alipius' Primary School in Ballarat, and took over the running of St Patrick's College, Ballarat in 1893.By 1900, when Treacy retired after thirty years as a provincial superior, he had established 27 schools in the principal cities of Australia, and one in New Zealand.At first they were trained in the schools, but in 1897 Treacy used a recent foundation in Lewisham, New South Wales, as a training centre under a qualified master of method.