The school, dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians, was blessed and dedicated by Most Rev. J. P. O'Collins, Bishop of Ballarat, on Sunday, October 15th, 1961. Its establishment could be viewed as the response of the Ballarat Cathedral Parish to problems of overcrowding within the existing parish schools and the concern of parents, who sought a Catholic Primary School, within this locality.
Our Lady Help of Christians School opened with four Sisters of Mercy and 176 children. 134 of the 176 children moved to Our Lady Help of Christians from St. Columba's in Ballarat North.
These sisters travelled to and from school each day by taxi from Ballarat East. The school was originally built with six classrooms and two cloakrooms. Four of the classrooms were used to accommodate the initial enrolment. Facilities and equipment consisted of the bare minimum - enough to seat 176 children; a box of chalk and a blackboard ruler for each classroom; beadframes for the junior classes and ink wells for the seniors. There was no parish church.
The founding nuns were:
Sr. Anne Gardan, Sr. Anotoinette Russo, Sr. Paulinus Setford and Sr. Austin Connellan
In 2024 Our Lady Help of Christians secured funding for another build project. Stage One of this project will see the refurbishment and development of our Middle and Senior students’ learning spaces, and some works at the entrance to our school. We are excited to have our learning spaces finally reflecting the contemporary, student centred approach to learning and wellbeing that our school is known for. We know they will be engaging, warm and welcoming spaces that will allow our students and staff to work productively and effectively into the future. The future looks bright at OLHC.