Victoria Police Academy

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Coordinates: 37°53′29″S 145°10′30″E / -37.8915, 145.175 The Victoria Police Academy is the main induction training establishment for the Victoria Police, located on View Mount Road in Glen Waverley, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The grounds encompass 16 hectares (40 acres).

1 History - Corpus Christi
2 Training
3 Chapel
4 References

[edit] History - Corpus Christi

The site was built from 1954 - 59^[1] as the main campus of Corpus Christi College (seminary) of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia's Archdiocese of Melbourne, from 1959-1972. The main chapel was intended to have wings of offices and accommodation either side, however only the northern wing was built before the college was sold.

The Victoria Police bought the site on 30 October 1972, and opened the Academy in 1973^[1]. Offices occupy the former seminarians rooms; the former kitchen and dining room now serve the current Academy.

Additional buildings for instruction and student accommodation, sports facilities and a gymnasium and indoor swimming pool, were erected in the 1980s, and a mock village was added later.

[edit] Training

Newly inducted recruits spend 20 weeks at the Academy. In 2004 an inquiry uncovered systemic bullying and the head and two other staff were transferred out of the Academy^[2]

The Academy is also used for training of detectives and other training.

[edit] Chapel

Main Chapel (of Corpus Christi), now an interfaith Chapel.

Ensign of the Victoria Police.

Chapel of St Michael, the patron saint of Police.

Chapel of Remembrance for Police who died on duty.

The Corpus Christi Chapel was built as a Basilica to model for seminarians the orders of Christian worship, and has 14 side altars in the cloister for rehearsal of sacraments. The architecture is a blend of the form of a Byzantine Basilica with a Renaissance ceiling and Romanesque arches and exterior flying buttresses.

The Chapel is 48m long, 14.5m wide, and 20m high. It can seat 500.

The main altar is surmounted by a cupola bearing the words in Latin, "Christus Altare Nostrum" (Christ Our Altar). The cross on the cupola is 2.8m by 1.8m.

Within the main chapel are stained glass windows, designed by Stephen Moor of Sydney, those on the left in red tones (for the Crucifixion) with medallions representing the Old Testament, those on the right in blue tones (for Mary) with medallions representing the New Testament.

To the right of the nave is the Chapel of Remembrance, with an eternal flame and plagues for police officers who have died on duty. This chapel was dedicated during the Annual Church Service in 1988.

To the left is the Chapel of St Michael, where the families of police can erect a plaque remembering a deceased police officer.

The Chapel was rededicated as an interfaith Chapel on 20 October 1974. The lectern is adorned with the Star of David.

The Chapel is used for weddings, Baptisms, and funerals, by both police and the public.