The foundations of our parish were laid in pre-war days when the late Father O'Grady purchased land in Robb St, for future developments. On 2nd April 1939, His Grace, Archbishop Mannix blessed and opened the Church-School, with sanctuary, sacristy and three classrooms.

Rev. Fr. A. J. Cleary was appointed first Parish Priest on 1st September 1952, when East Preston was separated from the Sacred Heart Parish and became the Holy Name Parish. During this year the Presbytery was bought and reconstructed, and four further classrooms were built.

Two years later it was necessary to build three more classrooms, following the doubling of our parish population, a result of development of the area by the State Housing Commission.

The Marist Brothers' Regional School at Clifton Grove was built in 1956 to accommodate the boys of Holy Name and three other parishes, from Grade 5 to Proficiency.

In 1958 the Holy Name Primary School was completed with the addition of another four classrooms.