Cardijn College is a Catholic secondary co-educational school located in the Southern Vales area 25 kilometres south of the Adelaide city centre in South Australia. Established in 1984, it is a diocesan school with a student population (in 2009) of 820. The college derives its name from Belgian priest and cardinal Joseph Cardijn, known for his work founding the Young Christian Workers organisation. Cardijn's decision to spend his life bringing Christianity back to the working class (through imprisonment for his activities, to the opposition of the movement from the church itself), was an inspiration to many, and was considered a worthy title for the college. During the early 1980s, the Southern Vales Catholic parish communities of Morphett Vale, Noarlunga Downs and Willunga sought to create a secondary college in the area. In collaboration with the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools, they employed a project co-ordinator, and founding principal Br Walter Smith, to head the construction of buildings and initial undertaking of the college. Br Walter continued in this position for the next four years, concluding in 1988 to undertake missionary work in Pakistan.