Mary MacKillop dedicated her life to the Sisters of St Joseph, the first religious order to be founded by an Australian. Despite a vow of poverty and dependence on Divine Providence, Mary managed to make education available to the poor and the marginalised people of rural Australia.

 

Mary's History (1842 – 1909)

Mary MacKillop was born of Scottish parents, Alexander and Flora MacKillop, January 15, 1842 in Fitzroy, Victoria. A plaque in the footpath now marks the place of her birth in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

Mary was educated by her father who had spent six years in Rome studying for the priesthood before ill health had forced him to return to Scotland. Unfortunately, Alexander lacked economic awareness, so the family was often without a home of their own, depending on friends and relatives and frequently separated from one another. Mary was the eldest of eight children, and from the age of sixteen worked as a governess, clerk and teacher.

While acting as a governess to her uncle's children at Penola, Mary met Father Julian Tenison Woods who, with a parish of 56,000 square kilometres, needed help in the religious education of children in the outback. In 1866, at the age of 25, greatly inspired and encouraged by Father Woods, Mary opened the first Saint Joseph's School in a disused stable in Penola. Young women came to join Mary, and so the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph was begun. In 1867, Mary was asked by Bishop Shiel to come to Adelaide to start a school. From there, the Sisters spread, in groups to small outback settlements and large cities around Australia, New Zealand, and now in Peru and Brazil.