Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1842. Her parents Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald were Scottish immigrants.
When Mary was in Penola, South Australia she met Julian Tenison Woods and together they opened the first St Joseph's School in 1866.
Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods founded the Sisters of St Joseph to continue this work. Over the many following years, the number of Sisters grew as did their schools. Schools were opened as the needs arose: in country towns, mining towns, cities across Australia and New Zealand. The Sisters also became involved in other areas of need including setting up a refuge for women in need and orphanages for children, visiting prisons and working with the sick.
In recent years the Sisters now have foundations in Ireland, Scotland, Peru and Brazil.
Newmarket, Ireland…
The Sisters of St Joseph, an order of Sisters founded in Australia by Mary MacKillop, have a wonderful connection with Newmarket.
The Sisters set up a boarding school (also known as a ‘Juniorate’) in 1927. Young hopefuls tested their desire to become a religious sister. When the school closed in 1973, hundreds of girls, as young as 12, mostly from the rural areas had passed through the doors. Three hundred and seventy six became Josephites Sisters - more than half of the total number (707) of Sisters from an Irish background.
The first 15 Irish women who became Sisters of St Joseph travelled with Mary MacKillop in 1874. The women journeyed with Mary MacKillop on board the ‘S S St Osyth’ steamer bound for Australia.
The former Boarding School was in a manor House in Newmarket. Today that same building houses the offices of a community body called ‘IRD Duhallow’. When its CEO heard that the ‘IRD Duhallow HQ, still known locally as ‘the convent’ was connected to the ‘Celtic – Aussie’ saint, Mary MacKillop, moves were made to recognise her and the 376 young Irish women who became missionaries in Australia and New Zealand.
On November 5th, 2010, the first life sized bronze statue of Mary MacKillop outside of Australia was unveiled.
It is of Mary MacKillop comfortably seated on a park bench with a young Irish girl gazing out at the green Irish country side of county Cork outside the one time convent and current ‘IRD Duhallow’ offices.
The statue was funded by an Irish government grant of 55,000 Euros to ‘IRD Duhallow’ which has since 1989 combined the efforts and resources of the State Bodies, Local Authorities, Local Communities and individual entrepreneurs for the benefit of 30,000 people in the Newmarket area. Today, some 40 Irish Josephites have returned to Ireland to continue their ministry among their people.”
Mary MacKillop…
Mary MacKilop's famous saying was "Never see a need without doing something about it"
Well..... there was a need, a geochache in her honour, and something has been done about it!
This is one of many caches placed in significant locations of her story.
Mary died on August 8th, 1909.
She was declared Australia’s first Saint in 2012.
THANKYOU TO hilheron for the hide and maintenance of this cache.