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.
Scotland …
Mary MacKillop's parents lived in Roybridge, Inverness-shire, Scotland, prior to emigrating to Australia. Mary visited the village in the 1870s where the local Catholic church, St Margaret's, now has a shrine to her.
Mary’s father, Alexander MacKillop was born in Perthshire. He migrated to Australia and arrived in Sydney in 1838. Mary’s mother, Flora MacDonald, was born in Fort William and left Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1840. Her father and mother married in Melbourne on 14 July 1840. MacKillop was the eldest of their eight children.
Mary visited her ancestral homeland in 1873.
Some other places of significance in Scotland are ….
The Ben Nevis Bar (Hotel) in the High St in Fort William… This is the birthsite of Flora - Mary's mother.
St Mary's Church in Fort William replaced the parish church that would have been in use in Flora's time and when Mary herself visited. There is a beautiful shrine - picture of Mary and a plaque dedicated to the memory of Flora and a dedication of the young people of the parish to the care and prayers of St Mary.
The Caledonian Canal is where Mary sailed through by steamer from Fort William to Fort Augustus to visit her cousin Fr Coll and then sailed to Inverness.
The original St Mary's church just off the High St in Fort William is where Mary's mother and grandparents and uncles as well as herself in 1873 worshipped. It is now used as the main office for the Highlands and Islands Enterprise headquarters.
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Following a visit to Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney Bishop Ian Murray, from the diocese of Argyll and the Isles in Scotland, invited the Sisters of St Joseph to appoint Sisters to come to his diocese and bring the story of Mary MacKillop to Scotland and especially to the Highlands.
Hence, in 2005 two Sisters were missioned by the Congregation and took up residence in Fort William in the Lochaber region of Scotland.
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.