The cache is near St Joseph’s Primary School at Kangaroo Point
Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. When she was in Penola 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. 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.
Kangaroo Point…
St Joseph’s School Kangaroo Point was founded by Mary MacKillop in 1870. It is one of the oldest Primary Schools in the Brisbane Catholic Education System.
At first the school was housed in a cottage in Hubert St, One Mile Swamp now called Wooloongabba. It opened with an enrolment of over 70 children, and over the first year this increased to 90. Mary MacKillop accompanied Sister Teresa Maginnis and Sister Josephine Carolan on the first day and then these two sisters continued teaching for the first year.
In January 1871 the school moved to Leopold Street (now called Leopard Street) in Kangaroo Point where it was housed in the newly erected church. This was an unlined timber building with a shingle roof and had been built on land donated by James Toohey. By 1879 the enrolment at this school had reached 120. At this time Kangaroo Point was the receiving depot for migrants arriving in Brisbane by ship. The Sisters of St Joseph lived in what had been an hotel in Montague Road , South Brisbane that they rented from a Mr Toppin who ran a bakery. This was at some distance from St Joseph’s school so the sisters who taught there rented a cottage close by.
Mary MacKillop left Brisbane in March 1871 but would have visited St Joseph’s after its relocation. During the 1870s Mary MacKillop visited Brisbane on a number of occasions and probably would have visited the school. It was usual for her, when she visited a school to give each child a spoonful of boiled lollies as a treat.
After a disagreement with the Bishop Mary MacKillop and her Sisters withdrew from St Joseph's in 1879.
In 1880, the Sisters of Mercy began teaching in our Parish. At that time, the weatherboard Church served as both Church and School and the Sisters walked daily from All Hallows to Kangaroo Point. It was at the Bishops insistence that the people would prefer to have their own nuns - on the spot - rather than daily visitors. A Mr Toohy bequeathed two acres to the Sisters for a Convent as well as land for a school and church, By 1889 the new Convent was a reality. Among the early Superiors were Sr Mary Borgia later to be Reverend Mother and Mother Mary Regis.
Under the Sisters care, the school was always in good shape and various Inspectors reports speak very well of it. By 1914, there were 439 children on roll. The last Sister of Mercy to be Principal at St Joseph's was Sr Mel O'Connell and the sisters withdrew their presence from our community in 1996.
Nowdays, the thunderous roll of traffic across the Story Bridge and the immense spread of the the city southwards have made the Point the hub of a busy area.
The foundation stone of the present three story building was laid on the 5th November 1950.
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 2010.
THANKYOU TO JASONIC BOOM for the hide and maintenance of this cache.