MARY MACKILLOP
Early life
Mission
What did she do?
Her importance to us
The goal of the order was to provide education for poor children. Despite conflict with the church hierarchy in its early years, by 1900 the sisters had spread throughout the eastern colonies conducting schools and charitable institutions for women and children.
Born in Melbourne in 1842
Parents are Flora and Alexander MacKillop were Catholic immigrants from Scotland
Mary, the eldest of eight children, was raised in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.
At 16, Mary went out to work, to support her younger brothers and sisters
she took a job a in the small country town of Penola in South Australia. Here Mary met the man who would change her life forever, Father Julian Tenison Woods.
Father Woods an eccentric priest, shared Mary's dream of educating the poor. He became her mentor and spiritual guide.
Together, Mary and Father Woods opened the first free Catholic school in Penola in 1866
She founded a sister hood who later founded many more catholic schools across australia
Mary co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart
she established schools and places of refuge for the working class and poor across Australia and New Zealand
Mary MacKillop is one of the most significant historical and religious figures in Australian history.