Celebrating 125 years

4-page
u v e n i r
so
lift-out

of the Sisters of St Joseph at Lochinvar

he Sisters of St Joseph at A mass will be held at

T
Lochinvar are celebrating
125 years since the
Josephites came to the Hunter
Valley.
The sisters will be celebrat-
ing this memorable occasion
with several activities starting
on Saturday.
Sacred Heart Cathedral in
Hamilton on Saturday and visit-
ing Sisters, family, friends and
supporters of the diocese are
invited to attend.
On Sunday there will be a
reunion at St Joseph's in the
chapel at the Lochinvar con-
vent starting at 11am.
The anniversary itself will be
celebrated on Wednesday,
September 3, with both St
Patrick's Primary School and
All Saints College, St Joseph's
Campus combining to do
prayer, storytelling and biblical
re-enactments.

THE CONVENT: The original St Josephs convent at Lochinvar in 1893.

THE EARLY DAYS: Mary MacKillop THE BEGINNING: Father Julian

and Father Julian Tenison Woods opened Tenison Woods and Mary MacKillop
the first St Josephs school in South opened the first St Josephs school in
Australia in 1866. South Australia in 1866.
www.maitland.yourguide.com.au THE MAITLAND MERCURY Thursday, August 28, 2008 11

125 years of the Sisters of St Joseph at Lochinvar
Sisters a big part
of our community
Message from Most Rev
MICHAEL MALONE,
Bishop of the Diocese of
Maitland-Newcastle
hen four Sisters of St
W
Joseph arrived in
Lochinvar on September
2, 1883, they were welcomed by
parishioners in these terms:
We hope, dear Sisters, that we
may ever profit by the lessons of
charity and self-sacrifice your
lives will teach us; and we trust,
too, that your holy prayers, ever
rising from our midst to the
throne of God, will fall back on
us and our children in showers
PROUD HISTORY: Some of the Sisters
of St Joseph.
This feature is proudly sponsored
by ex-student Lisa McGuigan of
Congratulating the Sisters of
St Joseph, Lochinvar
celebrating 125 years
N. J. RYAN Pty Ltd
Proud to be doing electrical work for the
Sisters of St Josephs Lochinvar for over 50 years
COMMERCIAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTING SERVICES
Servicing Newcastle and the Hunter since 1951
63 Glenwood Drive, THORNTON NSW 2322 4966 8700
12 THE MAITLAND MERCURY Thursday, August 28, 2008
of heavenly
blessings. (Fr
Harold Campbell,
Centenary: The
Diocese of
Maitland 1866-
1966 p 155).
Todays lan-
guage is different, but there is
no doubt in my mind that the
diocesan and wider communi-
ties have profited from witness-
ing the lives of the many Sisters
of St Joseph who have followed
those first four: Sisters
Ambrose Joseph Dirkin,
Aloysius Cahill, Baptist Dugan
and Imelda Flood.
The showers of heavenly
blessings have come in abun-
dance. They include the min-
istries of primary, secondary
and tertiary education, adult
faith formation, outreach to
migrants and refugees, parish
pastoral care, spiritual direc-
tion, pastoral planning at a
diocesan level, care of those
affected by HIV-AIDS, and count-
less others. The recent launch
of Catalyst, an initiative to
bring university education to the
homeless, is an indication that
the Sisters are always alert to
new ways of serving.
Central to the Josephite
charism has been support of,
SISTERS OF ST JOSEPH TIMELINE
and solidarity with, the poor in
the spirit of founders Fr Julian
Tenison Woods and Mother
Mary MacKillop.
I am delighted to offer my
deep gratitude and warmest
wishes to the Sisters of St
Joseph, past and present, for all
that they have done, and been,
in the Diocese of Maitland-
Newcastle. May you be show-
ered with heavenly blessings by
our God who rejoices in these
125 years of generous service.
Proud to be associated with the
Sisters of Saint Joseph
Lochinvar
Congratulations on the 125 years anniversary!
467 High Street Maitland NSW 2320
Phone:4933 6344
email: mail@enrights-solicitors.com.au
www.enrights-solicitors.com.au
4-page souvenir
lift-out
Father Julian Tenison Woods (1832-1889)
was a man of remarkable and creative mind.
He was a gifted preacher, missioner, scientist,
educator, writer, public speaker, artist, musician
and founder of religious orders.
Ordained in 1857, Father Woods was
appointed as the Parish Priest in Penola, South
Australia.
He encouraged religious sisters to go into
remote parts of the colony and give proper reli-
gious instruction to poor, scattered children.
Father Woods met Mary MacKillop, who
helped establish the Sisters of St Joseph, also
known as the Josephites, order while she was
working as a governess to her uncles children
in Penola.
In 1866 Blessed Mary MacKillop and Father
Julian Tenison opened the first St Josephs
school in Penola, South Australia.
Mary was professed as a Sister of St Joseph
on August 15, 1867.
Mary moved to Adelaide in 1867 and more
ladies followed.
In 1872, at the request of Bishop Matthew
Quinn, Mary made a foundation in Perthville
near Bathurst, NSW.
In 1876, as a result of a conflict between
Mary and Bishop Matthew Quinn, all but two
sisters and nine postulants returned to
Adelaide with Mary.
Those who remained travelled to Perthville
near Bathurst, NSW, in 1876 with Mary and
formed the first Dioceasan Josephite
Congregation under the leadership of Sister
Hyacinth Quinlan. Sister Hyacinth, who had
been trained in Adelaide by Mother Mary and
Father Julian, trained new members in the
same spirit.
Lochinvar congregation started in 1883 by
Sister Ambrose Dirkin and the three other
sisters.
The first school was a converted inn.
1884 was when the first cottage was pur-
chased on the present site.
1893 was when the first brick convent was
built.
1900 Lochinvar Parish hall was built.
1911 New brick school was built.
1922 The chapel and cloisters were added
to the St Josephs, Lochinvar convent.
1933 was the year of Lochinvars Golden
Jubilee.
1940s St Cecelias music rooms and dor-
mitories were replaced.
1955 The old wooden classrooms were
replaced by a brick wing of the building.
1966 Further extensions to accommodate
the increase of day students.
1963 An indoor pool was built.
1967 A new building was created to accom-
modate 20 novice sisters.
1969 The rest home was built.
School staff comprised of all Sisters until the
late 1960s.
1981 The nursing home wing was added.
1992 The boarding school was closed and
the Tenison Woods Education Centre was
established.
2003 Nursing home closed and refur-
bished.
2008 125th year anniversary of the foun-
dation of the Josephite order and the
establishment of the two schools at the
Lochinvar site.
www.maitland.yourguide.com.au

125 years of the Sisters of St Joseph at Lochinvar
Sr Ellen
devoted
to helping
others
Sister Ellen Royan spent two
years training to become a Sister
of St Joseph. She started as a pos-
tulant, then a novice and then pro-
fessed her vows in August 1958.
The Sisters of St Joseph at
Lochinvar have played an integral
role helping the underprivileged in
espite witnessing Third World
D
atrocities in Zimbabwe, teach-
ing in Australian migrant
camps and coming to grips with
societys affluence, Sister Ellen
Royan said she wouldnt have had
her life any other way.
Fifty-one years after professing
her vows to the Josephite congrega-
tion, Sister Ellen is still sure of her
path in life.
Becoming a nun and teaching all
over the world, as well as locally, has
been the most satisfying and fulfil-
ing decision for me, Sister Ellen
said.
When I was little I used to pre-
tend to be a teacher and teach the
younger children in the family.
For me, becoming a teacher
after school was a natural progres-
sion because I wanted to help those
who needed me, Sister Ellen
recalls.
Her first job after finishing at St
Josephs, Lochinvar boarding school
at the age of 17 was as a teacher at
the Greta migrant camps where she
taught Polish and Hungarian fami-
lies to read and write in English.
This was a tough time for me
because we didnt have any formal
training but I loved every minute of
it. There was certainly camaraderie
CLASS PHOTO: St Josephs College students in 1984.
Your locally owned family business
Adrian Quain and staff are
privileged to be associated
with the Sisters of St Josephs
in Lochinvar for many years.
www.maitland.yourguide.com.au
Australian society.
Now, 125 years since Mary
MacKillop and Father Julian
Tenison Woods started the
Josephite congregation in
Australia, one sister reflects on
her life, which she committed to
God when she was 17 years old.
between us.
After the 20 or so girls and I
became postulants (the first stage
of becoming a nun) we were taught
about the seriousness linked to
committing our lives to God.
For many of us we were finally liv-
ing our dream of doing something
for the world, helping children, this
was our ultimate ideal, Sister Ellen
said.
Sister Ellen remembers the time
when five sisters from the convent
used to travel daily to the migrant
camps at Greta on a little bus to
tutor the children in reading and writ-
ing, arithmetic, as well as telling sto-
ries.
We tried to give the children who
had just arrived from war-torn coun-
tries the basic skills to get by in
Australia, Sister Ellen said.
Many of them didnt stay around
in the camps for long, when they
found housing they would leave.
From what I hear, though, many
of the migrants adjusted well to soci-
ety here and made really good lives
for themselves, Sister Ellen said.
In the mid-1950s it was common
for Catholic families to have at least
one family member in the religious
order.
When looking back at her long
CLASS
PHOTO:
St Josephs
College stu-
dents in
1989.
service to God, volunteering for a
teaching role in Zimbabwe is her
most rewarding memory.
In 1963 I was told I needed to
study a degree to teach high school
children, so for nine years I studied
through the University of New
England in Armidale.
University was a great, terribly
liberating experience and I received
my degree in 1972.
After 51 years as a Josephite,
although it has been a journey of
growth, I sometimes think that we
are constantly re-committing our-
selves to God, Sr Ellen said.
We always press on to the
future. The new part of the journey is
self-authenticating in a lot of ways.
I think to know where you are in
life there needs to be a lot of maturi-
ty.
Im glad I took the plunge in
spite of my doubts.
It was something I was always
sure of, obviously there were people
I havent always meshed with all the
time but we just learnt to get along.
The choice that I made to follow
my calling and become a sister
my decision it fits like a glove,
Sister Ellen said.
In the early 1980s political move-
ments and social injustice in
Congratulations St Josephs on your
Zimbabwe prompted Sister Ellen to
re-assess her life in comfortable,
affluent Australia.
For about a year I prayed to God
about whether or not to go to
Zimbabwe to teach children in the
rural townships.
Then in 1984 The Catholic
Ancillary Teachers of Rural
Zimbabwe offered me a program to
go to Zimbabwe on a two-year con-
tract to teach in the primary
schools.
At this point Sister Ellen
expressed her sheer excitement to
go and work in a Third World country
but nothing had prepared her for
what it was like once she arrived.
I was doing what the Josephites
had set out to do all along; helping
those in poor, rural towns in need.
But, compared to the children at
Lochinvar, the children in Zimbabwe
were incredibly poor, most were
starving and very ill.
During my time there I witnessed
tragic, abominable, terrible things
which happened to the children,
their circumstances and their quality
of life.
The teachers lacked training and
drunkenness and prostitution were
massive issues in the communi-
ties, Sister Ellen said.
ORCHESTRA:
St Josephs
College String
Orchestra in
1983.
125 year anniversary
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4-page souvenir
lift-out
The children were fortunate to
even be at the school but most
walked up to 15 kilometres to get to
the school by 7.30am and all they
had was a small bottle of water.
During my time there the dis-
eases the children had was the
most heartbreaking thing.
The Bilharzia parasite was preva-
lent in most children in the rural
communities.
I ended up trying to help the kids
at the school during one of the
biggest outbreaks which involved
collecting specimens from the chil-
dren, took them to the hospital and
brought back the tablets for the kids
to take to kill the parasites, Sister
Ellen said.
The other big things we did dur-
ing our time in Zimbabwe was put in
pit toilets into the school and also
establish water pumps.
To most people this kind of self-
sacrifice and sheer determination to
improve the living standards in
these rural villages is nothing short
of incredible, but Sister Ellen saw
the situation differently.
By the end of the two years I felt
like a failure. The problems we faced
on a daily basis with hygiene, health,
no water supplies and limited food
supplies, they were all very complex
problems.
The most devastating was the
corruption within the education sys-
tem.
Today, Sister Ellen spends most
of her time tending to the gardens at
St Josephs convent at Lochinvar.
She also teaches adult learning
classes in the Tenison Woods
Education Centre at the Lochinvar
school site.
She enjoys reading in the convent
library and spends her spare time
reflecting on her colourful life both
locally and overseas. To most, she
is the ideal vision of what Mary
MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison
Woods had in mind when they start-
1871100
AMCAL MAX RUTHERFORD
Rutherford Shopping Centre, RUTHERFORD
Phone: 4932 5155
 4-page souvenir
125 years of the Sisters of St Joseph at Lochinvar lift-out

Sisters have a
proud history
oday there are 107

T
Sisters of St Joseph,
80 of whom are very
active in all aspects of the
congregation.
As the sisters celebrate
125 years at Lochinvar,
congregational leader
Sister Patricia Egan said:
The main thing we know
about the future of the regarding the decline in The growth of the
congregation is that there the number of sisters church can be strongly
will always be people who entering convents around linked to the needs of the
want to commit their lives Australia. time, Sister Maureen
to the church. They listed sociological said.
Sister Patricia and and theological factors as The church is still very
Sister Maureen Salmon, the reasons for the much a part of millions of
who is part of the leader- decline in the religious lives in several Third
ship team, said they were commitment across the World countries, Sister
aware of the changes western world. Maureen said.

St Patricks Lily enjoys

shares proud her first
year at big
history with school
St Josephs t Patricks Primary

S
t Patricks primary school at
Lochinvar was built in February
1984 and opened with more
S School, Lochinvars
youngest student,
Lily Henderson from
Windella, is excited
than 200 pupils. about her first year at big
The school was officially opened school.
by Bishop Leo Clarke on March 17 The Kindergarten
(St Patricks Day) 1984. youngster is five years
The school kept its name to distin- old and was born on
guish it from the secondary school March 24, 2003.
of St Josephs (All Saints College, St She said the best
Josephs Campus, which caters for thing she liked about
students from Years7 to 10) school was meeting new
The log cabins construction and friends, especially her
extensive grounds greatly enhanced friend Pheobe, whom
the teaching learning environment. she spends time with at
With great support from the par- lunch.
ent body resources have been great- Lilys favourite subject
ly enhanced over the years. is art, particularly colour-
In 1990 a covered assembly area ing and painting with her
was built adjoining the administra- friends and teacher Mrs
tion block that enabled the school to Quirk.
meet together in all weather. At lunchtime she
The school site has seen one enjoys playing on the jun-
church and five schools built on it gle gym equipment and
since 1865 and the teacher in at home she enjoys the
charge of the first school was Mr company of her dog,
Ashton. Holly.
From 1883 to 1995 St Patricks
primary school was led by the YOUNGEST
Sisters. STUDENT: Lily
In 1996, Mr Christopher Quinn Henderson at St
became the first lay principal since Patricks Primary
the Sisters arrival. School, Lochinvar.

Leaders proud to be part of St Josephs tradition

By All Saints College, St Josephs year tenners, to getting lost in the corri- gone above and beyond to make St
Campus student leaders Oliver, Erin, dors, asking in our squeaky, high- Josephs a happy and safe place where
Aaron and Maddie pitched voices Excuse me, but our fellow pupils can strive to achieve
alking out of primary school in

SCHOOL LEADERS: Lindsay Smith, Aaron Mahony, Erin
Connell and Oliver Levido.
W
2004 and through the high
school gates only six weeks
later a group of nervous, young pupils
began their daunting high school jour-
ney at St Josephs, Lochinvar.
Starting a day before the rest of the
school, the new arrivals were already
overwhelmed with room numbers;
information, classes and learning the
teachers names, making high school
seem only just endurable.
From being confronted by the big
wheres the library? their best results.
Looking back on our Year 7 experi- Since starting our high school jour-
ence we have laughed and joked about ney back in 2005 Saint Josephs has
all the memories weve shared that will played a big part in our lives. From
stay with us forever. beginning high school in Year 7 to
We have grown so much that now we almost completing Year 10 we are
are completing our studies for the proud to be the schools leaders in the
school certificate in what is a hectic historic 125 year anniversary.
year for the students in Year 10. We now believe our job here at St
As school captains and vice-cap- Josephs, Lochinvar is completed. We
tains of 2008 we believe we have will now move on to St Marys in
raised the bar and have fulfilled the Maitland in what will be another roller
school expectations. We have also coaster journey in our lives.

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22 THE MAITLAND MERCURY Thursday, August 28, 2008 www.maitland.yourguide.com.au