Grievance Debate

MARY MACKILLOP

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:44): I think everybody in the house knows that this weekend will be a momentous occasion for South Australia and certainly for the people of Penola with the canonisation of Mary MacKillop on Sunday, 17 October. I will take this opportunity to put on the record a very brief overview of some of the highlights of Mary MacKillop's life and try to explain why Mary MacKillop is receiving this most incredible honour, and the influence that she had on many, many people whom she came across, not just in and around Penola but here in Adelaide, in other cities around this nation, in New Zealand and other parts of the world.

Mary MacKillop's story started in the Highlands of Scotland where both of her parents grew up, and who, unknown to each other and separately, both emigrated to Melbourne. Her father, Alexander MacKillop, had previously spent some six years in Rome studying at a Roman Catholic College, I believe with the original intention of becoming a priest.

He returned to Scotland due to ill health and then spent another 17 months, I believe, studying for the priesthood, but decided to emigrate to Melbourne instead—I am not quite sure why. He then met Flora MacDonald, who had also emigrated to Melbourne with her family a few years later, and they were married. In 1842, Mary MacKillop was the first of their children and the eldest of eight, although one child only lived for 11 months.

Interestingly, although Alexander MacKillop was a very well educated man—and that is probably the most important thing that he was able to pass onto his children—he was, apparently, not a fantastic provider for his family and was not successful in his business ventures. So, the family lived in very poor conditions. Indeed, Mary MacKillop entered the workforce at the age of 14 and her wage went to support the other members of her family.

She arrived in Penola in 1860, at the age of 18, to work as a governess for her uncle and aunt, members of the Cameron family who founded Penola. While she was governess for their children she also took in other children—particularly the children of families who were working for the Camerons—and started to educate those children as well.

After a short time she moved back to Portland, where she also worked for the Cameron family. In the meantime, she had met Father Julian Tenison Woods, whom she befriended, and he encouraged her in her work and encouraged her to take on her vocation, which she later did. She returned to Penola in 1866, at the age of 24, with two of her sisters and one of her brothers and established a formal school in Penola.

One of my great-grandmothers, although she was a Protestant, was educated by Mary MacKillop in Penola during that period. I think that is one of the reasons why Mary MacKillop has touched so many people: she did not just take in children who were of the same faith as her, but she believed and understood that education was such a powerful instrument. She also believed that women should have had a much higher status in society than what they did have, and that brought her into conflict with the establishment of the church throughout her life.

Time will elude me in the things that I would like to put on the record, but she established schools throughout Australia, in all the states of Australia, and in New Zealand. She had a continuing battle with the authorities within the church, but she always stood up for the sisters of her order, the order which she established, and she particularly always stood up for the underprivileged children who came to her schools and whom she taught.

In 1902, when the right to vote was given to females in the federal sphere in Australia, she wrote to all of the sisters within her order and encouraged them to get their names onto the electoral role and encouraged them to vote in that election. She advised them to take advice from a well known male that they trusted, but who was not necessarily the local Catholic priest.