Passing the Baton

Our Sisters were not long in Australia when, in 1938, they accepted an invitation to start a school in the parish of Bardon. Sister M Agnella writes a vivid account of their first impressions of what was to be home for a long line of the sisters over seventy years:

When we turned down the street leading to our future convent, we were surprised and delighted at the scene before us. There under the gum trees, standing in its own spacious grounds with a backdrop of wooded hills, was a beautiful colonial-style building … a little portion of the Old World transplanted into the new.

On 16 January 1938 Sisters M Jarlath, Leo, Marcartan and Jose began the teaching ministry of the sisters with the opening of St Joseph’s School. The school has undergone a series of extensions so that now a modern school suited to the demands of education today occupies the “spacious grounds” of the beginnings.

As the sisters gradually moved out of education, they remained in Bardon undertaking a variety of pastoral roles. Sister Christina Zammit, the last to minister in Bardon, was there for twenty-one years. The convent under the direction of sisters played a number of roles housing the needy, providing space for prayer groups and providing hospitality for many. In recent years part of the ground floor has been occupied by school administration until the most recent buildings created adequate provision for them.

On 30 April 2007 the sisters were invited to a formal farewell by the school. It was an historic day indeed: one for which the teachers and children had prepared with energy and creativity. It was a day for memories and to the fascination and interest of the children, Sister Maureen drew out of her shopping bag a series of objects around which she wove her memories of Bardon and the values important in our day to day lives.

Mass was celebrated by Father Branelly and followed by an exchange of gifts between the school and the sisters. The teachers provided morning tea which gave the sisters opportunity to interact with the people who had come to share memories.

Far from being a day of sadness, it was one of joy and blessings. A day on which we would surely say, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”.

Return to main Notes and News page

To Top of Page

© Missionary Franciscan Sisters, Australian Governance Circle