Our Beginnings

The Sisters of St Joseph were founded at Penola, South Australia, in 1866 by Father Julian Tenison Woods and a young Melbourne woman, Mary MacKillop.

As pastor of a parish, 22,000 miles in area, Fr Julian spent a great deal of his time in the saddle in order to minister to his scattered parishioners.

It soon became evident to him that the young colony needed a different kind of religious order, one whose members would be ready “to live as religious had not lived before and to work under conditions they had not experienced before.”  Thus would it be possible to provide a Catholic education for the poor and those in remote areas.

Fr Julian met Mary MacKillop at Penola during her time as governess to her uncle’s children and invited her to assist him in realising his dream.  In responding to this invitation, Mary saw the hand of God.  For some time she had been aware of a deep desire to live a life of complete dedication to God but was uncertain as to the best way for her to do this.  Under the guidance of Fr Julian, Mary and two companions opened the first Josephite school in a stable at Penola. Visit the Mary MacKillop Penola website.

In the same year, 1866, Fr Julian received a double appointment as secretary to Bishop Shiel of Adelaide and Director of Catholic Education.  He lost no time in improving the standard of education, closing schools where teaching was inefficient and setting up local Boards to assist in financing and building schools.  He was a key figure in what Professor Patrick O’Farrell has termed the South Australian educational revolution.

Fr Julian brought Mary and her companions to Adelaide where he set up a novitiate.  In writing a Rule for the Sisters, it was his intention to provide a flexible way of life which would enable them to reach those who needed them. By 1868 the number of sisters had risen to seventy and their work also included orphanages and shelters for the destitute.

Subsequent diocesan foundations followed at:

• Whanganui, New Zealand, in 1880   
• Goulburn, New South Wales, in 1882
• Lochinvar, New South Wales, in 1883 and
• Westbury, Tasmania, in 1887.

Since 1967 these five groups, while retaining their autonomy, have been more closely knit as members of the Australian-New Zealand Federation of the Sisters of St Joseph.

Thus developed two branches of Josephites:  those who belonged to one of the small diocesan groups acknowledging the local Bishop as their superior and those who recognised Mother Mary MacKillop’s idea of central government under one Superior-General. Visit the Central Josephites website.

But wherever the Sisters of St Joseph are, the same spirit animates them: a simple way of life lived in community, an unflinching courage in the face of difficulty, a readiness to spend themselves in whatever way is most in keeping with the needs of the time.

As well as being a significant figure in the development of Catholic Education in Australia, Fr Julian demonstrated that small religious communities could exist in comparative isolation and that Sisters could be recruited from among the poor whom they served.

Fr Julian was priest, scientist, writer, educator, a man whose pastoral concern and breadth of vision together with the faith and generosity of a twenty-four year old governess, enabled the reality of the Sisters of St Joseph to be a vital force in the Church of the South Pacific region.

Father Julian and Mary MacKillop’s innovative, radical and flexible way of responding to the diverse needs of their times has always provided the inspiration and the challenge for the Sisters they founded.