3 - The site of the first convent in Australia
The Sisters of Charity arrived in Sydney on 31 December, 1838 to work among the women of the Parramatta Female Factory. St Mary’s Convent on this site was gifted to them by William Davis in 1840 to be their home. From here they carried out their first ministries amongst the women in the Female Factory and with the sick and poor in the area.
Image: The First Five Women Religious in Australia.
by Dr. Hazel Mary Cope 2014
Christmas Day 1840 - Through the Eyes of Two Convict Women
Annie: Well, this truly is a Christmas to remember- so different from the Old Country. Here we are in the parish school house, melting under the heat of an iron roof with the Sisters serving roast beef and plum pudding to the young ones who have just received their first communion - and instead of church bells, we have the din of those noisy cicadas filling the air. I don’t know how the nuns don’t expire wearing their veils and heavy habits.
Molly: True – wringing wet with the humidity and eaten alive with the mosquitos. But aren’t they angels! Whoever would have thought that nuns could be free to walk about the town going from one good work to another. They’re around to the Female Factory early in the morning and again in the evening, then down over the river to visit the sick and dying in the hospital or comforting the poor fellows in the asylum.
Annie: Not to mention running the school here. A good thing their convent is just across the road. Bless Mr Davis whose gift it was. St Mary’s Convent they call it- the first convent in the colony.
Molly: Did you hear that 300 women up at the factory took the temperance pledge at mass this morning? Along with the Sisters? I’m hoping it makes a difference for the poor women when they are released - Rum is a wretched scourge everywhere in the colony.
Annie: Talk about making a difference. My friend Mary who works up at the Governor’s House heard Lady Gipps telling the guests at table how the rough language of the prisoners is much improved since the Sisters have been giving instructions at the factory. What helped of course was the Sisters insisting that there were better occupations for women than breaking rocks. They are having a softening way with the women.
(text created from historical context and primary sources)
Image: St Mary’s Convent - First Convent in Australia 1840 - Artist J Hanley.
Timeline of the Sisters of Charity
in Parramatta
1838 - December 31, Sisters of Charity arrive in Sydney Harbour - the first religious women to work in our country. There were five pioneer Sisters whose main work was to be with the female convicts at the Female Factory in Parramatta.
1839 - January 18, Five Sisters go to Parramatta to small unsuitable cottage, no guarantee of possession.
1840 - April 18, Sisters move into St Mary's Convent, Parramatta, a house and garden purchased for them by William Davis who had been paying the rent of the temporary cottage.
1847 - In response to the attempts by Archbishop Polding and his Vicar to interfere in the Constitutions of the Sisters, three of the founding Sisters moved to Hobart, at the invitation of Bishop Wilson. As a result of this and the closing of the Female Factory, the remaining Sisters moved to Potts Point and established St Vincent’s Hospital. They refused to hand over the Convent to Archbishop Polding. It was held in trust for them and rented out to clergy until 1886.
Image: Female penitentiary or factory Parramatta, Augustus Earle 1793n-1838, National Library of Australia