Mary Mackillop

Judith Rolevink

On 17 October 2010, Mary MacKillop (15 January 1842 - 8 August 1909) was canonised in Rome as Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first saint. St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, was an Australian nun who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne, but was best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with the Reverend Julian Tenison Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australasia, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor. To mark the centenary year of Mary’s death, on 22 March 2009, a bronze statue by South Australian artist Judith Rolevink, was unveiled in Mary MacKillop Plaza adjacent to St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral. The statue shows a young Mary with two young children. Mary would have been a familiar figure in the city, encouraging children to come along to her school and to Church, as well as helping those in need. The statue is a tribute to her life’s work of assisting others.