Education
MacKillop was educated at private schools and by her father.
The Mary MacKillop rose
Mary MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney, which holds MacKillop's tomb
Australian $1 Mary MacKillop commemorative coin issued in 2008
MacKillop was educated at private schools and by her father.
MacKillop stayed for two years with the Camerons of Penola before accepting a job teaching the Cameron children of Portland, Victoria in 1862. Later she taught at the Portland school and after opening her own boarding school, Bay View House Seminary for Young Ladies, now Bayview College, in 1864, was joined by the rest of her family. In 1867, MacKillop became the first sister and mother superior of the newly formed order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, and moved to the new convent in Grote Street, Adelaide. In Adelaide they founded a new school at the request of the bishop, Laurence Bonaventure Sheil. Dedicated to the education of the children of the poor, it was the first religious order to be founded by an Australian. By the end of 1867, ten other nuns had joined the Josephites who had adopted a plain brown habit. The Josephite nuns became colloquially known as the Brown Joeys.
After the acquisition of the Mother House at Kensington in 1872, MacKillop made preparations to leave for Rome to have the rules of the Sisters of St Joseph officially approved. MacKillop travelled to Rome in 1873 to seek papal approval for the religious congregation and was encouraged in her work by Pope Pius IX. The authorities in Rome made changes to the way Josephites lived in poverty, declared that the Superior General and her council were the authorities in charge of the order, and assured MacKillop that the congregation and their rule of life would receive final approval after a trial period. While in Europe, MacKillop travelled widely to observe educational methods. During this period, the Josephites expanded their operations into New South Wales and New Zealand. MacKillop relocated to Sydney in 1883 on the instruction of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide.
After the death of Mother Bernard, MacKillop was once more elected unopposed as Mother Superior-General in 1899, a position she held until her own death. During the later years of her life she had many problems with her health which continued to deteriorate. She suffered from rheumatism and after a stroke in Auckland, New Zealand in 1902, became paralysed on her right side. For seven years, she had to rely on a wheelchair to move around, but her speech and mind were as good as ever and her letter writing had continued unabated after she learned to write with her left hand. Even after suffering the stroke, the Josephite nuns had enough confidence in her to re-elect her in 1905.