when did the presentation sisters arrived in australia

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Presentation Sisters celebrate centenary

NEARLY 1500 people gathered at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens last Sunday to join the Presentation Sisters in celebrating their centenary in Queensland.

On February 13, 1900, five sisters travelled from Wagga Wagga by boat and train to Longreach to begin a century of service in Queensland.

Sisters came from Wagga Wagga, including their congregational leader Sr Anne Lane, and from Lismore and Sydney to join the celebration.

Within Queensland, sisters travelled from Longreach, Toowoomba and Murgon, where they organised a bus to bring young and old parishioners with them.

Some sisters attending were in their 80s, including Sr Gabriel Hogan, a former Queensland and Australian congregational leader.

Archbishop John Bathersby, who celebrated the centenary Mass said: “Today we gather to thank God for 100 marvellous years of the presence of the Presentation Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queensland.

“We are all richer because of their presence and thank and congratulate them and ask God’s abundant blessings on them,” the archbishop said.

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Type of place

School, Residence (group), House, Institutional / group housing

Victorian 1860-1890, World War II 1939-1945

Sisters of Presentation Convent

This is an image of the local heritage place known as Sisters of Presentation Convent

Sisters of Presentation Convent Zoom current image

This house was constructed circa 1885 for bank manager James Gibson as a marine residence. It became his permanent residence after his retirement in the 1890s, called ‘Culterfel’. The property was sold to John Henry Hart in 1911, a grazier who also used it as a holiday and retirement residence. Transferred to his trustees with power of sale in 1929, it was sold in 1935 to Archbishop James Duhig. Duhig already owned ‘Wyvernleigh’ across the road and established the St John Vianney parish there in 1930. After alterations ‘Culterfel’ became home to the Presentation Sisters and their school, which opened in 1941. It continues to serve as the Convent of the Sisters of Presentation.

Also known as

L89_RP33032 ; L90_RP33032

Local Heritage Place Since — 1 January 2004

Date of Citation — March 2015

People/associations

Criterion for listing, interactive mapping.

City Plan Interactive Mapping

The appeal of Manly as a bayside suburb grew in the 1880s with the subdivision and sale of the 151 acre ‘Manly Beach Estate’. The estate was also known as the ‘Wyvernleigh Estate’, after a residence which had been constructed there. Bank manager James Gibson was the first registered purchaser of allotments in the estate in 1882, and his purchases included this site, fronting Dallie and Waterloo Streets (now Oceana Terrace and Kooralgin Street). He added surrounding blocks to his holding in 1883 and 1885. During that time Gibson also had a marine residence constructed on the site. By 1885 the Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser was calling attention to a sale of Manly Beach Estate allotments ‘in close proximity to the marine residence of our well-known townsman, James Gibson, Esq.’ Gibson’s house was included in the 1887 estate sale maps, opposite ‘Wyvernleigh’.

Gibson’s house ‘Culterfel’ was one of the first seaside holiday houses constructed in Manly. As manager of the Ipswich branch of the Bank of New South Wales, Gibson and his family primarily resided in Ipswich, but took their holidays in the Manly house. The demand for bayside holiday houses accelerated in the late nineteenth century, as wealthy Brisbane residents took advantage of the opening of railway lines to Brisbane’s bayside suburbs and an economic boom, to create vacation and retirement homes. Most of this development occurred at Sandgate and Shorncliffe, with growth at Wynnum and Manly following in the twentieth century.

Gibson had built ‘a mansion worthy of the site’, according to an 1887 advertisement in the Queensland Figaro and Punch . ‘Culterfel’ faced the bay, with verandas to take advantage of the view. It was slightly less elevated than ‘Wyvernleigh’ but its position was still considered ‘one of the best on the shores of Moreton Bay,’ with an ‘unobstructed and extensive’ view.

Gibson and his wife became the permanent residents of ‘Culterfel’ on his retirement in the early 1890s. After the death of his wife in 1898, Gibson removed to Brisbane and leased the Manly property, which included stables, a coach house and gardens. ‘Culterfel’ briefly became a boarding house in 1909 and 1910 before Gibson’s death in 1910. The property was then sold to John Hart, a Blackall grazier. Hart followed Gibson’s example, initially using ‘Culterfel’ as a holiday residence but later retiring to the property with his wife. The Harts took an interest in the local community, joining clubs and providing the house to host the Manly fete in 1912 and Green Island Scheme meetings in 1920. The house was also used as security for a significant loan of £50,194, which Hart took out in July 1920. The mortgage seems not to have been related to ‘Culterfel’ itself; Hart owned large holdings in western Queensland and the mortgage may have been associated with these. In the late 1920s the Harts removed to a residence in Ascot. The Hart Estate at Manly was offered for sale in 1927, and Hart died a year later in 1928.

‘Culterfel’ and its land, including lots 64 to 69 and 89 to 90, was purchased by Brisbane’s Roman Catholic Archbishop James Duhig in December 1935. Following his appointment as Co-adjator in 1912 and Archbishop in 1917 Duhig planned immense and unprecedented growth within the Church. Over one hundred Roman Catholic churches were constructed in the Brisbane Archdiocese between 1912 and 1928. As part of this growth scheme Duhig purchased large old estates in and around Brisbane, modifying the houses and adding to the sites churches, schools, convents and presbyteries. These included ‘Folkstone’ in Bowen Hills (Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church, 1925), ‘Mount Margaret’ in Wynnum (now Nazareth House) and ‘Wyvernleigh’, across the road from this property.

Manly was ripe for Duhig’s investment, with a growing population but a shortage of Catholic places of worship and education. Wynnum was the nearest worship centre for Manly’s Catholic residents, with a church for Sunday services and the Sisters of Mercy’s convent school providing non-secular education. It was not until Duhig purchased ‘Wyvernleigh’ in 1925 that a church was proposed for Manly. In 1930 the St John Vianney parish was established, ‘Wyvernleigh’ was demolished, and a presbytery erected on the site in 1936. ‘Culterfel’ also played a role in this progress. Although title to ‘Culterfel’ did not pass to Duhig until January 1936, the Archbishop appears to have taken possession of the house early, with ‘Culterfel’ becoming home to the parish priest, Rev Father Butler, in 1930. The lower level of ‘Culterfel’ was reportedly used as a mass centre pending the completion of the presbytery on the former ‘Wyvernleigh’ site. The house was also used for the parish’s social gatherings, holidays for poor children, and a wedding breakfast was held on the veranda in 1931. However, the parish’s use of ‘Culterfel’ appears to have declined over the course of the 1930s, after the presbytery and a church hall were built on the ‘Wyvernleigh’ site.

In 1940 ‘Culterfel’ was remodelled to provide a seaside convent for the Presentation Sisters. The alterations, which cost around £1,700, are likely to have been undertaken by architect Frank Cullen. Cullen trained with Hennessy, Hennessy and Co and ran an architectural firm with Desmond Egan from 1937 to 1941. He was also the Archbishop’s nephew and was responsible for the design of many interwar and postwar Catholic buildings, including the presbytery for the ‘Wyvernleigh’ site (1936), alterations to Mount Carmel Convent at Wynnum (1940), the second section of the Villa Maria Hostel (1940) and extensions to St Joseph’s Nudgee College (1950s).

The property was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese Trustees on 14 January 1941. Twelve days later, the St Philomena’s Convent and School was blessed and opened by Archbishop Duhig. It was home to the Order of the Sisters of the Presentation (or Presentation Sisters), who had arrived in Queensland in February 1900. The order focused on outreach, particularly education, and the Sisters established schools and convents in Longreach and central Queensland. Schools in Brisbane followed, including St Rita’s Convent School in Clayfield which opened in 1926, and the Church of Christ school in Graceville in 1937 (now Christ the King Catholic Primary School). A Catholic school for

Manly was foreshadowed by Duhig in 1930, and one of the order’s Queensland pioneers, Mother Ursula, helped select the Manly site in September 1940. Oral history suggests that the Sisters had moved into the Manly convent in December 1940, and the Catholic Leader of January 1941 stated that the Presentation Sisters were seeking school enrolments. The Sisters conducted the school from the convent site, opening with just over 80 students. The school was renamed St John Vianney’s Catholic Primary School and moved across the road to a purpose-built schoolhouse in 1953.

The Convent and its land were transferred to the Order of the Sisters of the Presentation in Queensland in 1959. The coach house, which stood along the Oceana Terrace frontage, was converted into a laundry and offices. A garage, chapel and aged care accommodation were added to the site in the 1970s and 1980s; these buildings are not included in the heritage overlay. The site continues to be owned by the Corporation of the Trustees of the Order of the Sisters of the Presentation in Queensland.

Statement of significance

Relevant assessment criteria.

This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criteria under the Heritage planning scheme policy of the Brisbane City Plan 2014. It is significant because:

Criterion A

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of the city's or local area’s history

as one of the first large holiday residences built in the Manly area in the nineteenth century.

Criterion B

The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of the city’s or local area’s cultural heritage

as a rare surviving example of a large nineteenth century holiday and retirement residence built in Manly.

Criterion G

The place has a strong or special association with the life or work of a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons

as it has served as the Convent for the Presentation Sisters since 1941.

Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Entry on the Queensland Heritage Register, Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church [601585]

Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Historic Titles

Brisbane Courier, Catholic Leader, Courier Mail, Longreach Leader, Queensland Times Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, Queensland Figaro and Punch, Western Champion, 1883-1945

Brisbane City Council, Building Cards and Registers of New Buildings, 1936-1941

Brisbane City Council Department of Works Detail Plan No W 44

Brisbane City Council, City Architecture & Heritage Team, heritage citations

Brisbane City Plan 2014, aerial photographs 1946, 2012

Estate maps, Manly Beach and Wyvernleigh, 1883, 1887

History of the Presentation Sisters in Australia (website)

History of St John Vianney’s Catholic Parish (website)

History of St John Vianney’s Primary School (website)

Rev A Nolan, History of the Manly Parish (notes from the South Moreton Bicentennial Historical Collection)

Mervyn N Beitz, From Mangroves to Moorings

Citation prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised June 2022)

RELIGIOUS ORDERS SERVED HUGE SOCIAL NEEDS IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA

Catherine Kovesi

• X (formerly Twitter)

This flourishing was partly a consequence of changing attitudes to the capacity of women religious to participate in the community. It was also partly due to the extraordinary societal needs posed by this great century of industrialisation.

Until the nineteenth century, women religious had been subjected to the restricting confines of the cloister. This restriction of enclosure had a long history in the Catholic Church, dating back to the 1298 constitution Periculoso of Pope Boniface VIII. This was reinforced by the papal bull Circa pastoralis of 1566, which forbade women from leaving the convent walls except in cases of leprosy, epidemic or fire.

Despite numerous attempts by women across the centuries to circumvent these regulations, including by St Clare of Assisi, Mary Ward and Nano Nagle, it was not until 1831, in Ireland, that any woman was successful in doing so.

In 1831 in Dublin, Catherine McAuley founded an Order in which religious sisters could tend to the needs of the wider community outside the convent walls. Her Sisters of Mercy were, for this reason, nicknamed The Walking Nuns.

In France, Napoleon, who at first had declared that religious orders "serve no useful purpose," soon came to see their benefit to French society, and by 1808 he was actively promoting their recruitment.

Over the next eighty years almost 400 new Orders for religious women were established in France. The Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart (founded in 1800), the Faithful Companions of Jesus, or FCJs (1820), the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (1831) and the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparation (1832) are prime examples of this new wave in France.

Australia's status as a new site for mission, and as a country in desperate need of providers of education, healthcare and welfare, meant that many religious men and women felt compelled to make the long journey from Europe to Australia in the nineteenth century.

All of the first women religious came from the new French and Irish orders. The first Catholic nuns in Australia were the Sisters of Charity (founded in 1816) who arrived from Ireland in 1838 in order to minister to women convicts in the Female Factory at Parramatta.

In 1846, a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland arrived in the Swan River Colony (now Western Australia) and established the first secondary school for girls in the whole of Australia.

In 1855, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition arrived in Fremantle in Western Australia. In 1863 a group of Sisters of the Good Shepherd arrived in Melbourne; 1866 saw the first Presentation Sisters (founded 1805) arrive in Tasmania from Ireland; and in 1875, sisters of Loretto (later renamed Loreto), from the Irish branch of Mary Ward's English Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, established themselves in Ballarat.

Shortly after, in 1882, French women from the Society of the Sacred Heart arrived in Sydney, and Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus arrived in Melbourne, in order to found schools. All of these Orders spread throughout Australia.

By mid-century, Australian conditions also animated Australian responses. The first of these was a foundation of religious women specifically for Australian conditions - the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, founded by Archbishop Bede Polding in 1857.

An English Benedictine and the first Catholic Bishop of Australia, Polding envisioned an Australia influenced by the principles of Benedictine monasticism. Appalled at the conditions faced by many in the streets of rapidly-expanding Sydney, Polding instructed the Sisters of the Good Samaritan to care primarily for destitute women and to educate children, but also to "apply themselves to every other charitable work."

Similarly, the gold rushes led to particular circumstances of need. The gold rush in Victoria, beginning in mid-1851, led to extraordinary population growth and wealth, but its downside was deserted wives, destitute families, orphaned children, prostitutes, opium addicts, alcoholics, and a sprawling "canvas town" of tents and huts flourishing across South Melbourne.

It is worth remembering that, in this period, no government provided social services. There were no unemployment benefits, no public healthcare, no compulsory education. It was the religious sisters who responded to these societal needs with the provision of education, healthcare, orphanages and refuges.

Regional areas of Australia faced other problems of poverty and the tyranny of distance from centres of education and welfare provision. It was to these needs that Mary MacKillop first addressed herself, in the tiny town of Penola in South Australia, midway between Melbourne and Adelaide.

In 1867, her new order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart was founded, the first religious order for women established by an Australian woman.

MacKillop's schools were the first in which children of means, and those without, were not segregated in class. The Sisters of St Joseph also became providers of welfare, and Josephite establishments, such as the House of Providence in East Melbourne, became places of refuge and welcome.

Mary MacKillop was clearly a charismatic foundress. This does not mean "charismatic" in our conventional understanding of the term, although she may have been that also. Rather, it means an individual whom Catholics understand as being gifted by the Holy Spirit with a particular divine spiritual gift, which is used, not for the individual herself, but for the benefit of the whole community established by her.

This founding charism becomes embedded in the community but becomes deadened if locked into a fixed expression. It is for this reason that the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) called upon all religious Orders of men and women to revisit their founding charism and to renew it for the contemporary age.

The Sisters of St Joseph, while now not recognisable in the outward form that Mary MacKillop established, would see themselves as true to her founding spirit, re-expressed for the 21st Century.

The specific needs of basic education and welfare for which religious Orders of women were first brought to, or founded in, Australia have largely been met, and hence religious sisters in Australia now direct themselves to the pressing concerns of their own day.

Although their educational and health services are landmarks on the Australian scene, sisters themselves are now rarely actively involved in the actual provision of these services. Many have moved into the tertiary sector as lecturers or into the administrative aspects of healthcare.

The plight of asylum seekers, trafficked women, women in situations of violence and poverty, the provision of hospices, aged care facilities, spiritual direction and so on, are now some of the many ministries of women religious in Australia.

The increasing opportunities for women to be involved in such work without having to take religious vows in order to carry them out is partly responsible for a rapid decline in the numbers of women joining religious orders in Australia.

The contribution of women religious to Australian society, however, has been, and still is, profound, even if largely unrecognized and unacknowledged by many Australians today.

Catherine Kovesi is a Senior Lecturer in History in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has published widely both in Australian religious history and in Italian Renaissance history. Her most recent book is "Pitch Your Tents on Distant Shores: A History of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Tahiti" (Playright, 2010).

Christian Brothers and Edmund Rice

Blessed Edmund Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers was born in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1762.

Edmund Rice

As a community we follow the example given to us by Blessed Edmund Rice. Edmund Rice was an Irish man of the 18th and 19th Century who had the dream of creating a better world for poor young people through religion and education. Born into a prosperous family, Edmund from an early age began to see a great contrast between the rich and poor. Given a good education, Edmund became a businessman in Waterford and eventually married Mary Elliot in 1785. They were blessed in 1789 when Mary fell pregnant with a daughter but unfortunately died from complications of childbirth. These events changed Edmund. He joined a small prayer group of men and felt a strong calling to found an Order which would uplift and educate poor boys in Ireland. Edmund began living as a lay brother, sharing in the Eucharist daily and incorporating regular prayer and Bible reflection into his day. He worked closely with the Presentation Sisters and in 1822 his Order became a reality and was known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools or the Christian Brothers. Despite many challenges, Edmund established many Christian Brothers Schools catering for over 5,500 boys, free of charge by 1825. His compassion and love for the poor is a legacy taken up by Christian Brothers and their communities who have continued the vision of Edmund Rice by addressing the social and political realities of their world.

Edmund is honoured as the founder of both the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers. For more than two centuries, many have been and continue to be attracted by his vision and generosity. The mission continues today on all five continents through the ministry of Christian Brothers and laity called to serve in this vocation of Catholic Education.

The Christian Brothers came to Australia – first of all, to Sydney – in 1843, at the invitation of Archbishop Polding, but left in 1848.

They arrived in Melbourne in 1868 at the invitation of Bishop James Goold. Within thirty-five years, the remarkable Brother Patrick Ambrose Treacy had responded to invitations from various Bishops to establish schools in the Dioceses of Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Dunedin and Perth. The task of the Brothers in Australia, as mandated by the Bishops, was the evangelisation of the mainly poor, mainly Irish, Catholic families of the colonies.

The gift to Australian Catholic education since 1868 has been profound. The ministry of the Christian Brothers and their co-workers is active in all States and Territories of Australia and continues to be expressed in multiple forms.

At the beginning of the 21st century in Australia, there is a continuing need for Catholic schools in the Edmund Rice tradition to reflect on their purpose and role. This is borne out by the complexity of the modern world and the challenges confronting young people in their search for meaning. All members of these schools are called by way of their vocation to be committed to reflect deeply on engrained practices and issues relevant to spirituality. They are called to provide education that is transformational and liberating within the reign of God for the world.

A school conducted in the Edmund Rice tradition

• offers a distinctive Catholic educational philosophy
• provides a curriculum attentive to the needs of each person
• nurtures and encourages the spirituality of each person
• lives and grows as a faith-sharing community by fostering a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ
• develops a culture of good relationships, which evidence respect, community, hospitality, nurture, humour, care and justice
• acknowledges the dignity of all its members, each formed in the image of God
• promotes service of others, by way of significant learning experiences
• stands in solidarity with those who are powerless and marginalised
• fosters in its members the mind and heart of Edmund, who acted with compassion
• acknowledges the traditional relationship of indigenous peoples with the land
• actively encourages all its members – teachers, staff and students – to reflect on the contemporary world in the light of the Gospel.

St Pius X College acknowledges the traditional inhabitants of the land on which the College stands, the Cammeraygal people, of the Eora nation.

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Presentation Sisters Print Page

The gates at the front of the church commemorates the work of the Presentation Sisters in Collie from 1902 to 2000.  The gates were crafted by Sergio Amadio.

The Presentation Sisters (also known as the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary) are women who belong to a family of Roman Catholic religious orders inspired by or based on the group founded in Ireland by Nano Nagle in 1775. In the past, the Sisters dedicated their time to creating schools that would help to educate young people, especially young ladies. Most of these schools are still in operation and can be found all over the world.

1902 - 2000

PBVM St. Brigid

Presentation Convent

The door that secures our safety also opens us to new opportunities

Our Presentation Sisters represented that door over their 98 years loving presence among us in Collie

We thank them

Congregations

• Wagga Wagga

Western Australia

Western Australia witnessed the establishment of the Presentation Sisters through two distinct founding stories in 1891 and 1900. These narratives predated the union of the Geraldton and Perth congregations in 1969, which marked a significant milestone for the Sisters.

During the 1800s, Geraldton prospered as a prominent port town due to its thriving wool and grain exports, as well as mining activities in Northampton. Bishop Matthew Gibney of Perth recognized the need for a convent and school in Geraldton and sought assistance from various religious orders. The Presentation Sisters from Sneem and Michelstown in Ireland responded to this call and agreed to venture to Western Australia. Arriving in July 1891, they wasted no time and began their work immediately.

Over the following 78 years, the Geraldton Sisters established an additional 21 schools in remote regions of Western Australia. Their dedication led them to follow the mining towns, opening schools wherever the need arose. They even transported their convent and school using a wheeled conveyance called a jinker which allowed them to relocate from one mining town to another. In their mission, they reached out to children from rural areas, including Indigenous communities and migrant groups, offering Catholic Faith instruction, education and boarding facilities amongst other pastoral contributions.

Simultaneously, the Perth Congregation was formed, as the gold rush sparked the establishment of new towns in Perth, in the south west and in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. In the late 1800s, Bishop Matthew Gibney invited the Presentation Sisters from Hay, New South Wales, to contribute to the education and pastoral care needs in these areas. Sisters hailing originally from County Kildare, Ireland, together with Sisters from Wagga Wagga in New South Wales comprised the Hay Foundation. The founding Sisters reached Southern Cross on 14 February, 1900. Despite encountering extreme heat and an unfinished convent, they found temporary accommodation and proceeded to open the school and convent on 26 February of that year.

Undeterred by challenges such as isolation, climate, distance, and limited resources, the Sisters persevered. Over the next 70 years, they established an additional 18 schools, exemplifying their entrepreneurial spirit and fostered cultural pursuits, particularly music, speech, drama and commercial. The Sisters made a significant contribution to the Catholic instruction in regional towns through the establishment of the motor mission, always demonstrating an unwavering commitment to serving those in need. Ministering with various groups, including First Nations people, engaging in spiritual formation, and in justice outreach including mental health, combatting homelessness and caring for the earth, underpinned some of the Sisters’ day to day activities.

The culmination of their efforts occurred in December 1969 with the union of the Geraldton and Perth congregations forming the Congregation of Presentation Sisters WA (Inc).

Following the union, the Sisters extended their mission to various overseas locations, including Papua New Guinea, Thailand. In Western Australia, the Sisters continued to engage in diverse ministries such as education, governance, pastoral care, justice, leadership and prayer, always seeking to assist those made poor and those kept poor.

Today, the Sisters persist in their dedication to serving the marginalised and in their deep commitment to faith, spirituality, justice, education and the preservation of human dignity for all. Underlying all the Sisters’ works and prayers throughout the years, is the central place of Jesus Christ, and the call of the Gospel, in their lives.  

Contact Information

Congregation Leader: Anna Fewer pbvm Email: [email protected] Phone: +61 8 9384 5433 Office: Presentation Sisters Centre 36 Palmerston St Mosman Park Postal Address: PO Box 12 Mosman Park WA 6912

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Presentation Sisters celebrate 110 years of service and dedication to Iona

13 june 2017.

The sisters of the Presentation Order with Archbishop Costelloe paying homage to the newly erected Nano Nagle statue in the Presentation Garden (photo by Natashya Fernandez).

On Friday 2 June, staff, students and distinguished guests gathered at Iona Presentation Primary School for a Thanksgiving Mass and Garden Blessing in celebration of the Presentation Sisters 110 years of service and dedication to Iona.

The morning was spent recognising the incredible presence the Sisters have had at the school for so many years, and thanking them for their unwavering support and dedication that has touched the lives of so many in the Iona school community.

Also recognised on the day was the founder of the Presentation Sisters, Nano Nagle, whose mission to bring light to the world was seen through her endless passion and commitment to helping the less fortunate, and whose message is lived on through the Sisters today and the values they have instilled in the students of Iona.

The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe and concelebrated with Frs James D’Souza, Chris Ross and Rodrigo Ponte, with the blessing of a ‘Presentation’ Garden and abstract mosaic.

Archbishop Costelloe thanked the Presentation Sisters for the amazing contribution they have given with their presence not only to the school, but to the church in Western Australia.

“Today especially, we celebrate this Mass in which we have a chance to come closer to Jesus and, through him, closer to each other. To reflect on just how important the Presentation Sisters, and the spirit which animates them has been and continues to be for this school,” he said.

Catholic Education Western Australia joins Iona Presentation Primary School in thanking the Presentation Sisters as they hand over responsibility for the school to Archbishop Costelloe.

Presentation Sisters Western Australia Congregation Leader, Sr Kathleen Laffan, said that it was a privilege to be present at the Mass and celebrations.

“We are here today to celebrate the 110 years that we have journeyed together, Presentation Sisters, students, parents and the wider community. All in the footsteps of our found, Nano Nagle. “I hope the newly erected statue of Nano will be an inspiration to all students, staff and parents in the years ahead” she said.

Congregation leader of the Presentation Sisters in Western Australia, Sr Kathleen Laffan, with Archbishop Costelloe and Iona Presentation Primary School Principal Jennifer Anderson (photo by Natashya Fernandez).

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