Powerful, peacemaker and precious. Mary MacKillop was an amazing person.

“Hi, this is Year 5 and today, which is the 4th July 2019, we embarked on an outstanding adventure to Sydney, visiting Mary Mackillop Place in North Sydney”.

Mary MacKillop was a wonderful lady and an even better teacher. She had seven siblings, however, unfortunately, her younger brother Alex died when he was 11 months old. Mary’s MacKillop’s father wasn’t a very good provider so at the age of 16, she started providing for her family and began to work.

Mary MacKillop had an enormous impact on education as she started her first school and welcomed everyone, rich or poor. Father Woods helped Mary open the first free Catholic school and one year later, the Sisters of Saint Joseph religious order was formed. 

Sadly, when going to visit her daughter in Sydney from Melbourne in 1886, Mary MacKillop’s mother died in a shipwreck.

One of Mary MacKillop’s sayings, and one of my personal favourites is 'Never see a need without doing something about it'. She was canonised as a saint 101 years after her death and is Australia’s first saint. Each and every day, we are encouraged to live in the spirit of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop through our words and actions in order to make the world a better place.

Saint Mary MacKillop passed away on the 8 of August 1909. At this time, she spoke words that her mother had taught her, these were "God will provide”.

Without the generosity and support of the P&F, this excursion would not have been possible so we’d like to thank the P&F a lot.

By Niceisha Manago (5B)