Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For a century, the Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan have been part of the Mid-Mountains community in Macquarie, and on Sunday I was honoured to speak at their farewell from Our Lady of the Nativity Parish. The sisters have provided leadership in compassion, social justice and care to our community. Among many things in that 100 years, they've more recently supported novices from Kiribati and people with disability, and they've allowed their centre to be used for groups supporting refugees and community services. The sisters also have a connection with the Hawkesbury region, the other half of my federal electorate. Back in 1859, it was reported that two Good Samaritan sisters travelled with Archbishop John Bede, for whom Bede Polding College, a very large Catholic high school in my Hawkesbury area, is named. Over the next few decades, a community of sisters came to Windsor; a convent was established; schools were opened, including a boarding school and a high school; and the sisters would travel to other townships via horse and buggy to give religious instruction—all of this before 1885. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan are formidable. The turnout of parish members in Lawson to say farewell demonstrates how their presence and support has been valued, and they will be missed by their Mountains community. We wish them well.

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