Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last year, Australia celebrated the 100th anniversary of the passing of Mary MacKillop. This year of course we will prepare to honour her canonisation, making her Australia’s very first saint. In 1866 she founded the Sisters of St Joseph, a religious order dedicated to helping the poor. Mary and the Sisters of St Joseph went on to establish many schools across Australia, both in cities and in the outback. She has a special significance in my home state of South Australia, as she lived there for 11 years from 1872 to 1883.

While much has been written about her good works in Penola in the south-east, less well known is her work in Adelaide itself. Sister Mary MacKillop, as she was known then, was responsible for building a chapel and convent in Kensington which are integral parts of the community and are still used today. Also in Kensington is Mary MacKillop College, a Sisters of St Joseph school for young women. Three of my cousins attended that school. My friend and colleague Vini Ciccarello, the state member for Norwood in South Australia, has been working tirelessly for several years towards gaining recognition for the work of Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph in Adelaide and their ongoing contribution to the community.

Today, however, I want to refer to another nun, Sister Joan Farrell, known to her former students as Sister Mary Owen, who, without achieving any miracles, reflects the reasons why we honour those who have given their lives to the work of the Catholic Church. Sister Joan has dedicated her life to the education of young children. Born in Glen Osmond, South Australia, in 1918 to Nicholas and Mary Farrell, she will turn 92 in April this year and is one of the oldest nuns living in South Australia. Today she lives in a nursing home adjacent to the convent established by Mary MacKillop in Kensington.

Following her schooling at St Raphael’s Parish School, where interestingly enough two of my own children went to school, and Saint Aloysius College, where Senator Anne McEwen went to school, Joan Farrell joined the Sisters of Mercy at the Mercy Convent on Angas Street in Adelaide in May 1941 at the age of 23. Following this she began to teach in schools around South Australia including Mount Gambier, Riverton and Henley Beach. Despite not having any teaching qualifications, Sister Joan was always wonderful with children and instantly became a well respected and popular teacher with all her students.

Always ahead of her time, Sister Joan was known for creating an exciting environment for children to learn, refusing to let education be dull. She possessed a fantastic sense of humour and had an ability to engage others with great stories about her life and interests. She was passionate about both sport and animals; she was an exceptional tennis player and always enjoyed the cricket. She used her passion and skill with the children every day in the classroom and consequently made many lasting impressions. As testament to this, numerous students have kept in contact and visited Sister Joan as long as 40 years after she taught them, recalling only good memories.

When she retired to Henley Beach in the late 1990s, Sister Joan had spent over 50 years as an educator. As a woman of high spirit, Sister Joan has been a sociable woman throughout her life and so she has made countless friends from each community that she has worked in across South Australia. One of the most important of these communities is, of course, the Sisters of Mercy.

It would be of no surprise to you, Madam Acting Deputy President Moore, that Sister Joan chose to join the Sisters of Mercy as she was surrounded by religious influences even as a child. Her family home on Glen Osmond Road was known as a place where young priests who had just arrived from Ireland could go and always be welcome. Further, one of her great influences was her twin brother, Owen Farrell, who was a priest. The two were very close and always encouraging of each other. He was ordained in 1944 and, like Sister Joan, worked across South Australia, serving in churches—including the cathedral—at Glenelg, Pinnaroo, Marion and Colonel Light Gardens, where, as it happens, he was my parish priest. While Sister Joan’s interests were in teaching children, Father Owen’s interests were the arts. His interests were widely recognised as he was appointed an official Vatican representative to the International Society for Education, for the arts. Throughout his life he built up a large and impressive art collection. He also served for nine years on South Australia’s Art Gallery Board from 1969 through to 1978, having been appointed and reappointed by both Liberal and Labor governments. After his death in 1979, he left his entire collection to the Art Gallery of South Australia.

I am very proud to say that Sister Joan and Father Owen significantly and positively contributed to South Australian society, perhaps not in obvious ways as they were not necessarily leaders or miracle workers, but their impact was made in small ways on a daily basis as they worked to help children, the poor and members of their communities. As Sister Joan celebrated her golden jubilee of 50 years as a Sister of Mercy, she said she never once regretted the decision she made to join the Sisters of Mercy. It is, in many ways, astounding that one person can give themselves entirely to a life of helping others. It takes incredible strength of character and provides our country with both strong ideals and role models as we begin to celebrate the canonisation of Mary MacKillop. I would also like to take this opportunity to recognise other nuns and priests, past and present, who work or have worked quietly and selflessly every day to better our society.