A new historical text on the arrival in Australia of the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary and their legacy that spans the past 140 years was launched in Sydney last night. Source: Calvary.
In Good Company, by author and historian Margaret A. Clark, brings overdue recognition to the Sisters, who helped build Australia’s fledgling healthcare system. It was officially launched in Sydney by New South Wales Governor Margaret Beazley.
The book covers the Sisters’ heritage from the original vision of the foundress Venerable Mary Potter and her wish to extend compassionate health care around the world.
The remarkable growth of the Little Company of Mary in the late 19th and early 20th century has now been documented in this work, with particular emphasis on the congregational reach in Australia.
Having celebrated its 140-year anniversary in Australia last year as Calvary Health Care, the legacy of the original six Sisters who sailed into Sydney in November 1885 is formidable.
With more than 13 hospitals, 57 residential aged care homes, 17 retirement villages, 17 home care service centres, and employing more than 18,000 staff and volunteers across four states and two territories, the collective endeavours of those associated with Calvary over the years is celebrated in this tribute to all of the Sisters, past and present.
In Good Company represents seven years of meticulous research and writing by the author.
“This book documents the Sisters’ foundational role in establishing various health services in Australia,” Ms Clark said.
“It highlights how their distinctive ethos of hospitality shaped patient care and institutional culture.
“I found the historical record dominated by newspaper reports of building openings: renovations, extensions. But these tell us little about the life within.
“I’ve deliberately chosen to focus on the women who filled those buildings with long days of service to suffering humanity.
“All the while, they welcomed new members into their community, inducting them into their way of life – especially the interior spirit, as well as training them to nurse the sick and the dying,” she said.
According to Calvary Chief Mission and Public Affairs Officer Mark Green, the book stands as both a historical record and an examination of the level of faith, both personal and religious, that drove the early beginnings in the new colony.
“For our national story, it illuminates the extraordinary contribution of religious women whose vision, courage, and compassion helped lay the foundations of modern Australian healthcare,” Mr Green said.
Details: visit www.calvarycare.org.au.
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Calvary Health Care launches history of the Little Company of Mary with In Good Company (Calvary)
