In a humble Penola schoolhouse, a young teacher named Mary MacKillop began a movement that would lead, more than a century later, to canonisation.
A school in the bush
In 1866, in the small wool town of Penola, a 24-year-old Mary MacKillop opened a school in a converted stable, determined to educate the children of poor and isolated families. With Father Julian Tenison Woods she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the first religious order established by an Australian.
The Josephites would spread across the country and beyond, running schools for the children others overlooked. It all began here, on the quiet streets of Penola, in a building visitors can still see today.
Trials and faith
Mary's path was not smooth. She clashed with church authorities, was briefly excommunicated, and travelled tirelessly to keep her order alive. Through it all she held to a simple creed of charity and education that drew followers across colonial Australia.
Australia's first saint
Mary MacKillop died in 1909, but her legacy only grew. In 2010 she was canonised as Saint Mary of the Cross, Australia's first saint, and Penola found itself on the map as the birthplace of a national figure.
The Mary MacKillop Penola Centre, set around the original schoolhouse and the Woods-MacKillop schoolhouse, now draws pilgrims and visitors from across the world to the small town where it all began.
