The legacy of the Presentation Sisters in Tasmania, dating back more than 150 years, was recognised on Friday 12 March when they were inducted on the 2021 Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women. The Presentation Sisters have made a positive impact on the lives of many thousands of Tasmanians through the network of schools they set up around the state, which includes St Mary’s College. Sr Gabrielle Morgan PBVM, Congregation Leader of the Presentation Sisters in Tasmania, said she was stunned and delighted at the honour. “I feel gratitude for the recognition of the contribution that we, the Sisters, have been enabled to make in relation to the education, in particular, of young women and girls, and the significant impact that the Presentation Sisters have made, and continue to make, in the broader community,” Sr Gabrielle said. As the first Presentation school in Australia, the College is proud of its heritage, with the charism of the Presentation Sisters and their foundress, Nano Nagle, at the heart of our community. St Mary’s College Principal, Helen Spencer has paid tribute to the Presentation Sisters, who founded the College in 1868, two years after they arrived in Hobart from Ireland. “Our story began more than 150 years ago and is interwoven with the stories of numerous communities that would not be here but for the love and courage of Presentation women,” she said. “We are proud of and grateful to the Sisters for continuing to inspire, motivate and empower future generations of young women to make a difference in their own way.”
Shining legacy in
E D U C AT I O N A N D H O U S I N G After establishing St Mary’s College, and a ‘poor school’—St Columba’s— on the same site, the Sisters soon opened other schools in Launceston, Bellerive, Lindisfarne, Queenstown, Beaconsfield, George Town, Karoola, Lilydale, Longford, and took over the already established school at New Norfolk. Sr Gabrielle said had it not been for St Columba’s School, thousands of Hobart children in the latter part of the 19th century might not have received any education. Following the closure of a number of small schools in Tasmania during the 1970s, the Sisters went out into the community as pastoral workers, caring for immigrants, refugees and the marginalised in society. “When the numbers of young women entering religious life declined, the Sisters continued to operate their schools with lay teachers, but the Presentation philosophy of welcome, simplicity, compassion and hospitality continues,” Sr Gabrielle said. “The Tasmanian Sisters have strongly supported their international sisters in the Philippines, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea, with some Sisters also volunteering for a number of years in the latter two countries, providing educational opportunities for girls and young women.” In 2018, the Sisters gifted a large parcel of land in Blackmans Bay to the Tasmanian people on the condition the land be used for
affordable housing and supported accommodation. Work is now underway at the Maryknoll development following a blessing service at the site led by Hobart Archbishop Julian Porteous on Friday 19 March. The houses are expected to be completed by mid-2022, with most to become homes to families on the housing priority waitlist, people with disabilities and over 55s. A St Mary’s College alumna, Sr Gabrielle entered the Presentation Novitiate in Melbourne in early 1964 and was professed in 1967. She then spent several years at St Mary’s College teaching and furthering her professional development, before she was chosen to lead the Sisters’ Congregation in Tasmania from 1999 to 2006, and again from 2015 to the present day. Sr Gabrielle remains a continual presence at St Mary’s College—her office is located in the original convent building—where our students and staff address the quest for social justice and contribute financially to a range of charities.
Opposite page: Nandhini Ramanathan (Year 10) and, inset, her awardwinning artwork. This page (left-right): Presentation Sisters inducted into the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women (photo: Wendy Shaw), Blessing of Maryknoll with Sr Gabrielle Morgan and Sr Barbara (photo: Mark Franklin).
