The Order of the Sisters of Mercy was established in Queensland in 1861, when Mother Mary Vincent Whitty and a small group of other Sisters of Mercy accompanied Bishop James Quinn to the colony of Queensland. The Sisters of Mercy established schools, hospitals and a home for unmarried mothers. They operated a number of out-of-home care facilities for children during the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century.
The Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia was formed in 1981. It includes 17 autonomous congregations, four of which are in Queensland; Brisbane, Cairns, Rockhampton and Townsville.
Sources used to compile this entry: Mary Christina, Sister, The quality of mercy: the story of the Sisters of Mercy in central Queensland, Catholic Leader Press, Brisbane, 1964, 178 pp.
Prepared by: Lee Butterworth
Created: 14 June 2011, Last modified: 16 July 2018
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/qld/biogs/QE00083b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License