Illustrations

Figure 0.1: Map of Australia, showing locations in the text

Figure 1.1: New Norcia cemetery, graves of the Spanish Benedictine Missionary Sisters, March 2017

Figure 1.2: Ms Mae Taylor, Sr Francisca Pardo, Sr Visitación Cidad, Fr Anscar McPhee and Sr Teresa González in the cemetery at New Norcia after the memorial service in October 2001

Figure 1.3: Teresa, Francisca, Pilar and Maria Gratia recording memories of the mission around the library table in Madrid, 2004 (left); Scholastica telling the stories of her photo album in Kalumburu, 1999 (right)

Figure 1.4: Sheila Humphries’s painting Life at St Joseph’s, within the liturgical display at the reunion, Mass of Thanksgiving, October 2001

Figure 1.5: Members of the reunion on the steps of the Abbey Church, October 2001

Figure 2.1: Brother Friolán Miró and the residents of St Joseph’s before 1904

Figure 2.2: The first Teresian community at New Norcia with residents of St Joseph’s, 1904

Figure 2.3: Detail of Teresian arrival: Aboriginal matron with a cockatoo on her shoulder

Figure 2.4: Detail of Teresian arrival: Teresa Roca and other sisters with St Joseph’s girls behind

Figure 2.5: Fr Henry Altimira and Fr Planas with plans for the Drysdale River Mission

Figure 2.6: St Joseph’s from the southern tower of St Gertrude’s, c. 1907

Figure 2.7: St Joseph’s girls assembled to show skills in weaving and sewing, with the towers of St Gertrude’s in the background

Figure 2.8: St Gertrude’s College c. 1909, with the buildings of St Joseph’s to the left and cottages in the foreground

Figure 2.9: St Gertrude’s and St Joseph’s looking east c. 1908

Figure 3.1: Interior of the Abbey Church ‘before 1923’ or as it would have been on the morning of 1 July 1909 when Maria Harispe made her profession as an oblate of New Norcia

Figure 3.2: Maria Harispe c. 1915 with St Joseph’s residents

Figure 3.3: A First Communion photo c. 1908 including the Aboriginal matrons in the main doorway of St Gertrude’s College

Figure 3.4: The St Joseph’s girls with Aboriginal matrons on the back verandah of St Gertrude’s, c. 1908

Figure 3.5: The Sisters, dressed in Benedictine habits with the St Joseph’s girls, after December 1915

Figure 3.6: Mother Elias Devine, Easter 1933, aged 95, ‘a woman of uncommon common sense’

Figure 3.7: Consuelo (centre) with Teresa (left), Maria (right) and residents of St Joseph’s, after September 1912 and before December 1915

Figure 3.8: Teresa Roca, one of the original Teresian community, remembered in the Notebooks as setting out again in 1915 ‘without fear and with great confidence in God’

Figure 3.9: Teresa Roca and Aboriginal girls working at embroidery and crochet in the sewing room

Figure 4.1: Maria and children of St Joseph’s near a swing, with laundry in the background, c. 1912

Figure 4.2: Detail of Maria and the children

Figure 4.3: Detail of laundry work at St Joseph’s, after 1910

Figure 4.4: The drawings that guided the renovation at St Joseph’s in 1910

Figure 4.5: Cottages for Aboriginal workers and families in front of St Gertrude’s College; St Joseph’s rear left

Figure 5.1: Home villages of the Benedictine sisters who arrived at New Norcia, 1921–33 (Cañizar de los Ajos, Cavia, Corella, Palacios de Benaver, Sasamón, Tapia de Villadiego and Villorejo)

Figure 5.2: The village of Tapia de Villadiego, Burgos

Figure 5.3: Monastery of San Salvador, Palacios de Benaver, Burgos

Figure 5.4: Display of needlework by St Joseph’s Girls, St Ildephonsus College Magazine, 1929, 7

Figure 5.5: Maria Harispe, c. 1925; the photograph that accompanied her obituary in the Perth Record

Figure 5.6: Emmaus House, Maredsous, Belgium, 2010

Figure 5.7: Abbey church at the monastery of Maredsous, Belgium, 2010

Figure 5.8: Arriving at Pago Pago Mission in the Kimberley, 18 August 1931. Benedictine sisters at right in shoes and stockings, possibly Abbot Catalan in bare feet

Figure 5.9: Transferring to Drysdale River site, 1932

Figure 5.10: On the lugger Koolinda; Matilde, Escolastica and Hildegard with Fr Boniface and Aboriginal children

Figure 5.11: Gertrude, Escolastica and Hildegard with Aboriginal children on the steps of the first convent at Drysdale River, 1931

Figure 6.1: Benedictine Oblate Sisters of New Norcia early 1931

Figure 6.2: Benita and Felicitas en route to Belgium with Fr Paul Arza

Figure 6.3: Benita Gozalo to Abbot Catalan, June 1936

Figure 6.4: Escolastica’s sewing machine put to another good use, 1937

Figure 6.5: Escolastica Martinez to Abbot Catalan, 1937

Figure 6.6: Interior of the church at Drysdale River c. 1947, Sister Magdalena Ruiz with a First Communicant

Figure 6.7: Interior of the church at Drysdale River c. 1947, sanctuary and two side altars, St Joseph and St Thérèse, patron of missions

Figure 6.8: Washing in the river, but wearing collars

Figure 6.9: Washing as it was more usually done, without collars and with helpers

Figure 6.10: Magdalena (seated), Ludivina and Maria (in apron) on a picnic at Drysdale River, c. 1939

Figure 6.11: Escolastica with her class at Drysdale River, 1932

Figure 6.12: Fr Boniface Cubero with a camp oven on a picnic, 1930s

Figure 6.13: Posing for a photo on an excursion, 1930s: Hildegard (left), Escolastica (right), Matilde in front, local ‘bush’ men, woman in mission dress, and Benedictine monk with rifle

Figure 6.14: Josephine and Visitación with fishing nets at the beach, 1970s

Figure 7.1: The 12 who arrived at New Norcia in November 1948 on deck of the Toscana

Figure 7.2: Postulants on a picnic, 1949: Josefina Carrillo (standing left) and Amalia González (standing right)

Figure 7.3: Fatima Drayton brings a crêpe paper parasol from the school concerts forward at the reunion liturgy, 2001

Figure 8.1: First Community at Bindoon, c. 1949

Figure 8.2: A studio portrait to send to their families was a thank-you gift to the Benedictine sisters at Bindoon in the 1950s (Hildegard, Visitación, Florentina and Lucia)

Figure 8.3: Home villages of the Benedictine sisters to 1950, still focused on Burgos

Figure 8.4: Visitación Cidad under the fig tree, Murray Street, Perth, 1950

Figure 9.1: Back left to right: Cecilia Farrell, Ludivina Marcos and Mary Cidad. Front left to right: Angelina Cerezo, Dolores Vallejo, Magdelena Ruiz and Benita Gozalo, c. 1960

Figure 9.2: Veronica Therese Willaway, Pius Moynihan, c. 1962

Figure 9.3: Scholastica Carrillo, making cheese in the 1960s

Figure 9.4: Scholastica with cooking pots at Kalumburu, 1970s

Figure 9.5: Needlework was a sustaining tradition in the convent and at the school

Figure 9.6: New dining room at St Joseph’s, 1956

Figure 9.7: St Joseph’s marching team at rest, New Norcia sports day, 1960s

Figure 9.8: The novices and postulants playing hockey at the back of St Joseph’s—Imelda and Josephine in white veils, Veronica centre and Pius right, c. 1959. Fowl yard in the background

Figure 9.9: Sr Veronica Therese with her family on the day of her final profession, 12 March 1966; left to right: Rose, Philomena, Veronica, Peter, Harold, Gabriel and Isobel

Figure 10.1: Young members from the Spanish house of formation in the late 1960s at Hildegard’s tombstone in Zaragoza

Figure 10.2: Natividad Montero makes her profession as Sister Josephine, March 1964 at New Norcia. Students from St Gertrude’s College and one of their teachers to her left, Felicitas, Veronica and Antonia to her right

Figure 10.3: Scholastica, Florentina and Visitación, and Kalumburu’s cat, with chorizo made from the local wild boar that fed on the monastery’s figs

Figure 10.4: Speeches during an annual dinner at the New Norcia hotel to celebrate the adult education classes, 1970s. Mr Peter Cuffley standing, Abbot Gregory Gomez and Br Anthony McAlinden to his right

Figure 10.5: Chapel at the Girrawheen convent, showing tabernacle and wall cross by Robert Juniper

Figure 10.6: Ora et Labora banner by Iris Rossen, now in the chapel of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing in Madrid

Figure 10.7: The last of the community from New Norcia embarks for Barcelona, 20 March 1975; left to right: Margaret, Veronica, Dolores and Felicitas

Figure 10.8: Benedictines and community assembled for the reunion liturgy, October 2001

Figure 10.9: The abbot greets the sisters at the monastery gate as the liturgy begins, Abbot Placid Spearritt and Sister Carmen Ruiz Besti

Figure 10.10: Benedictine sisters (Veronica, Visitación and Carmen) with the congregation in the church for the reunion liturgy

Figure 10.11: Mae Taylor (left) and Anne Moynihan (Sr Pius) bring bread and wine for the Eucharist to Abbot Placid Spearritt and Dom Chris Power. The abbot is wearing the chasuble made by the novices in 1948

Figure 10.12: Praying the Lord’s Prayer during the Eucharist