Here the Sisters of Mercy began their long association with Maitland and the continuation of an order known in their native land of Ireland as the ‘walking nuns’.

“On January 13 next year it will be 130 years since a small group of nuns came to Morpeth from Singleton,” Morpeth nun Sister Bernadette Mills said. “There were about six or seven pioneers and from them congregations were formed at Gunnedah, Murrurundi, Raymond Terrace, Muswellbrook and Morpeth.”

In the years that followed nuns were sent to East Maitland and also to Monte Pio to work at both the orphanage and the junior secondary school.

The Religious Sisters of Mercy was founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin in 1831 and served as an order to help those suffering from poverty, sickness and lack of education.

The religious institute began when Catherine McAuley used an inherited fortune to build a “House of Mercy” in Dublin to provide educational, religious and social services for poor women and children.

“Catherine McAuley was an heiress who set up an establishment in the stylish part of Dublin for unemployed women to get them off the street and to teach them skills so they could become housekeepers and things like that,” Sr Mills said.

“Then a priest came and told her she had to either become a nun or give the place up.”

Catherine McAuley became a nun but was adamant she did not want the order to be enclosed.

“She wanted the nuns to be free to go out among the people. In Ireland they were known as the walking nuns because they weren’t confined to their convents and they used to go out into the streets,” Sr Mills said. “We are approaching the 130th anniversary since the Sisters of Mercy arrived in Morpeth and we have a few plans underway.

“But at this stage we are really looking for old photographs and memorabilia so we can start and get a display underway.”

Those wanting to contribute to the Sisters of Mercury photographic and memorabilia display should contact Sr Bernadette Mills on 0458761533.