In 1863 four Irish women arrived in Melbourne with few possessions, hoping to establish a new way of life. Their Irish background and financial condition were typical of many other women who arrived in these years. Atypical, however, were the ideals of these women who had recently dedicated themselves to a new French order of religious women, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, and they arrived in Australia determined to devote their lives to women and girls facing social hardship and exclusion.

Responding to a period of extraordinary social change and unrest in Australia, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd were soon at the forefront of welfare provision in Australia, eventually establishing foundations throughout Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. The institutions which they established became landmark buildings, perhaps none more so than those at Abbotsford, their original Australian foundation.

The demise of institutional methods of care and the changes inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council, however, resulted in a radical restructuring of the sisters’ order and methods of care. No longer part of visible institutions, the sisters inserted themselves into the community around them, offering assistance to families, children, women in prison, and others in need, as well as taking the lead in many areas of social policy from trafficking of women to fair trade, and developing imaginative solutions for those in financial distress.

Though their numbers have diminished dramatically, the energy of the sisters’ charism has been taken up by many lay people, ensuring the continuance of Good Shepherd ideals into the 21st century. This book illuminates the often invisible work of the sisters against the backdrop of changing social conditions and welfare policy of Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti, thereby highlighting their unique contribution to the stories of all three countries.

‘The central organising structure of this book is the institution that was Abbotsford’ p17.

Contents include (see index): Abbotsford Convent [St Hellier's, Helier's]. Abbotsford Industrial School. Rosary Place, South Melbourne (later Albert Park). St James, Oakleigh. Mount (Mt) Magdala Convent, Christchurch. Rosary Place Convent and Mount Carmel School, South Melbourne. Mount St Canice, Hobart. St Aidan’s, Bendigo (Sandhurst). Tara, Leederville, Perth. Mount St Joseph, Waikowhai, Auckland. Villa Maria, St Euphrasia’s Park, Maryville, Boronia. The Pines, North Plympton, Adelaide. Maycrest, Te Horo, New Zealand. Sisters Magdalens, St James, Oakleigh p275. Young Christian Workers p294. Sisters of the Cross p299. Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service p369.