As we celebrate 150 years of Mercy in Queensland, the Sisters of Mercy Brisbane Congregation are sponsoring a Visual Art Award as part of the Living Mercy Celebrations in 2011.
The theme is “Living Mercy” Past, Present or Future, and pieces (painting/ drawing/ photography/ sculpture) will be drawn from artworks submitted by Secondary School Artists.
A selection of the top works will form an exhibition within the Mercy Heritage Centre. We are excited to see how the mission of the Sisters of Mercy and their ministries can be reflected in visual art.
WHERE: Mercy Heritage Centre, 547 Ann Street, Brisbane. Open on regular public open days.
SEE: www.livingmercy.org.au
OPEN DAY: “All Hallows’ School: Celebrating 150 Years of Mercy Education 1861 – 2011”
July 23, 2010 - July 23, 2010
TIME: 12.30 – 4pm
Including Welcome Back to All Hallows’ School events and Open Day for Mercy Heritage Centre.
This year will be both the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in Queensland and of All Hallows’ School. The School 150th Committee has been meeting regularly to co-ordinate the planning for the year-long celebrations. They have identified 2 major public celebrations for the weekend of 23 and 24 July, 2011. The Saturday event is a Welcome Back to All Hallows’ Day type event and the Sunday is a Music Celebration Concert given the great musical traditions of the School. Of course, the many other usual annual events that happen each year will take on a celebratory theme this year.
SEE:
www.ahs.qld.edu.au
www.livingmercy.org.au
COACH TOUR: "Living Mercy 150"
June 18, 2010 - June 18, 2010
TIME: 8.30am – 3.30pm
REPEATED 6 August
Visit the sites and celebrate the stories of 150 years of the Sisters of Mercy in Brisbane on this anniversary coach tour. In partnership with Brisbane’s Living Heritage Network.
VISITING:
St Stephen’s Cathedral; Mater Archives and Heritage Centre; Mercy Heritage Centre tour (inc meal); St Vincent’s Convent Chapel, Bayview and Happy Haven; Nudgee Catholic Cemetery
WHERE: Begins at the Cathedral of St Stephen, concludes at Nudgee Catholic Cemetery.
COST: TBA. Bookings via BLHN phone 3223 6606
SEE: www.blhn.org
EXHIBITION: "Your Story With Our Story: Connections between the Brisbane Sisters of Mercy and Aboriginal people in Southern Queensland, 1861 – 2011"
June 6, 2010 - September 9, 2010
Over the 150 years the Brisbane Sisters of Mercy have been in Southern Queensland, they have had many different connections with Aboriginal People and communities.
A special photographic installation, curated by Micahel Aird, celebrates and commemorates this relationship.
It will also serve as an acknowledgement of the original Aboriginal custodians of country in those parts of southern Queensland where the Sisters have lived and worked.
Proposed Curator’s Talks June – August 2011 in association with exhibition.
WHERE: Mercy Heritage Centre, 547 Ann Street, Brisbane. Open on regular public open days.
EXHIBITION: "Not Just Ned: A True History of the Irish in Australia"
March 17, 2010 - July 31, 2010
Mercy contributions to the National Australian Museum “NOT JUST NED - A True history of the Irish in Australia” (17 March – 31 July 2011)
http://www.mercy.org.au/newscentre/view_article.cfm?loadref=269&id=978
Dr Richard Reid, Curator, paid tribute in the exhibition to the many women who brought religious orders to Australia, to the many more who subsequently joined them in their dedicated lives, and to their significant influence in spheres of Australian life, particularly education and health.
The phrase “the scattered children of Saint Patrick”, attributed to Mother Mary Stanislaus Kenny, who brought a foundation from Ennis to Singleton, had some years earlier struck a chord in him, and so he visited Singleton in August 2009. He chose several items for the exhibition which would suit his theme and be representative of the many such items to be formerly found in convents all over the country: a small cedar prie-dieu on which the early Sisters pronounced their vows; several silver profession rings, some clearly still engraved with a personal motto; a photo of a novice celebrating with her family on Reception Day; a Novices Guide hand-written by Mother Stanislaus. A short video display based on the BBC/ABC documentary “God’s Girls” (1991) added life to the display. Among the several descriptive panels, one headed “A generous prayerful spirit” refers to Mother Stanislaus, and displays a copy of the plan of the Singleton Convent she designed in collaboration with the German architect Frederick Menkens. There is also a photo of the grand opening of the Convent in 1909.
On his visit to the Sisters of Mercy Parramatta, Dr Reid was struck by the 19th century shamrock-patterned Irish Belleek tea set brought from Callan to Australia by some of the Sisters. He was aware of the Mercy tradition of the “comfortable cup of tea” that Catherine urged her Sisters to have after she had died, and decided it should be in the exhibition. A large oil portrait of Venerable Catherine McAuley from the collection of the Sisters of Mercy, Melbourne, by an artist, whose name is lost in the mists of time, appropriately completes this section of the exhibition.
From Melbourne were also chosen objects that reflected the place music played in the education offered by women religious: a beautifully restored Grecian ladies’ style harp (Frederick Grosjean, London 1820-1850) used as early as 1907 in the academy of Mary Immaculate, Melbourne; and an ingenious 1900 Watkin adjustable liner for marking music lines on blackboards. Most significant among the Melbourne exhibits is the artistically illuminated register entry (1857) dedicated to Sr Clara Mary Frayne, Australian foundress of the Sisters of Mercy.
The Sisters of West Perth contributed a fine Mother-of-pearl cross brought to Australia from Argentina late 19th century.
The Brisbane Sisters exhibited Sr Angela Mary Doyle’s Office of the Order of Australia Medal 1994 and also her Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame award 2009, tributes to her outstanding contribution to health services. The exhibition also featured Sr Brenda Browne, aged 103, and a photo of the large group of Irish postulants, ‘the 49ers’, of which she was a member when she came from Ireland in 1924 to join the Brisbane Sisters.
Dr Reid said he was amazed at the collections held by religious women around Australia, and commented particularly on the excellent collection of the Sisters at the Mercy Heritage Centre, Brisbane.
The emu egg clock originally gifted by Mother Vincent Whitty from Brisbane to Baggot Street is featured in the display and in Mercy Matters 21 March 2011 (http://www.mercyworld.org/news_centre/view_article.cfm?id=493)
SEE: National Museum of Australia http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/irish_in_australia/
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