The Shrine of Blessed Mary Mackillop
Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842 and died in Sydney in 1909. She took the religious name Mary of the Cross. Responding to the isolation of colonial families she pioneered a new form of religious life to provide education for their children. She and her sisters shared the life of the poor and the itinerant, offering special care to destitute women and children. She is remembered for her eagerness to discover God's will in all things, for her charity in the face of calumny and for her abiding trust in God's providence.
Mary MacKillop worked in Brisbane after her final profession as a religious, and regularly worshipped in this building between Christmas 1869 and Easter 1871. Soon after she was beatified in 1995 Archbishop John Bathersby announced that a diocesan shrine to Mary MacKillop would be created in old St Stephen’s.
There are, of course, photographs of Mary MacKillop, but a shrine for devotion must do much more than capture a physical likeness. It must lead people into the spirit of the blessed woman and evoke a sense of awe.
Brisbane sculptor, John Elliott, began with the trunk of a hundred-year-old camphor laurel tree. He sliced it and hollowed it out and then began painstakingly to recombine its elements, allowing the figure of Mary MacKillop to emerge. The ancient tree and its rough bark recall the slab hut in which she opened her first school, and the old fence posts she passed as she travelled through the Australian bush on horseback.
The figure of Mary MacKillop evokes the tough pioneering spirit of this holy woman. Her faith and trust in God’s providence is shown in her determination as she strides forward. Yet her face tells of her warmth and compassion for those in need.
The four panels enclosing the shrine are the work of John Elliott. The drawing on the panels pay tribute to Mary's religious life and her work encouraging the sisters in their ministry – especially by her letter writing. It also allows us to discover children, Australian animals and other elements of her life and ministry.