In October 1878 three Presentation Sisters from Castleisland established a foundation at Sneem, Co. Kerry, and from this community three Sisters - M. Regis Finn, M. Joseph O’Connell and M. Lelia Russell volunteered to found a mission at Geraldton in Western Australia. The group was later joined by M. Joseph Horgan, an elderly Presentation nun from Mitchelstown, and five postulants. The nine members of the Presentation party, accompanied by Father Patrick Horgan sailed from Cork on 21 May 1891 and arrived at Geraldton on 6 July 1891. The Sisters took up residence in the former Mercy and Josephite Convent, established in 1883 and 1888 respectively.

Three Catholic schools existed in Geraldton at the time. Mother M. Joseph Horgan was appointed acting Superior and Mother M. Regis Finn her assistant. However, due to a debilitating illness Mother M. Joseph Horgan was unable to contribute to the foundation and in her place Bishop Gibney appointed Mother M. Joseph O’Connell, who has since been recognised as the foundress of the Presentation Sisters in Geraldton. On 21 January 1894, Geraldton’s first profession took place when all five postulants took their final vows. The following year on 19 March the first Australian postulant Margaret McDowell (Sr. M. Magdalene) entered.

In 1898 Geraldton became a separate Diocese, with West Australian born William Bernard Kelly as its first Bishop. With his vast sparsely populated diocese and the withdrawal of subsidies from denominational schools, the Bishop sought adaptation of the Presentation Rule of Enclosure to allow for the formation of branch houses and the visitation of homes, hospitals and jails. By the end of 1899 Bishop Kelly had taken a firm stand with the Presentation Sisters on enclosure which he felt was inappropriate for Australian conditions and he continued to press the community to accept a more simple form of this practice. Sadly the pressure on the Sisters between 1900 and 1901 caused a division. This was resolved in 1901 when Mother Joseph O’Connell and five supporters who chose not to accept dispensation from the rule, moved to Northampton, with the understanding that the foundation would become independent. From Northampton they established a Convent and school at Roebourne in September 1901 and at Carnarvon in 1906.

The remaining seven Sisters with Mother M. Lelia Russell as Superior and M. Brigid Kenny assistant, accepted Bishop Kelly's ruling and were able to remain at Geraldton.

In 1903 the Community transferred from the original Star of the Sea convent in Marine Terrace to a new convent built on a site nearer the centre of the town. A new day school, St. Anne’s, was opened next door and in 1912, the first wing of Stella Maris College, was completed. As the numbers of postulants grew, the Geraldton Sisters began a rapid expansion inland to Greenough where they replaced the Dominican Sisters in 1902, Bootenal 1902, Lawlers 1903-12 and Sandstone 1909. In 1912 a branch house was opened in Goomalling in the New Norcia Diocese at the request of Abbot Torres; it became independent in 1919 under his successor, Abbot Catalan. Goomalling amalgamated with Iona Mosman Park in 1938.

Whereas the Geraldton Sisters moved out eastwards to the goldfields and adjacent agricultural areas, the Northampton Sisters expanded to the mining and pastoral regions of the North-West. Between them they opened a total of 20 branch houses in the period 1902-1970. In 1943 influenced by Bishop Alfred Gummer, the two independent communities Geraldton and Northampton amalgamated, and Mother Bernard Myers was elected the first Mother General of the Congregation so formed.

In March 1874, in response to an urgent appeal from Bishop Lanigan of Goulburn for religious communities of women for his diocese, five Presentation Sisters under the leadership of Mother John Byrne, left Kildare, Ireland, for the mission at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Mt. Erin Presentation Convent Wagga Wagga, was officially opened in 1876. On 15 August 1877 the first Australian born postulant entered. She was Mary Brigid Treacey (Mother Angela), a highly educated, musically talented woman who was then 32 years of age. She was destined to become the foundress of two independent communities - Hay in 1883 and Southern Cross in 1900 - and eventually the foundress of the Perth Congregation of Presentation Sisters.

By 1900 Mother Angelo was able to respond to a request from Bishop Gibney for a foundation at Southern Cross, a small town on the Yilgarn goldfields. The Sisters chosen from the volunteers, led by Mother Angela Treacey, were M. Joseph O’Dowling, M. Paul O’Halloran, M. Columba Moynihan and M. John Jones. However a new convent school was opened on 22 August 1900 and pupil numbers increased. On 13 June 1901 the first West Australian born postulant entered - Amy Houlihan from Fremantle (Sr. Anthony).

At Bishop Gibney’s request a second foundation was made in 1902 in the coal mining town of Collie in the South-West. Later Southern Cross came under the jurisdiction of the Benedictine Abbot of New Norcia and the Community, with Bishop Gibney’s support, decided in 1904 to withdraw rather than be cut off in another diocese. Having been invited to open a school and Convent in Star of Sea Parish Cottesloe, the two remaining members of the Presentation Community at Southern Cross moved into temporary accommodation at Cottesloe in 1905.

The final stage of the Presentation pioneers’ pilgrimage is aptly described by Ruth Marchant James in her book ‘Cork to Capricorn’, in which she catches the spirit of anticipation, joy and relief of the pioneers as they finally arrive at their Home in the West. "On Wednesday 11 September 1907, after having lived almost three years in rented cottages, the Presentation Sisters finally moved into their splendid new convent overlooking Mosman Bay. The purchase of the Hon. Zebina Lane’s magnificent property `Chateau Perseverance’ was finalised by Bishop Gibney in mid-August 1907, and plans to convert the house into a suitable convent, boarding and day school were immediately approved. Mother Angela Treacey, much loved by her community, was again appointed head of the new foundation, and on the day the Sisters took up residence at Iona the Bishop signed a statement authorising the transfer of the head house and novitiate from the branch house at Collie. Iona has remained the mother house ever since." School began at Iona in February 1908.

In the years following, 17 branch houses and a motor mission were founded from Iona. These were in the wheat-belt and the dairying and timber regions of the South-West of W.A. With the revision of the Constitutions in 1947 the Presentation Sisters, then in the Dioceses of Perth, Bunbury and New Norcia, were canonically formed into a Congregation with the head house at Iona Mosman Park. Sydney born Mother Alacoque Gittins was elected the first Superior General of the Perth Congregation.

The Union of the Presentation Congregations of Geraldton and Perth was promulgated on 29 December 1969 and on that day Sister Albeus Fahey was elected the First Superior General of the new Congregation of the Presentation Sisters Western Australia. In 1991 an overseas mission was founded in Thailand. Already five Sisters are involved in that mission.

Further suggested reading:

James, Ruth Marchant. Cork to Capricorn: A History of the Presentation Sisters in Western Australia 1891-1991.

Perth PBVM 1996

The Call & the Vision: Presentation Sisters: 100 years in WA 1891-1991 published Geraldton

James, Ruth Marchant. The Presentation Sisters unsung pioneers of education. 1980.

If further information is required about individual Sisters the following address is given:

The Archivist

Western Australia Congregation Presentation Sisters

P.O. Box 290

COTTESLOE W.A. 6011