Mary MacKillop in Adelaide: Keith visits the official Motherhouse of the Sisters of St Joseph in the Adelaide City region of South Australia

The next vital chapters in Mary MacKillop's life happened in Adelaide and Kensington is a truly historic spot. It's where she built her first official Motherhouse - the headquarters of the Sisters of St Joseph.

The Adelaide story began in June 1867 when Mary arrived in Port Adelaide on a ship from Port MacDonnell.

Sister Patricia Keane, Mary MacKillop Centre: "She came to Adelaide because Father Woods had been appointed the Director of Catholic Education and he saw a tremendous need for the poor in Adelaide and he needed some specialized help. So he called on Mary because he knew her idea was to create a school for the education of the poor children."

Sister Patricia Keane runs the Mary MacKillop Centre at Kensington. Here, we learn about the work of the Josephite nuns and their 'Rule of Life' which dictates that they should 'never see an evil without trying to do something about it'. It's a rule the sisters still live by today.

Sister Patricia Keane, Mary MacKillop Centre: "One of the points in our rule of life was that the sisters must do all the good that they can and never see an evil without trying how they may remedy it."

Archbishop Philip Wilson, Adelaide Archbishop: "One of the things that is very entrancing about her was the universal vision that she had about care. Very soon after she came to Adelaide it wasn't just schools and education (she) was involved in. The sisters had refuges for women; they were out caring for people in their homes and looking after the members of the community who were in need."

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson say he's humbled to be Archbishop at this special time. And he'll play a big part too - as president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, he'll assist the Pope at Mary's Canonisation in Rome.

The early working places of Australia's first saint are all around us. Sister Patricia has put together a self guided walk which takes in 18 locations associated with Mary - all within the city square alone. St Francis Xavier Cathedral on Victoria Square is on the list because it is where Mary started her first school in Adelaide.

Sister Patricia Keane: "The first school opened in the St Francis Xavier's Hall and within a very short time there were something like 50 children attending and by the end of that year the numbers may have exceeded 100 attending that school."

Over the next few years, Mary and her sisters' care for the poor spread across the sate as they opened schools, women's refuges, an orphanage and homes for the destitute. The sisters walked the streets together, begging for money, food and clothing and finding the neediest in the community. The Sisters of St Joseph were the first non-government organisation in South Australia to offer residential care for the aged.

Sister Patricia: "Right from the very beginning they were visiting the Adelaide Gaol, the Destitute Asylum, the Adelaide Hospital and they started other schools - this is just in the first six months."

The Adelaide Gaol is one of our most historic buildings and very soon after Mary MacKillop came to Adelaide she was a regular visitor there. She called on Hugh Fagen for instance - a violent murderer on death row. He was touched by her prayers and her tears and he converted just before he went to the gallows.

The little Catholic Chapel in the historic West Terrace Cemetery is on the Mary MacKillop Trail too. Just as her order was rapidly expanding in the 1870s Mary was also having to cope with losing some of her young sisters. The cemetery contains a grave of some of her sisters including Sister Anne McMullen. She joined the Order at the age of 17 and the record says she got wet through on an errand of mercy and within months she had died of consumption. She was aged just 22.

Published Sunday 10th October 2010