Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese REPORT
14 Dec 2012
14 Dec 2012
Wise and warm Sr Julianne brought the story of Mary MacKillop to thousands of children across Australia
After two years on the road across Australia, the Sesame Street-style Mary MacKillop puppet and her puppet companion, Bobs the dog, can finally take a rest. The distinctive vibrant-painted Sister's Travelling Roadshow van is also in storage and South Australian Josephite, Sister Julianne Murphy is back home at last and able to sleep in her own bed once more.
After months of sleeping in a different bed each night or bunking down in the back of the van, Sr Julianne says she still can't believe she has spent the past four nights sleeping in the same bed.
"And even better my own bed," she says laughing.
But she also insists the experience of helming the two year Travelling Roadshow and visiting virtually every corner of Australia, speaking to schools, parishes and communities has been a life changing experience she will treasure forever.
"I have been very privileged to have been able to see so much of Australia. It has been a remarkable journey and what struck me wherever I went, no matter how remote the community I visited, was the awareness and enormous interest in Mary MacKillop, with everyone keen to get on board and keep her spirit alive," she says.
In her two year epic journey accompanied by the two puppets and various Josephite sisters who shared different legs of her travels, Sr Julianne drove an incredible 70,254 kilometres visiting every major Australian city as well as hundreds of towns large and small, and as many rural and remote communities as possible.
With her enthusiasm, warmth, sense of fun and her popular puppets, Sr Julianne delighted young and old with her presentations about the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, her work and her legacy.
The Governor General with Sr Julianne Murphy, the Josephite puppet schoolchildren love and the Travelling Sisters Roadshow van
Over the two year period Sr Julianne gave presentations on Australia's first saint and the ongoing work of the Mary MacKillop Foundation to more than 58,600 children as well as thousands of adults who listened spell-bound to the story of the Melbourne-born religious who was the first to provide free education to Australia's poor, vulnerable and marginalised.
They also heard how the legacy of this remarkable woman continues today not only through the work of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the community she founded, but through the Mary MacKillop Foundation which provides annual grants of up to $10,000 to individuals and communities across the country to support small life-changing projects designed to help rebuild and change lives.
Established in the 1980s by the Sisters of St Joseph, the Foundation is committed to continuing the work of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and her mantra to "never see a need without doing something about it."
Established in the 1980s by the Sisters of St Joseph, the Foundation is committed to continuing the work of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and her mantra to "never see a need without doing something about it."
The idea for the roadshow came as a direct response by the Foundation to help children and communities deal with the devastating natural disasters that swept across Australia from late December 2010 through to February and March 2011.
By the time Sr Julianne first took the wheel of the roadshow van and embarked from Mary MacKillop Place North Sydney on the first leg of her two year travels, Australians were struggling to cope in the aftermath of the worst floods in more than a century that had taken lives and swept away entire communities in Queensland, NSW and Victoria. In February another disaster followed with the arrival of Cyclone Yasi which roared through Northern Queensland, cutting a swathe of destruction as it decimated homes and livelihoods. Simultaneously on the other side of the country, Western Australia was battling catastrophic bushfires that turned the outskirts of Perth into blackened smoking ruins.
Wherever they went the puppets were a big hit
"Even children who lived well away from any of the areas affected by these disasters were upset and stressed after seeing images of these events as they unfolded on television," Sr Julianne explains.
With more than 20 years experience as a teacher as well as a principal at schools in South Australia, she devised ways to help children cope. With the younger ones, she used puppets of Mary MacKillop and her dog Bobs to encourage the youngsters to confide their fears and find hope.
"Children open up when they talk to puppets in a way they may not when talking directly to an adult of family friend," Sr Julianne explains and laughs as she recalls how often the Mary MacKillop puppet was hugged and kissed and the needle and thread repair jobs she would have to undertake at night. She also laughs about Bobs the dog who looks like a collie pup rather than Mary MacKillop's beloved terrier.
"We couldn't find a terrier puppet so we grabbed this one as the next best thing," she explains.
Another part of her presentation at both primary and secondary schools was to place pairs of shoes on the floor and encourage students to step into them and to imagine what it is like to "walk in somebody else's shoes."
This part of the presentation helped build empathy and understanding of others, not only those involved in natural disasters but for those who came here as asylum seekers and remained held in detention, or those children struggling with poverty in families that had little or nothing.
The Travelling Sisters Roadshow epic journey has now ended
During the first months of the roadshow the initial aim to help children cope with the aftermath of the floods, cyclone and bushfires was expanded and broadened.
"Travelling in the roadshow van from school to school and community to community was also a wonderful way to meet a wide variety of people and also gave me an opportunity to see many of the projects supported by the Mary MacKillop Foundation in action," Sr Julianne says.
The journey also helped her pinpoint where the additional 10 grants given by the Foundation in the wake of the natural disasters might go and the projects that would help communities help themselves, rebuilding lives, and getting them back on their feet.
Originally Mary MacKillop's Roadshow was expected to run for just one year but the response from schools, towns, parishes and communities was so great and invitations to visit their school or town so overwhelming, it was decided for Sr Julianne and her roadshow to continue her travels in 2012 as well.
For Sr Julianne this year's journey included visits to many state primary and secondary schools who had specifically asked the roadshow to visit.
"Although they were not religious schools, the students knew the story of Mary MacKillop and were eager to know more. They had no religious teaching at these schools but I discovered Mary MacKillop is now part of the history syllabus at public schools across the country."
The two puppets are now in storage along with the Roadshow van
But now the journey is over. Next year there will be a different initiative from the Foundation to support and help those with grants for projects as well as the financing ongoing tertiary scholarships which have so far enabled 50 Indigenous students to graduate from some of Australia's top universities.
For Sr Julianne though her travels are about to continue and after spending time over Christmas with family and friends she is heading for the Kimberley in WA and the remote community of Warmun where she will take over as teacher and educator at the school there.
"It will be great to be part of the community and not just passing through a community as I've done over the past two years," she says admitting she is very excited and very much looking forward to her appointment and her new life in Warmun.
Comments