This year marked a significant milestone for the Little Company of Mary (LCM) Region of the Southern Cross as they celebrated the 140th Anniversary of the arrival of the LCM Sisters in Australia on 4th November 1885.
On 12th November 2025 a Mass of Thanksgiving was held, with LCM Sisters, Guests, Associates and Staff at St Margaret’s Chapel, Calvary Retirement Community at Ryde, Sydney, Australia.
Emeritus Bishop Terry Brady was the principal celebrant with concelebrants Fr Kevin Dance and Fr Greg Morgan, the local Parish priest, and Fr Peter Guy MSC.
The LCM story in Australia began on the 4th November 1885 when six young LCM Sisters arrived from England in response to an invitation to their Founder, Venerable Mary Potter from Australia’s first Catholic Cardinal, Patrick Moran. Cardinal Moran proved to be a steadfast supporter of the Sisters, providing the land in Sydney on which they established a Convent, and later a hospital. Known as Lewisham Hospital, it laid the foundation on which the success of the foundation and reputation of the Sisters was built.
Over the decades, the LCM Sisters became deeply embedded in the country’s history, offering compassionate prayer, care and comfort to the sick and dying – striving to be for others as Mary was for her Son on Calvary through times of depression, epidemic, war, and natural disasters.
The Sisters made significant contributions to Australian health care, with the Sisters amongst the first nurses to sit for the Australian Trained Nurses Association examination in 1906, which was replaced in 1925 by the Nurses’ Registration Board. Two Sisters also earned psychiatric nursing certificates at the local psychiatric hospital at this time. Others were among the early radiographers, pharmacists and physiotherapists, and established the first Institute for Sports Medicine in Australia.
The Sisters’ mission expanded beyond Australia, reaching New Zealand, South Africa, Korea and Tonga. Their legacy is reflected in the generations of LCM women who have followed in their footsteps, continuing to bring the spirit of Mary Potter and the healing presence of Christ to communities across the world.
