In the late 1930’s the sisters in Tasmania almost returned to Sydney due to protests about the plans for the building of a hospital in Hobart.  “A spate of letters appeared in Hobart’s daily paper, ‘The Mercury’ … ‘Residents object to erection of a chimney stack’ … ‘Eyesore should be prohibited’.  The letters gave rise to strong opposition…”. 

Soon after the laying of the foundation stone for the hospital “… the statue of St Joseph, brought from Wollongong and erected lovingly, had been desecrated overnight; a tie had been put around the neck of the statue and creosote poured over the head.”

Many years later a gentleman patient at Loreto told a sister that he wanted to confess that he was the one who had desecrated the statue of St Joseph, explaining he was only young and did it for fun!

Little did he know that the desecration of the statue became “…the turning point; the people of Hobart were horrified, especially the residents close by.  Now more letters poured in saying that the people did want the sisters; they were welcome in Tasmania and they would find many friends.”  “Only hooligans would do such a thing, etcetera…”.

Calvary Hospital Hobart grew to become the first hospital in Tasmania with four branches of nursing.

(quotes from:  1976 Wordley, Dick : No One Dies Alone)