Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul

The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul is a Catholic religious order that arrived in Sydney in 1926. The Australian Province of the Daughters of Charity later expanded beyond New South Wales, to regions including South Australia. The activities of the Daughters of Charity focus on serving and supporting the marginalised and disadvantaged. In New South Wales, the order ran the Croagh Patrick Home in Orange and the Murray-Dwyer Home in Mayfield, a suburb of Newcastle. They also operated the Murray-Dwyer Home until 1973. In South Australia, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul ran St Joseph’s Refuge, Fullarton, between 1963 and 1992. In 2020 the Australian and British provinces of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul merged to form the Province of Rosalie Rendu.

Members of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul first arrived in Australia in December 1926 when four Sisters came from the British Province to Orange in central western New South Wales. Four more Sisters arrived in November 1927. They lived in a cottage in William Street Orange (now Ensleigh Street), and taught at the nearby St Mary’s School.

According to a Mayfield jubilee booklet, the sisters at Murray-Dwyer were French.

An Assessment of the Historical and Archaeological Values of BHP Land at Tourle Street, Newcastle cites Kim Maree Goodwin, author of ‘Iron Bark’ Homestead and the Daughters of Charity, as saying residents of Newcastle referred to them as ‘the Aeroplane Sisters’ because of the wide white cornet they wore.