The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul is a Catholic religious order that arrived in Australia in the 1920s. The order ran the Croagh Patrick Home in Orange and the Murray-Dwyer Home in Mayfield, a suburb of Newcastle. They operated the Murray-Dwyer Home until 1973. 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.
Sources used to compile this entry: 1900-1950 Jubilee Celebrations Management Committee, 50 Years of Progress: 1900-1950: Mayfield Jubilee Celebrations: Souvenir Booklet, This item is held by the University of Newcastle Library and is digitised as a PDF., Davies & Cannington Pty Ltd, 1950, https://uonccmayfield.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/mayfieldjubilee.pdf; Bonhomme Craib & Associates: Sue Rosen Pty Ltd, An Assessment of the Historical and Archaeological Values of BHP Land at Tourle Street, Newcastle, BHP Newcastle, February 1996, http://uonccmayfield.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/steelriver1996.pdf; Thinee, Kristy and Bradford, Tracy, Connecting Kin: Guide to Records, A guide to help people separated from their families search for their records [completed in 1998], New South Wales Department of Community Services, Sydney, New South Wales, 1998, https://clan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/connectkin_guide.pdf.
Prepared by: Melissa Downing & Naomi Parry
Created: 7 March 2011, Last modified: 13 January 2023