Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites (‘Brown Joeys’), were founded in Penola, South Australia in 1866 by Mary McKillop, and Reverend Julian E Tenison Woods.

The Centre of the congregation is at Mary McKillop Place, Mount St North Sydney where Mary’s tomb is enshrined in the Mary McKillop Memorial Chapel.

Today there are more than a thousand Sisters living and working throughout Australia (South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia) and New Zealand, as well as Ireland and Peru.

From the earliest years of the Congregation, the Josephites of the South Australian Province have been a group of women ever responsive to the needs of our times. In the spirit of Mary McKillop and her early companions, they accept that this may call them to ‘create the path’. Wherever they live and work, they strive to ‘proclaim the Good News to the whole creation’.

For more information on the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart click here

"There where you are, you will find God"
                             Mary MacKillop, 1871