An overview of the historiography of women religious in Australia *.

In the past twenty years there has emerged in Australia a burgeoning body of literature of scholarly interest in the history of Catholic women religious. This evolution has been stimulated and influenced by the historiography emerging from countries in the northern hemisphere. The interplay between these geographical boundaries has been critical in our emerging scholarship. Publication of Jo Ann McNamara's recent general history of female religious was a long awaited text, canvassing the overall picture across two millennia and several continents, (1) and providing the initial background necessary for specific study. Historians, in North America and Ireland in particular, restored religious women not just to church history but into educational and social history as well. Historians in Australia, both religious and secular, have been influenced by the early historians in the field, for example Mary Ewens and Mary J. Oates in the USA, Marta Danylewycz in Canada, and Catriona Clear in Ireland, who initiated study in this area. The international historiographical development in this genre which is emerging, and has recently been documented by Stephanie Burley, (2) Carol Coburn, (3) and Elizabeth Smyth, (4) provides a useful tool for existing and beginning scholars.

However a historiographical review of the literature of the history of women religious in Australia must include the influences from research in various related fields, and in diverse genres. Relevant concepts, themes and methodological approaches in religious and women's histories, feminist studies, and institutional histories have been integrated into, and informed, research on Australian female religious. Therefore it is essential to canvass, albeit briefly, the influences from those particular genres.

Australian religious history

There have been several indications in the last two decades that the social significance of religion is being reconsidered by historians. In the sub-discipline of Australian religious history, there has been an increase in research, detailed in two comprehensive recent reviews, (5) which reflect 'the most scholarly work written in the last twenty years', (6) and highlight the inclusion of a religious dimension in the writing of secular history. Furthermore, the changed directions of religious history are revealed as it moves towards including questions relating to gender, race and minority groups particularly migrants. Such changes in general religious historical scholarship have also a place in the analysis of Australian Catholic female religious.

Initially, histories of Catholicism in Australia were highly clerical, (7) but in the past two decades several academics have contributed lively, general, cultural and social histories, (8) which establish the central religious themes and developments in Catholic religious history. Class and gender relations, politics and demographics, all relate to the establishment and development of Catholic convents and their institutions. In addition, several texts alert the historian of Catholic female religious to the influence of race, conflict, division, age relations and changing spirituality. Also useful are the articles which highlight the developing historiography in the area (9) and the gradual appearance of Catholic religious history in non-religious academic journals.

Women's history

In women's history in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a steady stream of research emerged that related to religion in women's lives, particularly in their drive for social reform and their participation in philanthropic endeavours. (10) Although there was minimal representation of Catholic women in these writings, they alerted the historian to the possible, but undocumented, role of female Catholic religious in similar areas of service, such as nursing, social work and particularly education.

The first Australian text to focus on women and religion was Women, Faith and Fetes: Essays in the History of Women in the Church in Australia, (11) which examined the varied roles of women within the churches, including Catholic female religious. Beverley Kingston (12) raised some very interesting questions about the links between belief and practical reality. She asked:

   What role has the lamington drive or the welfare bazaar played in
   the socioeconomic scene in Australia? How far have women's church
   activities enabled them to find a secure place in a hostile or
   lonely environment? And how far has it prevented them from realising
   their own potential as opposed to that decreed by the church
   hierarchy? Does church work provide women with political experience,
   or does it merely reinforce the traditional role of women as 'God's
   police'? (13)

These questions could be very well asked of the Catholic female religious. Anthea Hyslop (14) and Judith Smart (15) raised questions relating to the motivation, goals and results of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, particularly as to whether religious belief and consequent action simply reinforced the status quo for women. Such analyses unleashed a barrage of possible questions about the nature, work and inspiration of Catholic female religious: Were the female religious in their convents and related works being used to reinforce the traditional Catholic view of women in relation to marriage and motherhood, or were the sisters indicating either consciously or otherwise some form of liberation? What were the influences on the women managing and working in their varied institutions? Were the sisters seriously questioning religious and social structures or simply reforming existing ones, or even strengthening traditional Catholic expectations of girls in particular? The text included several chapters on Catholic religious women that raised further relevant questions, which will be discussed in a following section.

After an apparent lull in publications, there emerged further research in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The text edited by Margaret Ann Franklin focused on the place of the 'feminine' in Christianity, (16) and Mark Hutchinson and Edmund Campion (17) examined 'the problems associated with the roles of men and women in churches, to fill out the number of case studies illustrating the theories developed by scholars of religion and gender'. (18) In both these collections there were chapters on Catholic female religious, which will be discussed later. Other work at this time described what it meant to be both an Anglican and Catholic woman. (19) Janet West (20) wrote a popular history, about the contribution of women to the Christian church and the wider community, including the struggle for equality for women, both within the church and in society. She too included female religious women. Their existence, and the role of the work of laywomen of many denominations, were definitely now recognised, at this initial stage, by historians writing about both women and religion.

Nevertheless, in 1997 Anne O'Brien alerted historians to the lack of interest specifically by feminist historians in the role of Catholic female religious women. (21)

Feminist history 

However, as if in immediate response to this charge, in 1998 two special editions of journals, written by academic feminist historians focussed on women, religion and citizenship, and on the place of religion in historical analysis. (22) These editions demonstrated that work had begun in the field. The authors described the place of religion in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the broader social context, and summarised what had become apparent in some of my research and that of others, namely that there had been 'limited recognition of how religious belief may have informed women's views of the world, and their social and political activism'. (23) Such interest by feminist historians of philanthropy in the religious dimension confirmed that 'religious conviction may at times prompt women to defy male authority, or support, on grounds of religious conscience or spiritual leadings, a claim to legitimacy for unconventional, challenging and transgressive behaviours'. (74) This evolving scholarship affirmed the directions of many researchers, and encouraged existing investigations of Catholic female religious women and their institutions.

Australian historiography of women religious

Australian Catholic Church histories (25) have tended not to examine female religious, as these texts have been in the main patriarchal and episcopal, and religious sisters as such have been generally ignored. Use has not been made of convent archives, but rather of diocesan material, resulting in very male dominated clerical histories. These oversights challenged several historians.

Initial studies: 1977-1986

In 1977 Frances O'Donoghue (26) wrote about the four main challenges facing Mother Vincent Whitty, the leader of the first group of Mercy sisters to establish themselves in Queensland. According to O'Donoghue, Mother Vincent found her individuality and freedom hampered by 'government domination of education, the vastness and isolation of pioneering Queensland, Episcopal control, and the threat to the Mercy ideal within her own religious community'. (27) She was to reject government sponsorship, and in so doing made an independent start, receiving no salaries or subsidies for her school, well before the Education Acts of the 1870s. Issues pertaining to power relations were raised especially between the convent superior and the bishop, in this case Bishop James Quinn who sought a degree of control over her community which she deemed unconstitutional. For this he demoted her. She is described as having a career, a concept developed in my own research. In addition, such studies raise interesting questions relating to submission, clerical control and forms of resistance.

Maureen Purcell (28) highlighted the conservative nature of the church, in which individuality, taking risks, and change were anathema. Catholics were to be protected from the pernicious evils of the outside pluralist society. In this endeavour, Purcell argues that Dominican sisters in Maitland were 'to act as the sheep-dogs, though not as the shepherds, and to do so diligently, in obedience to Episcopal policy and directives'. (29) She also highlights the forces, which ensured this outcome, particularly society's expectations, the sisters' lack of theological awareness, and, most importantly, an inherent belief in the appropriateness of this position of submission. Purcell's analysis challenges the historian to question the degree to which submission was a common reaction to ecclesiastical authority by female religious, or whether in fact public submission may have been a mask for private resistance. The study led to questions that would explore a more complex response involving contradictions and the possible diversity of responses by women religious to the patriarchal authority of the Church. Apart from this text, research focussing on the reactions of female religious to clerical patriarchy, was not to reappear in published form until ten years later.

There was not, however, a vacuum in the scholarship. Insiders, members of religious orders, were undertaking private research, (30) and in the 1980s there was significant encouragement by religious orders for their members to engage in higher degree work. Several theses resulted. (31) They were meticulously documented, and canvassed the descriptive aspects of the origins, charism, and development of the public work of specific orders. In the main there was little attempt to analyse conflict or contradictions in the spiritual and temporal lives of the sisters.

Later Studies: 1986-2004

In this period research in the history of female religious in Australia increased rapidly, and several historians have contributed significantly. Most have been insiders, but there is a growing number of outsiders, lay historians, undertaking studies in the history of female religious and their public works. In 1986 two chapters were published, one by Eileen Byrne who highlighted the role of the church in the education of girls and women, (32) and another by Anne McLay on the feminisation of structures in religious orders. (33) The work of a number of the major contributors is reviewed in this section.

Byrne has offered a succinct and enlightening view of the education of Catholic women in early Christian times, the medieval period, the Renaissance and Reformation influences, and in the post industrial period. She concentrated on the issues relating to church attitudes to female schooling, access, and comparison of provision with their male siblings. Byrne set a challenge for the Australian historian of Catholic girls' schooling, to address the area in Australia.

In 1986 McLay wrote that 'religious women escaped in some ways from male dominance ... as convents were established, nuns were' able to win great freedom from the clerical male establishments and to create a rich feminine culture'. (34) Ironically, at the same time they could participate in the male, public workplace unlike their lay counterparts. Another irony was that such women were to adopt patriarchal structures for their own communities, incorporating regulations, control, discipline and domination. Questions of power relations within these groups became another possibility for research. In addition, McLay voiced what I suspected, namely that there was more freedom for female religious, for example, to pursue a career unhindered by domestic responsibilities. Such a claim had not appeared before. She also refers to the refusals of Mary MacKillop and Mother Vincent Whitty to be subordinate to episcopal authority, albeit that the refusals took different forms. She does admit that they were rare examples. More were to be found.

McLay was to be more prolific in the 1990s, writing two very detailed texts focussing on the Sisters of Mercy, firstly in Western Australia and secondly in South Australia. (35) Women Out of Their Sphere is a narrative outlining the people, places and institutions that influenced the establishment and continuance of the Mercy sisters and their ministries in the west, in the context of Australian society and the Catholic Church. The title emanates from a cleric who accused these sisters of going 'out of their sphere' when they had purchased a house for young Aboriginal girls without consulting the appropriate male advisor. McLay raises other questions pertaining to the proper sphere for women and in particular religious women. What was it? How far were they prepared to go beyond the bounds of the proper sphere? Were these 'virgin brides' on an unreal pedestal? To respond to these questions, McLay incorporated feminist theory, and an interdisciplinary approach incorporating elements of sociology, psychology and theology. She also used oral history, a relatively new approach. Ultimately, she believed that while these women had a very definite and specific private sphere, they were not limited to this domestic arena, but in fact were extremely active in the public world and refused to be victimised by a domineering church.

McLay's most recent publication, in 1996, focussed on the South Australian Mercies, and her research questions fell into three categories: 'questions concerning the liberation of women, in education, in internal organisation, and in relation to the church, especially; questions of power, as in authority and leadership, community and friendship; and thirdly, questions concerning the nature of Mercy and the nature of God'. (36) What was new was McLay's main argument that among the Australian Mercies, the Adelaide Mercies were more progressive, more flexible than other Australian communities. She proceeded to find reasons for it, including the progressive history of South Australia, the perception by the local church that they were leaders of Australian Catholicism, but more significantly the sisters' exotic origins in Argentina that had set them apart to begin with. Their pre-history, involving a preparedness to be different, creative and flexible was built into the group psyche. According to McLay, their early history in South Australia showed 'an ability to take risks, a reluctance to be limited by present structures, a refusal to compromise their principles and ideals'. (37) In the twentieth century these sisters moved quickly to respond to the opportunities for reform encouraged by Vatican II. Her research documented detailed insights into the spiritual aspects of community life, and it also stimulated further analysis as to why some students from their school would in turn be leaders in the secular world.

Sophie McGrath, in writing the history of the Parramatta Sisters of Mercy, (38) addressed the challenge posed by Edmund Campion, who believed that 'nuns ... made the religion of the Irish what it was ... Yet they were the most mysterious element in Irish religion ... They have been so mythologised and dehumanised ... that they have escaped the historian's pen'. (39) McGrath relates her history to a number of diverse areas, 'Church history, the history of education, social welfare history, cultural history, specifically in the fields of religion and music, and women's history. It is indeed a multifaceted picture'. (40) She thus alerted prospective historians to the breadth of reference required in the history of female religious, some of which is replicated in this literature review.

Acknowledging herself as an insider, a member of the community to be studied, she sees this as both an asset and a liability. McGrath states:

   I have a lived knowledge of the culture about which I was writing
   and could speak 'the language'. My inside knowledge helped me to
   form questions and interpret answers, and I was not regarded as
   an inquisitive outsider but as a sympathetic insider. On the other
   hand ... I knew I had to live with the published truth, as I saw it,
   which could be unpalatable to individuals in the group. There is
   consequently the temptation to suppress that which is unsavoury and
   uncomfortable. (41)

Such research concerns have become problematic for some historians, when studying individuals who were still alive. McGrath interviewed forty senior sisters, and used oral history to define patterns in the collective lived experience of the sisters. According to Patrick O'Farrell, one of the strengths in McGrath's research is 'the exposition of a way of life which made sense of a vocation which is to many people strange and obscure. McGrath has captured and conveyed something of the mysterious contradiction and fulfilment these women represent'. (42) McGrath was not alone in exploring the religious dimensions of such lives. (43) The lay historian could easily ignore the spiritual aspects of this lifestyle, which is essential to a thorough understanding of the research area.

Yet another strength of McGrath's history lies in the scope of the history, as it ranges from the foundation years of the community, to encompass the volatile years of the 1960s-1980s. McGrath also raises the question about the backlash from the clerics and lay community, when the sisters withdrew in this period in large numbers from Catholic schooling. She believes that the laity and church hierarchy did not understand 'the changed political and economic situation and the repression that the Mercy vision had suffered in the name of Catholic Schooling in Australia'. (44)

The history of women religious was to be given two very different interpretations in the series of essays entitled Long Patient Conflict. (45) Janet West, (46) as her title stipulated, analysed the development of both Anglican and Catholic sisterhoods in terms of 'a recipe for confrontation' between the patriarchal bishops and determined superiors. Specific examples of individuals were given in the Catholic arena: Mary MacKillop, Mother Ignatius McQuoin and Sister Alicia de Lacy. Also many examples of tensions were described, ranging from misunderstanding, interference and passive resistance, to escalating clashes, confrontation and outright conflict. West gave reasons for these conflicts, citing power relations, acquisition of property by the sisters, challenges to contemporary social attitudes, and the normal conflict necessary in any institution to readjust and adapt to change. Hutchinson says of this analysis that it 'wrestles with the detail of personality and the heat of the moment--in this the structures of gender leap much more sharply into focus, as the characters make decisions and express their opinions in the categories open to them'. (47)

Rosa MacGinley, (48) on the other hand, offered a quite different perspective. Her discussion focused on the ancient legal and canonical aspects and the long cultural history of Catholicism as it pertained to authority over, or of, female religious orders. She argues that in Australia, most disputes, 'even given the factors of personal bias and prejudiced interest, resulted from unclear demarcations, where the principals were operating out of different, and often long held, contexts of understanding'. She differs even more from West in recording that 'collaboration in commonly-held apostolic objectives marked the relationship between hierarchy and women's institutes in Australia to a much greater degree than conflict'. (49) These were valuable contributions to the debates, adding the canonical ramifications, and reminding historians of the many examples of successful collaboration between superiors and male hierarchy.

In 1997 MacGinley published the first history of all the Institutes of Women Religious in Australia, (50) providing the breadth of coverage, which had previously been missing. The text canvasses the origins of the various groups, their foundation and development within the context of emerging Australian society, and provides an opportunity for comparison and the study of emerging themes. Therefore there is now an overall reference book meticulously documented and indicating areas for further research.

Other contributors: other genres

Paul Gardiner has written the most recent biography of Mother Mary MacKillop, (51) based largely on the extensive historical findings for the Positio, (the historical exploration of the life of a person to be canonised). It does not conceal the intrigue and infighting amongst clerics and the hierarchy, nor MacKillop's emotional, spiritual and physical tensions. In places, however, it does border on the emotive and celebratory, as it focuses on what she endured. Similarly, at times the complexity of situations is not always addressed. Nevertheless it is thorough, detailed, and well documented. Another detailed biography is that of Mother Ursula Frayne. (52) Biography has become increasingly relevant, the genre being attractive, encouraging both narrative and analysis.

There have also emerged local and regional histories of communities in Australia; for example in South Australia Marie Foale (53) and Helen Northey (54) have contributed histories of the Josephite and Dominican communities, which are well crafted and detailed. They are useful for the often needed chronological material, and provide detail for possible comparison between the religious orders. However, they have not added to the debates as outlined so far. There have also been well-documented histories of communities in other states, the Dominicans, Loreto sisters, the Benedictines and the Good Samaritans, which highlight their ministries of nursing, social work and education. (25) According to Carey, these studies do not embrace feminist analyses, but 'gender, ethnicity, and class are usually under consideration, and all make clear the significance of women in the forging of Catholic identity, and in the work of schools, parishes and hospitals'. (56)

Finally, Anne Henderson (57) is the first Australian author to focus her research almost exclusively on oral history. Beginning in 1994, she interviewed forty Sisters of St Joseph and has used their recollections almost exclusively to describe the sisters' lives as both students and female religious. In the investigation, the spiritual dimension of the sisters' lives is revealed, as they reflect on their work and vows. Henderson highlights yet again the absence of female religious in the general Catholic histories. 'For Catholic baby-boomers ... archbishops ruled the flock. Popes handed down the strictures (rules). And the history books recorded all these hierarchical doings to the exclusion of almost everything else'. (58) Yet according to her findings these were not the major influences on an ordinary child in a catholic school as he/ she developed into adulthood. Rather it was the sisters who as Henderson observes were:

   An oddity to outsiders, mainstream to any Catholic. Hardly a
   classroom was without one. They were young and in charge, and
   role models for the girls who looked up at them from the
   desks.... they took vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. They
   weren't part of the clergy; they hadn't and couldn't take Holy
   Orders like priests. But they were career women, women in the church
   who had a role, an alternative authority, belonging to a community
   of convent life, which, like their clothing, separated them from
   everyday society. (59)

In the later twentieth century findings about female religious reflect the paradoxes relating to the intersection of the private and public spheres in the lives of female religious.

Contributions in other histories

Historians in other fields are recognising that there have been silences in their specific areas regarding the involvement of female religious. This is particularly true in the history of education, nursing and social welfare in Australia.

In her doctoral thesis, Lesley Hughes (60) addresses this major omission from the history of Australian social work, by outlining the significant contribution of women religious in the provision of social welfare services over the past 165 years. She argues that their work crossed multiple boundaries, for example the gender divide between the public and the private spheres, and in addition the sisters' work blurred the border between nineteenth century charity work and twentieth century professional social work.

Similarly Siobhan Nelson (61) has focussed on the roles and lives of female religious in the field of nursing. In her study she alerts the reader to the administration and organisation of female religious communities in home, hospital, epidemic and military nursing in America as well as Britain and Australia. This text is comparative, contextual and critical. It has provided an excellent beginning for further research in this area in Australia.

Although some aspects of Catholic girls' schooling have been incorporated in studies of female religious orders, historians of education in Australia have in the main ignored Catholic schooling and in so doing the many roles of female religious in this apostolate. (62) It was not until 1986 that this silence was addressed. Noeline Kyle's study (63) of the history of schooling in New South Wales, incorporated a chapter on Catholic girls' secondary schooling. In this she included, as in a previous article, (64) a discussion of the role of religious females in teaching. By the 1990s it was clear that in Australia, Catholic girls' schooling and the contribution of female religious to such schooling had to be addressed. Stephanie Burley had recognised the silences. (65) Therefore, one of the aspects of her research focussed on the leadership of such women, the institutions they established and developed, and the contradictions that their lives posed for themselves, the Catholic male clerical hierarchy and their students. Marjorie Theobald in her work on Australian female teachers also alerted historians to the potential for research on religious female teachers. (66) Thus it is only relatively recently that these women as teachers have been recognised.

In 1991 McGrath (67) traced the educational traditions of three female religious orders, which came to Australia and established schools for girls: the Ursuline order, the Loreto Sisters, and the Sacred Heart Sisters. Other aspects highlighted were the professional preparation of the religious teacher and the encouragement of higher education of women. These orders educated many of the women who were to enter the later established teaching orders, for example the Presentation Sisters, Sisters of Charity, and Sisters of Mercy. At the same time two other theses (68) were being written in the history of Catholic girls' schooling in Australia, highlighting the emerging interest in the topic.

Another contributor to the history of Catholic girls' schools has been Christine Trimingham Jack. Her doctorate, (69) and a further paper, (70) analyse a small Australian Catholic girls' preparatory school in rural New South Wales which was operated from 1944 to 1965 by the religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She has focussed on several themes, including sacred symbols, school ideology, and the role of the lay sisters. The culmination of her research can be seen in her latest publication Growing Good Catholic Girls. (71) One of the significant features of the study is the presentation of several comparisons, eg between the written and the oral, the rhetoric and the reality, idealism and practice, love and freedom, English/British culture and the Australian colonial influence, the male/sublime (the Sacred Heart) and the female/ beautiful (Mary), and finally the conflict posed by the desire to make Kerever Park a happy home, but also to adhere to the demands of the religious community. By detailed discussion of such paradoxes, the text provides the complexity that the hagiographic account can overlook. Similarly, the tensions in the lives of the sisters who were interviewed provide a valuable insight into the lives they led. Hierarchical and age relations become apparent, based as they were on the class structures of the late 19th century. Differences between choir and lay sisters and the training of female religious are all canvassed. The oral histories provided wonderfully visual images, penned pictures, which reflect the fun, foibles and fury of the very human individuals involved. Trimingham Jack has been innovative, particularly in her use of theory. Her research is informed by feminist poststructuralist theory. The concept of discourse is central, especially as it applies to the construction of experience and subjectivity. She states, 'In keeping with this theoretical framework, narrative, both written and spoken, is viewed as textual production which reveals subjectivity as constructed through alignment with and investment in particular discourses'. (72) Also relying heavily on Foucault and Fay, and their theories relating to the formation of bodies by various institutions, Jennifer Jarrett's recent thesis examines how religious sisters were required to discipline their bodies, in order to overcome their femaleness and live a life dedicated to God. (73)

In 2001, Tom O'Donoghue produced a text, (74) responding to the central question posed in 1979 by Musgrave, (75) regarding the unique characteristics of Catholic schooling. The sets of issues posed by O'Donoghue, focus on what was distinctive about those who taught, what they taught, and how they taught it. Thus the specific characteristics of Catholic religious teachers both male and female, particularly their spiritual and professional formation, have been analysed. In a very recent text, (76) O'Donoghue examines the recruitment, retention and contribution of religious orders, male and female, to Catholic education in not only Australia, but also the United States, England, Wales, Ireland and New Zealand from 1925-1965. He also examines the darker side of the history of some religious orders, namely the child abuse, both physical and sexual, in which some members of various religious teaching orders engaged.

There is no doubt that relevant and detailed studies of female religious teachers now exist in the history of education.

Conclusion

The historian's narratives, descriptions and analysis must involve creativity and imagination. (77) I would argue that such work is specifically emerging in the history of Catholic female religious in Australia, aided significantly by the increased scholarship internationally, and influenced by methodological developments in disparate and different genres of history. Where initially religious, social, women's and feminist histories influenced the writing of the history of women religious, the latter is now penetrating mainstream academic histories.

The research is extending into, and benefiting from an interdisciplinary approach. (78) Another significant development in Australian scholarship of the history of women religious has been in the area of methodology. Initially, most historians drew upon data from traditional historical sources, namely written evidence. (79) Increasingly, however, Australian historians are recognising the importance of other sources, particularly written reminiscences and oral history, which provide the voices from below, which until very recently have been omitted in analyses of institutional life. In addition, historians in the field are starting to realise the potential use of visual evidence in the form of photographs, symbols, icons and images in verifying or in cross-referencing of other material. Finally, there have been suggestions and examples given where the study of architecture and landscaping can enhance the understanding of convent community life. It is this combination of evidence that can enrich our scholarship, strengthen argument, and highlight paradoxes and tensions which may otherwise not become apparent.

The genre can now boast of detailed, scholarly and analytical research canvassing convent histories and their public institutions, particularly in education, and to a lesser extent in nursing and social welfare. So too are there biographical studies of convent leaders and their leadership styles, encompassing struggles and tensions with the clerical patriarchy of the Catholic church. In several studies there are insights into the activities in some communities both pre and post Vatican II. Taken together the scholarship highlights the crucial roles that women religious have played in the emergence of Catholic identity and women's history in Australia.

There is, however, great scope for further studies which are more focussed, and extend initial discussions in existing literature. In retrospect, Catholic identity may have become a misnomer, given the emerging nature of pluralist Catholic identities. In the context of such development, there is a need for further elaboration on the adaptation of an order's charism, (often originating in Europe) to current Australian social and cultural contexts and needs. Such a study could include changing endeavours and the inclusion of increased cultural groups in these evolving ministries, and the themes of family influence, kinship connections and migration.

Other issues requiring more detailed historical study could be the role, if existing, of female religious in the movement for female ordination to the priesthood, and on issues focussing on activism for social justice issues, for example nuclear disarmament and pro choice regarding abortion. Although Kovesi Killerby has initiated research of female religious orders and their relations with Aboriginal peoples, (80) there is a need to focus further on past and current relationships of female religious orders with Indigenous Australians. Similarly, although Mary Ryan (81) has focussed on the sisters' roles in the Australian outback, there is still a silence about missionary work undertaken by female religious overseas.

Further research in the broader areas of health care and in particular hospital administration and medical education is required. Similarly in the history of education, future studies could focus on the role of several female religious communities in tertiary education, (particularly in the area of teacher education), and also the critical roles of female religious teachers in parish primary schooling throughout Australia.

One dominant theme in the research has been adaptation to change. Further research could focus on specific changes, for example from enclosure and community living to suburban living in small households; from being a sole identity, the 'Nun', to accepting the notion of multiple identities; from being considered to be asexual, to now acknowledging a sexuality; from large institutional ministries to more individual pastoral and parish concerns. More specific studies of female religious communities and their response to, and activities pre and post Vatican II would encompass such analysis.

Finally there is now an opportunity for comparative studies, including an international perspective, given the networks resulting from the triennial conferences of the History of Women Religious and the emerging literature reviews.

This review shows that in Australia the research has become extensive and also at times unwieldy, given its inclusion in many genres and its use of many disciplines. I acknowledge that there will be omissions--through ignorance rather than intent--and I sincerely request contributions to add to what I anticipate will be an ongoing exercise.

Those Catholic female religious communities and their archivists who have opened their archives are to be commended. It takes courage to allow such examination of both the weaknesses and the strengths in the order's endeavours. It is in such self-knowledge and analysis by historians, produced by the intersection of geographic, spiritual, cultural and gender boundaries, that history is written, which would otherwise remain unrecorded. There have been, and continue to emerge, balanced, challenging and perceptive accounts which reveal complex paradoxes, and use creative historical approaches. Such histories and analysis can also be provocative and threatening, and leave the historian open to criticism. In this the historians are likewise being courageous.

* The article has been peer reviewed.

(1) Jo Ann McNamara, Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1996.

(2) Stephanie Burley, Chapel, Cloister and Classroom: The intersection of class, gender and religion in Catholic convent schooling in South Australia, 1880-2000, PhD, University of Adelaide, 2003, pp.25-42.

(3) Carol Coburn, 'An Overview of the Historiography of Women Religious: A Twenty-Five year Retrospective,, U.S. Catholic Historian, vol.22, no. 1, (Winter 2004), pp. 1-26.

(4) Elizabeth Smyth, 'Writing the History of Women Religious in Canada 1996-2001', International Journal of Canadian Studies, vol.23, Spring, 2001, pp.205-211.

(5) Hilary Carey et al, 'Australian Religion Review, 1980-2000, Part 1: Surveys, Bibliographies and Religious Other Than Christianity', Journal of Religious History, (JRH) Vol.24, No. 3, 2000, pp.296-313; and Hilary Carey et al, 'Australian Religion Review, 1980-2000, Part 2: Christian Denominations', JRH, vol. 25, no. 1, 2001, pp.56-82.

(6) ibid. p.297.

(7) Patrick Francis Moran, The History of the Catholic Church in Australasia, Oceanic Publishing, Sydney, n.d.; John T. McMahon, One Hundred Years: Five Great Church Leaders, Paterson's Printing Press Ltd, Perth, 1946.

(8) Patrick O'Farrell, The Catholic Church in Australia: a Short History, 1788-1967, Nelson, Melbourne, 1968; Deirdre and Patrick O'Farrell, (eds.), Documents in Australian Catholic History 1788-1968, 2 vols., G Chapman, London, 1969; Patrick O'Farrell, 'Australian Catholics', Christian Affairs Bulletin, 16 Nov. 1970; The Catholic Church and Community: Australian History, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Press, Sydney, 1985; Edmund Campion, 'Irish Religion in Australia', Australasian Catholic Record,(ACR) vol.55, no. 1, 1978, pp. 10-14; Rockchoppers: Growing up Catholic in Australia, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1982; Australian Catholics, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1988; Naomi Turner, Catholics in Australia, vols. 1 & 2; Collins Dove, Melbourne, 1992; Katharine Massam, Sacred Threads: Catholic Spirituality in Australia 1922-1962, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1996.

(9) K.S. Inglis, 'Catholic Historiography in Australia', Historical Studies, (HS) vol. 8, no. 31, Nov. 1958, pp.233- 253; Walter Phillips, 'Australian Catholic Historiography: Some Recent Issues', HS, vol. 14, no. 56, 1971, pp.600-611; J.D. Bollen, A.E. Cahill, Brace Mansfield, Patrick O'Farrell, 'Australian Religious History, 1960 -1980', JRH, 1980, pp.8-44; T. P. Boland, 'Two Hundred Years On: Catholic History', Compass, vol.22, 1988, pp.26-31; Bruce Mansfield, 'Thinking About Australian Religious History', JRH, vol. 15, no.3, 1989, pp.330-344; Patrick O'Farrell, 'The Writing of Australian Catholic History 1980-1990', ACR, vol. 68, no. 2, 1991, pp.131-145; 'Thirty Years On: The O'Farrell Era', ACR, vol.75, 1998, pp.145-156; Carey et.al, 'Australian Religion Review 11'.

(10) Anthea Hyslop, 'Temperance, Christianity and Feminism: the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria 1887-1897', HS, vol. 17, 1976-1977, pp.27-49; Elizabeth Windshuttle, (ed.), Women, Class and History, Fontana, Melbourne, 1980; Margaret Bevage, Worth Her Salt, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1982; Marilyn lake and Farley Kelly, Double Time, Penguin, Melbourne 1985; Jill Roe, Beyond Belief: Theosophy in Australia 1879-1939, New South Wales University Press, Sydney, 1986.

(11) Sabine Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes: Essays in the History of Women in the Church in Australia, Dove Communications, Melbourne, 1977.

(12) Beverley Kingston, 'Faith and Fetes: Women and the history of the Churches in Australia', in Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes, pp.20-29.

(13) Willis, 'Introduction', in Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes, p. 13.

(14) Anthea Hyslop, 'Christian Temperance and Social Reform: The Women's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria, 1887-1912, in Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes, pp.43-63.

(15) Judith Smart, 'The Panacea of Prohibition: The Reaction of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Victoria to the Great War', in Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes, pp.162-194.

(16) Margaret Ann Franklin (ed.), The Force of the Feminine: Women, Men and the Church, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1986.

(17) Mark Hutchinson, Edmund Campion (eds.), Long Patient Conflict: Essays on women and gender in Australian Christianity, Centre for the Study of Australian Spirituality, Sydney, 1994.

(18) ibid p.5.

(19) Patricia Grimshaw, 'In Pursuit of True Anglican Womanhood in Victoria, 1880-1914', Women's History Review, vol. 2, no. 3, 1993, pp.331-47; Katharine Massam, 'Transcending the Body: Gender, Sexuality and Holiness in Australian Catholicism', in P. Hetherington, and P. Maddern (eds.), Sexuality and Gender in History, University of Western Australia Press, Perth, 1993, pp.202-222.

(20) Janet West, Daughters of Freedom: A History of Women in the Australian Church, Albatross Books, Sydney, 1997.

(21) Anne O'Brien, 'Sins of Omission? Women in the History of Australian Religion and Religion in the History of Australian Women: a Reply to Roger Thompson', Australian Historical Studies, no. 108, 1997, p. 132.

(22) Margaret Alien, Sandra Stanley Holton and Alison Mackinnon (eds), 'Theme One Articles: Women, Religion and Citizenship: Intersections', Australian Feminist Studies, vol. 13, no. 28, 1998, pp. 195-281; Sandra Stanley Holton, Alison Mackinnon, Margaret Alien (eds.), Special Issue: 'Between Rationality and Revelation: Women, Faith and Public Roles in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries', Women's History Review, vol. 7, no. 2, 1998, pp. 163-259.

(23) Allen et al, 'Theme One Articles: Women, Religion and Citizenship: Intersections', p. 195.

(24) ibid., p.195.

(25) See note 5.

(26) Frances O'Donoghue, 'They Never Marry: The Life of Mother Vincent Whitty', in Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes, pp.29-43.

(27) ibid., pp.133-134.

(28) Maureen Purcell, 'The Original Sin--Submission as Survival: Women Religious in the Early Maitland Diocese, in Willis, (ed.), Women, Faith and Fetes: pp. 194-210.

(29) ibid., p.205.

(30) M. R. MacGinley, Foundations of Australian Congregations of Religious Women, Major Religious Superiors, Sydney, 1979; M. O'Sullivan and Pauline Fitzwalter, Congregations of Religious Women in Australia, Major Religious Superiors, Sydney, 1979; M. R. MacGinley, Relationships Between Religious Orders and the Hierarchy in Australia, Major Religious Superiors, Sydney, 1979; M. R. MacGinley, Roads to Sion: Presentation Sisters in Australia 1886-1980, Presentation Convent, Brisbane, 1983.

(31) Janice M. Tranter, Foundations: the Forces at Work in the Foundation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lochinvar 1883-1913, MEd Thesis, University of Newcastle, 1988; Helen M. Delaney, The Canonical Status of the Sisters of Mercy 1831-1841, Thesis, (Masters in Canon Law), St Paul University, Ottawa, 1988; M. Kavanagh, The Educational Work of the Presentation Sisters in Victoria 1873-1960, MEd Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1990; Helen M. Delaney, The Evolution of Governance Structures of the Sisters of Mercy, 1846-1990, Thesis, (DCL), St. Paul University, Ottawa, 1991; Margaret O'Sullivan, Some Implications of the 1846, 1847, and 1859 Conflicts between the Sisters of Charity and the Sydney Catholic Hierarchy, PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, 1993; Helen Northey, Living the Truth: The Dominican Sisters in South Australia 1868-1958, PhD Thesis, Flinders University, 1996.

(32) Eileen Byrne, 'The Role of the Church in the Education of Girls and Women', in Franklin (ed.), The Force of the Feminine, pp. 10-28.

(33) Anne McLay, 'The Feminisation of Structures in Religious Orders', ibid., pp. 149-164.

(34) McLay, 'The Feminisation of Structures', p.150.

(35) Anne McLay, Women Out of their Sphere: A History of the Sisters of Mercy in Western Australia, Vanguard Press, Perth, 1992; Women on the Move: Mercy's Triple Spiral: d History of the Adelaide Sisters of Mercy: Ireland to Argentina 1856-1880 to South Australia 1880, Sisters of Mercy, Adelaide, 1996.

(36) McLay, Women on the Move, p.xxiii.

(37) ibid., p.xxii.

(38) Sophie McGrath, These Women: Women Religious in the History of Australia: The Sisters of Mercy, Parramatta 1888-1988, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1989.

(39) Edmund Campion, 'Irish Religious in Australia', p.8.

(40) McCrrath, These Women, p.xi.

(41) ibid., p.xii.

(42) ibid., p.ix.

(43) Naomi Turner, Which Seeds Shall Grow? Men and Women in Religious Life, Collins Dove, Melbourne, 1988. Turner examined in her research the nature of spirituality on both male and female religious life.

(44) ibid., p.263.

(45) Hutchinson and Campion (eds.), Long Patient Conflict.

(46) Janet West, 'A Recipe for Confrontation: Female Religious Orders and the Male Hierarchy in Nineteenth Century Australia', in Hutchinson and Campion (eds), Long Patient Conflict, pp.71-87.

(47) Hutchinson, 'Introduction: Long Patient Struggle', ibid., pp.6-7.

(48) MacGirdey, 'Catholic Women's Religious Institutes in Australia, 1830-1940: Some Considerations', ibid., pp.89-111.

(49) ibid., pp.103-104.

(50) M. R. MacGinley, A Dynamic of Hope: Institutes of Women Religious in Australia, Crossing Press, Sydney, 1996, and a second edition in 2002.

(51) Paul Gardiner, Mary MacKillop: An Extraordinary Woman, E. J. Dwyer, Sydney, 1993.

(52) Catherine Kovesi Killerby, Ursula Frayne: a Biography, University of Notre Dame Press, Fremantle, 1996.

(53) Marie Foale, The Josephite Story: The Sisters of St. Joseph, their Foundation and Early History, 1866-1893, Sisters of St. Joseph, Sydney, 1989.

(54) Helen Northey, Living the Truth: The Dominican Sisters in South Australia 1868-1958, PhD Thesis, Flinders University, 1996.

(55) Marilyn Kelleher, Compassionate Samaritans: Active Benedictine Women in New South Wales, 1857-1877, PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, 2001; Ruth Marchant James, Fields of Gold: A History of the Dominican Sisters in Western Australia, Dominican Sisters, Perth, 1999; Margaret Walsh, The Good Sams: Sisters of the Good Samaritan 1857-1969, John Garratt, Melbourne, 2001; Anne Carter, Beyond All Telling: A History of Loreto in Western Australia, 1897-1997, Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Perth WA, 1997; Marie Crowley, Women of the Vale: Perthville Josephites 1872-1972, Spectrum Publications, Melbourne, 2002; Katharine Massam, 'To name and to Remember: the reunion of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of New Norcia', New Norcia Studies, vol. 10. 2002.

(56) Carey et al, 'Australian Religion Review 11', p.69.

(57) Anne Henderson, Mary MacKillop's Sisters: A Life Unveiled, Harper Collins, Sydney, 1997.

(58) ibid., p.1.

(59) ibid., p.1.

(60) Lesley Hughes, 'To Labour Seriously': Catholic Sisters and social welfare in late nineteenth century Sydney, PhD Thesis, UNSW, 2003.

(61) Sinbhan Nelson, Say Little Do Much: Nursing Nuns and Hospitals in the Nineteenth Century, Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia, 2001.

(62) Some earlier work was available on isolated examples of Catholic schooling, eg M. McLay, Critical appreciation of Educational System of All Hallows Congregation, MEd thesis, University of Queensland, 1963; Anne McGrath, Some Convent School Traditions in Victoria 1860-1920, MEd thesis, University of Melbourne, 1964; Carmel Leavey, formerly M.C., Religious Education, School Climate and Achievement: a Study of Nine Catholic Sixth Form Girls' Schools, PhD thesis, Australian National University, 1972; Pauline Fitzwalter, 'Commitment to Education-Its Influence on the Life Styles of Religious Women in Australia from 1840s-1910', ACR, vol.54, 1977, pp.351-353.

(63) Noeline Kyle, Her Natural Destiny, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1986.

(64) Noeline Williamson Kyle, 'The Feminisation of Teaching in NSW: A Historical Perspective', Australian Journal of Education, vol.27, no.1, 1983, pp.33-44.

(65) Stephanie Burley, 'None More Anonymous? Catholic Teaching Nuns, their Secondary Schools and Students in South Australia 1880-1925, MEd thesis, University of Adelaide, 1992; 'Lost Leaders from the Convent and the Classroom 1880-1925', in J. McMahon, H. Neidhart, J. Chapman (eds.), Leading the Catholic School, Spectrum, Melbourne, 1997, pp.49-61; 'Past Principals: The public pervasive presence of powerful women in the church in South Australia, 1880-1925 ', in John Coolahan, Richard Aldrich, Frank Simon, (eds.), Paedagogia Historica: International Journal of the history of education, Supplementary Series Vol.5, Faiths and Education: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, 1999, pp.339-352; 'The Silent Sisterhood(s): Catholic nuns, their work and influence for social change in Australia, in particular South Australia, 1880-1930', in Joy Damousi, and Katherine Ellinghaus (eds.), Citizenship, Women, and Social Justice: International Historical Perspectives, History Department University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1999, pp.275-289; 'The Staffroom: Consensus, Conflict and Contradictions', in Fay Gale (ed.), Making Space: Women and Education at St Aloysius College 1880-2000, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2000, pp.71-96.

(66) Alison Prentice and Marjorie R. Theobald, Women Who Taught: Perspectives on the History of Women and Teaching, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1991, p.23.

(67) S. McGrath, 'A Neglected Richness: Significant Strands in the Catholic Education of Girls', ACR, vol.68, no.2, 1991, pp.198-210.

(68) M. Kavanagh, The Educational Work of the Presentation Sisters in Victoria 1873-1960, MEd Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1965; C.N.Lewis, Provision for the Education of Catholic Women in Australia Since 1840, PhD Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1990.

(69) Christine Trimingham Jack, Kerever Park: a history of the experience of teachers and children in a Catholic girls' preparatory boarding school 1944-196, PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, 1997.

(70) Christine Trimingham Jack, 'Leaving Home: Deconstructing the Experiences of Children in a Catholic girls' preparatory boarding school, 1944-1965', Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society Conference: End of a Century: New work in the History of Education, The University of Sydney, 1999, pp.217.

(71) Christine Trimingham Jack, Growing Good Catholic Girls: education and convent life in Australia, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2003.

(72) Christine Trimingham Jack, 'The Lay Sister in Educational History and Memory', History of Education, vol.2a, no.3, 2000, pp.181-194.

(73) Jennifer Ann Jarrett, Catholic Bodies: A History of the Training and Daily Life of Religious Teaching Sisters in New South Wales, 1860-1930, PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, 2004.

(74) Thomas A. O'Donoghue, Upholding the Faith: the process of education in Catholic schools in Australia, 1925-1965, P. Lang, New York, 2001.

(75) Praetz, Building a School System, p.x.

(76) Thomas A. O'Donoghue, Come Follow Me and Forsake Temptation: Catholic Schooling and the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers for Religious Teaching Orders, 1925-1965, Peter Lang AG-European Academic Publishers, Bern, Switzerland, 2004.

(77) Carey et al, 'Australian Religion Review II', p.71.

(78) Examples of this approach can be seen in the work of McLay, who has used sociology, psychology, some feminist theory and theology. Similarly Trimingham Jack has incorporated references from diverse genres, for example from art historian, Bernard Smith, feminist theologian, Rosemary Radford Ruether, memory theorists Haug, Crawford, Kippax et al, and life history theorists Chanfrault-Duchet.

(79) There is an abundance of traditional written material in diocesan, school and convent archives and these sources are used extensively and effectively. These sources, constitutions, annals, necrologies and obituaries provide the goals, rules and philosophy of the particular religious order and its public works. Taken together, these sources are prescriptive and provide the information required to describe the philosophy and structures of the varied communities.

(80) Catherine Kovesi Killerby, '"Never locked or tied": Early Irish Missionary Attitudes to the Aboriginal People of Western Australia', in Philip Bull, Frances Devlin-Glass and Helen Doyle (eds), Ireland and Australia, 1798-1998: Studies in Culture, Identity and Migration, Crossing Press, Sydney, 2000, pp.124-133; and 'One of the Great Irish Missionaries of the 19th Century', in The Record, vol.5, Dec. 1996.

(81) Mary Ryan, For Whom We Go Forward or Stay back: A History of the Sisters of Mercy, Wilcannia-Forbes Congregation 1884-1959, Sisters of Mercy, Wilcannia-Forbes, 2004.

Dr Stephanie Burley, a historian of education and senior lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Adelaide, was invited to present this paper at the Sixth Triennial Conference of the History of Women Religious at Avila University, Kansas, USA, in 2004. She addresses the significant body of literature emerging and the exciting developments in this historical genre.