These September holidays we normally would have seen a number of our students travel to Central Australia. In 1967, the College went on its first Central Australia trip and this became an annual tradition until recently. We hope that 2022 will see the resumption of our Central Australia trip.
As part of our 125th anniversary celebrations, we take a look back at some of the history of the College's annual Central Australia trip.
1967 - CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
In 1967 Sister Eileen Casey began to make plans to take a group of students on an extended excursion in May the following year to Central Australia, an area of interest to her. She later wrote: "Little did I realise we were establishing a tradition."
The first of many MLMC expeditions to the heart of the country involved 48 students and four teachers, including Sister Eileen Casey and Sister Gabrielle Jennings. They would travel by bus and camp along the way, except for two nights in a motel. Sr Gabrielle recorded in her diary the morning they left: "What a crowd! Mothers, fathers, brothers, sons, sisters and Sisters — all filled with excitement and suspense."
Sr Eileen remembered: "We were delayed by the very slow speed at which the buses were able to travel on what were then unmade roads from Port Augusta all the way up to Alice Springs and out to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and back again. The trip was made even more exciting by the fact that we fell upon some floods on the way and were stranded in the middle of a flooded river at one stage."
Although the Second Vatican Council had recently allowed nuns to modernise their dress and they did not have to wear their traditional habits, Sr Eileen later recalled: "Officially we wore the habit, in fact we climbed Ayers Rock in our habit and became a spectacle!"
Enjoying a dip at the old Telegraph Station in Alice Springs.
One of the sisters at Lake Heart.
Sister M Cecilia Greenleaves at the camp site in Alice Springs.
The camp at Wellbourne Hill.
The sisters at Standley Chasm, Northern Territory.
