Dear members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community,
Happy birthday, or rather, happy ‘a year of birthday celebrations’, as we enter our 125th year as a Mercy community atop Rourke’s Hill here in Lilydale. Just as it is important that we celebrate milestones in the lives of our young people, it is important that we celebrate them as a community.
Spread all over my desk at the moment, as they are never far from reach, are a number of books and booklets to which I often refer.
Books about Catherine: The Little Book of Catherine of Dublin, Inspired by Catherine and the Mercy through the Years Calendar.
Books about Mercy: Sisters of Mercy.
And books that tell story about our College, of which there are many. The College’s annual publication Coolock is a great example which provides great history, but there are two which are favourites:
Mount Lilydale College: A Century of Mercy written (edited) by former staff member Mr Adrian Reilly, and, A Decade’s Turning 1975-1985.
They are favourites because they provide great story of the Sisters, staff, student body and parent community that worked as community to provide a College, the joys of which we share today.
We intend to mark this year with some key celebrations:
- The Community Mass scheduled for Wednesday 24 February (now cancelled) was intended to be the beginning of our year of celebrations with the launch of the updated College Prayer. COVID-19 restrictions have prevented this, so we will now launch the College Prayer at the Opening College Mass instead
- Host the Frayne Speech Festival: The Frayne Speech Festival is a celebration of speech and it, too, is celebrating a major milestone being its 25th birthday this year. The first such festival was initiated by MLMC staff to celebrate the century in 1996. It will be a delight to host it at the College in August this year
- A book: 125 stories of 125 years. It is currently scheduled to be launched at our evening event the night prior to the Frayne Speech Festival with each of the representative bodies of the College
- College Reunions and Tours: Saturday 23 October
- In the last week of Term 3, we celebrate Mercy Week with Mercy Day and a visit to the cemetery to pray for past Sisters of the College buried there. This year, Mercy Week will be even more special with the unveiling of plaques to celebrate the story behind the names of each of our buildings
- The Old Collegians Gala Dinner in November
- The Memorial celebratory Mass in November
- We also plan to host a Mercy Carnival at the end of Term 1 2022, to mark the end of our year of celebrations.
A committee has been working for more than 18 months to plan these events and hopefully COVID-19 will not impact them too much.
This year is a celebration of our story and so I wish to share with you some of that story with a collection of excerpts from the aforementioned book, Mount Lilydale College: A Century of Mercy:
The Lilydale Express, January 10 1896
LOCAL AND DISTRICT NEWS: We would direct public attention to the fact that on the 20th inst., a primary school will be opened in connection with the new Convent of Mercy, Lilydale. To those parents desirous of obtaining a high class of education for their children, an opportunity is now offered, for in conjunction with the above a high school will be opened. Full particulars of the establishment of these schools may be obtained from Rev, Mother at the presbytery, Clarke St Lilydale.
The Lilydale Express, April 10 1896
CONVENT OF MERCY, LILYDALE: Pupils for music, painting and fancy work will be received at the Convent of Mercy, Lilydale, after the Easter Holidays. The fancy work will include all the latest novelties – Rococo Work, Fish Scale Work, Tapestry Work, Point Lace, Mount Mellick Work, Raised Plush Work, Arasene Ivory Work, Hungarian Work, Macrame Lace, Leather Work, etc. Also CRAYON and PENCILDRAWING.
The Lilydale Express, November 13 1896
CONVENT OF MERCY, LILYDALE: The foundation Stone of the new convent will be laid on Sunday, November 15th at 3pm., by HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF MELBOURNE. The REV. ISAAC MOORE S.J., will preach the occasional sermon. The public are cordially invited to attend.
God bless
Philip A Morison
Principal
