Early in January my husband Geoff and I were very fortunate to visit Queenstown, New Zealand for 10 days. What a beautiful country. We were blessed to be able to visit Arrowtown which is about 15kms from Queenstown. Next to the church is a restored cottage which housed the Sisters who came to Arrowtown with Mary MacKillop in 1897. Mother Mary of the Cross travelled from Melbourne to Bluff, at the insistance of Bishop Verdon, with three Sisters who were to teach in the Diocese of Dunedin. The Following are excerpts from a letter:
Arrived at Bluff at 5.00pm on Friday. Journeyed to Inverargill where we stayed the night. Next day caught the train to Kingston accompanied by Father Keenan. We stayed at a hotel in Kingston until 6.30pm when we caught the steamer to travel up Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown. Stayed the night in hotel accommodation and heard Mass in the Convent Chapel. On Monday we travelled to Arrowtown and were met by a number of men and women on horseback and nearer again by a number of buggies. The people cheered and cheered.
Arrived at Bluff at 5.00pm on Friday. Journeyed to Inverargill where we stayed the night. Next day caught the train to Kingston accompanied by Father Keenan. We stayed at a hotel in Kingston until 6.30pm when we caught the steamer to travel up Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown. Stayed the night in hotel accommodation and heard Mass in the Convent Chapel. On Monday we travelled to Arrowtown and were met by a number of men and women on horseback and nearer again by a number of buggies. The people cheered and cheered.
This little room is the school house. It is charming. On the roof are the ball marks which the children made as they played inside on the cold snowy days - bouncing balls which hit the roof and left their imprint - simply wonderful.
St Mary of the Cross we as you to pray for us and for this most beautiful country of New Zealand, particularly in its present time of trial.
Gosh, I took a bus-tour to Arrowtown from Queenstown on 10 July 1985 and was enchanted by Arrowtown, something about the place has never left me.
ReplyDeleteFast forward to 2000 and I got "zinged" by Mary when went west (instead of north) for a holiday - taking in Mt Gambier, Robe, Millicent....
I was also in Rotorua in 1980. Rather odd that I had traced Mary's footsteps without having an awareness of where she had been.
Then I found out last year, that she was a contemporary of a branch of mission workers in my Scots line and that blew my little cotton socks off!
Peace of the thermal waters to you.