Sister Patricia Murphy & Sister Kerry Macdermott
It was a wonderful sense of community

Seventy-one-year-old Sister Murphy and 64-year old Sister Macdermott have lived in Minto for 21 years.

Sister Macdermott: We came as a result of what we call a discernment process with our congregation of sisters. We looked all over Australia. It was an area of great need and disadvantage and, in those days, the services weren’t adequate for the people’s needs and there was no service like our own which goes into the home and supports the family through crisis or sickness. That was mainly why we came, [for] people who are poor and have no family support. The day we arrived, the 14th of December, 1984, was hot.

Sister Murphy: I remember the first person we met. It was that night at 11 o’clock, it was still so hot and we were tired. It was two St Vincent de Paul men who looked ragged and they had a young lass with them in her thirties. They were desperate, they had nowhere for her to stay and they wondered if we could put her up overnight. This was our very first night. She was a delight. She was in that bedroom there, and the dogs were barking all night and she had her head out the window calling them all sorts of names, and we thought, “This is going to create a great impression. They’re going to know the nuns have moved in. What sort of nuns are they?!”

Sister Macdermott: The kids are very inquisitive and they love things that are a bit different. They knew that a couple of sisters were coming to live and they just swamped us. They were here day and night. They helped us move in, they put things into the cupboards and we had numerous cups of teas and biscuits, and the kids were fantastic. They were our introduction to Minto.

Sister Murphy: What about that little story about Denise calling out for her son at 9 o’clock at night, 11 year old son? They were all in here, she’s screaming out, and he went to the gate and he said, “I’m having coffee with the nuns,” and she called back, “Oh, excuse me!”

Sister Macdermott: The people that we went to were in Department of Housing and they were a younger group. There was a lot of interaction with the street when we came. They’d come once or twice a week. It took about six months for parents to become friendly. They’d say, “Hello,” but [eventually] it became a place where they could come too.

Sister Murphy: It was a wonderful sense of community then.

Sister Macdermott: We had Christmas parties that we organised here and the whole street came and people from around the area. For the first ten years, we had the Christmas parties and gatherings. I think one of the biggest difficulties are the judgmental attitudes of people who don’t believe in Department of Housing and have all sorts of names for people that are struggling, and it was their lack of understanding and compassion and their apathy to even be interested in the plight of people that are struggling. It was difficult to get through to people that we’re all the same; we’re all trying to look after our families and make a contribution to the community, whether we’ve got lots of money or very little money. That was the difficulty which I found hardest to cope with, my reaction was to get angry that they were so insensitive.