Fast vanishing from sight are the facial features of Australia's first Catholic saint , Mother Mary MacKillop , in her huge portrait atop St. Joseph's School , facing busy Ross River Road . It seems the tropical heat and occasional rain is causing her to fade away with the stars of the Southern Cross , making her look somewhat spooky , an apparition in a midnight horror movie.
The S(h)ipping Reporter's file photograph above of Mary MacKillop taken more than a year ago shows her beaming down in all her glory on the passing throng . Born in Victoria in 1842, she set up an order of nuns which established schools and welfare organisations in Australia and New Zealand , specialising in education of the rural poor . The sainted, feisty lady was given the run around by some of the male Catholic hierarchy , especially in South Australia, where she was even excommunicated for a time. On medical orders, she took a drop of wine from time to time and was branded an alcoholic by her enemies in the church .
The portrait of Australia's first Catholic saint deserves a prompt make over by the powers that be. Local media are free to follow up this story , as long as they make a blessed donation to the parched S(h)ipping Reporter's sinking refreshment fund at Molly Malone's Irish Pub in the seaside nightclub precinct . Our waterfront roundsman once followed in the footsteps of Mother Mary MacKillop in South Australia where he pruned vines in a vineyard which made altar wines for the local and export market , with the Romanesque name of Seven Hills .
Over the years Mary MacKillop inspired a film, a play , a dramatic musical and a novel . In modern Townsville this exceptional woman is being allowed to fade away in public without the myopic local media noticing .
