Rel. Name
Means Religious name of Nuns/Sisters. When a woman entered the convent as a sign that she wanted to become a new person in Christ she was given a new name. The name was usually the name of a Saint who could serve as a model or a name connoting a theological statement for example `Assumpta’ a name honouring the Assumption of our Blessed Lady. Even if a simple name of `Anne’ was given there are variations in the full religious name, for example - Sister Anne, Sr. M. Anne, Sr. M. of St. Anne, Sr. St. Anne, Sr. Ste. Anne, Sr. De Ste. Anne. For the purposes of this project each of the above examples would be listed in the index under the one name of "Anne".
Death/left date
This field gives the date of death or the date the Sister left the convent. Very few Sisters decided to leave. If a Sister left, this is indicated in the section "Comments". If such a statement does not occur when the date given in this field is the date of death.
Date of Birth, Entering the Convent or of Death/left
Because the Computer programme required a date of each of the days, months and years, if it was only known the person was born in 1835, then the figures 35/01/01 were typed. When such figures are given it does not mean the person was born on the first of January 1835 unless otherwise stated in the Comments section.
If a person was born sometime in month e.g. April 1846, then the figures 46/04/01 were typed. When such figures are given it does not mean the person was born on the first of April 1846 unless otherwise stated in the Comments section.
Surname
A number of Sisters had French family names. Because of nineteenth variations such names which took the form De La Riviere or de Riviere were listed under Riviere. A name such as Delahunty was listed as given.
Christ Nm
Means the Christian name of the Sister given at her birth or baptism. It is important to check name variations, eg. Kate for Catherine, Lizzie for Elizabeth, etc.
Rel. Order
Means the name of the Religious Order or Congregation to which the Sister belongs. With the list of main centres of each Order the following abbreviations were used in the fields for the computer programme.
Rel. Order Date Centre Established Official Name
(FIELDS) Founded (FIELDS) in Aust.
1. ADORATION 1874 Brisbane 1874 Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (RPA)
2. BENEDICTINES 500’s Sydney 1848 Order of St. Benedict (OSB)
3. BRIGIDINES 1807 NSW 1883 Sisters of St. Brigid (CSB)
4. BRIGIDINES 1807 Victoria 1886 " " " "
5. CARMELITES 1562 Sydney 1885 Discalced Nuns of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel (OCD)
6. CHARITY 1815 Sydney 1838 Sisters of Charity of Australia (RSC)
7. CLUNY 1807 Victoria 1903-12 Missionary Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny (SJC)
8. DOMINICANS 1206 East Aust. 1867 Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia (OP)
Rel. Order Centre
(FIELDS) (FIELDS)
9. DOMINICANS 1206 Adelaide,C. 1869 Holy Cross Congregation of Dominican Sisters (OP)
10. DOMINICANS 1844 Adelaide,N 1883 Dominican Sisters of North Adelaide (OP)
11. DOMINICANS 1206 West Aust 1899 Dominican Sisters of Western Aust. (OP)
12. FCJ 1820 Melbourne 1882 Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ)
13. GOOD SHEP 1835 Melbourne 1863 Good Shepherd Sisters (RGS)
14. GOOD SAMS 1857 Sydney 1857 Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St. Benedict (SGS)
15. JOSEPHITES 1866 Penola 1866 Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (RSJ)
16. JOSEPHITES 1872 Goulburn 1882 Sisters of St. Joseph (RSJ)
17. JOSEPHITES 1872 Lochinvar 1883 " " " " "
18. JOSEPHITES 1872 Perthville 1872 " " " " "
19. JOSEPHITES 1872 Tasmania 1887 " " " " "
20. LCM 1877 Sydney 1885 Little Company of Mary (LCM)
21. L SRS POOR 1839 Melbourne 1884 Little Sisters of the Poor (LSP)
22. LORETO 1609 Ballarat 1875 Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM)
23. MARIST 1817 Sydney 1908 Congregation of Mary (SM)
24. MERCY 1831 Adelaide 1880 Sisters of Mercy (RSM)
25. MERCY 1831 Ballarat 1881 " " " "
26. MERCY 1831 Bathurst 1866 " " " "
27. MERCY 1831 Brisbane 1861 " " " "
28. MERCY 1831 Cairns 1884 " " " "
29. MERCY 1831 Emmaville 1885 " " " "
30. MERCY 1831 Goulburn 1859 " " " "
31. MERCY 1831 Grafton 1883 " " " "
32. MERCY 1831 Gunnedah 1887 " " " "
33. MERCY 1831 Melbourne 1857 " " " "
34. MERCY 1831 Mt.Gambier 1880 " " " "
35. MERCY 1831 Parramatta 1883 " " " "
36. MERCY 1831 Perth 1846 " " " "
37. MERCY 1831 Rockhamptn 1873 " " " "
38. MERCY 1831 Singleton 1875 " " " "
39. MERCY 1831 Sydney,Nth 1865 " " " "
40. MERCY 1831 Townsville 1878 " " " "
41. MERCY 1831 West Perth 1896 " " " "
42. MERCY 1831 Parkes 1932 " " " "
43. MISSIONS 1861 Perth 1897 Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM)
44. NAZARETH 1851 Ballarat 1888 Congreg.of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth (PSN)
45. OLSH 1874 Sydney 1885 Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (FDNSC)
46. OL NURSES 1913 Sydney 1913 Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor(OLN)
47. POOR CLARES 1212 Sydney 1883 Order of St. Clare (OSC)
48. PBVM 1775 Lismore 1886 Congregation of the Presentation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM)
49. PBVM 1775 Queensland 1900 " " " " " " "
50. PBVM 1775 Tasmania 1866 " " " " " " "
51. PBVM 1775 Victoria 1873 " " " " " " "
52. PBVM 1775 Wagga 1874 " " " " " " "
53 PBVM 1775 West Aust 1900 " " " " " " "
54. RSCJ 1800 Sydney 1882 Religious of the Sacred Heart
55. S HEART 1866 Young 1910-25 Sister Servants of the Sacred Heart
56. SION 1863 Melbourne 1890 Our Lady of Sion Sisters (NDS)
57. SJA 1832 Perth 1855 Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition (SJA)
58 SMSM 1845 Sydney 1858 Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary (SMSM)
59. ST TERESA 1876 New Norcia 1904-10 The Company of St. Teresa
60. URSULINE 1535 Armidale 1882 Order of St. Ursula of the Roman Union (OSU)