Olive May Pearce: Difference between revisions
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'''Olive May Pearce''', also known as '''Sister Eucharia''' (14 December 1914 - ) was a |
'''Olive May Pearce''', also known as '''Sister Eucharia''' (14 December 1914 - ) was a nun best known for her work with Aboriginal children and leprosy patients.<ref name="Eucharia 1914"/> She was made a member the [[Order of the British Empire]] in 1981.<ref name="Eucharia 1914">{{cite web | last=Eucharia | first=Sister Mary | title=Sister Mary Eucharia | website=Territory Stories | date=14 December 1914 | url=http://www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/218060 | access-date=5 July 2017}}</ref> |
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Prior to the [[Bombing of Darwin|Japanese attacked northern Australia]] in 1942, Sister Eucharia and two other nuns accompanied forty-one children to Darwin, where they were evacuated to Melbourne and then Adelaide. They returned home In 1945. |
Prior to the [[Bombing of Darwin|Japanese attacked northern Australia]] in 1942, Sister Eucharia and two other nuns accompanied forty-one children to Darwin, where they were evacuated to Melbourne and then Adelaide. They returned home In 1945. |
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In 1946, Sister Eucharia left Melville Island to work with leprosy patients in places such as Darwin, Channel Island and East Arm. In the 1970s Sister Eucharia returned to the Tiwi Islands. She successfully applied for a government grant to establish the small clothing company [[Bima Wear]]. It is still run by Aboriginal people of the Tiwi Islands today. |
In 1946, Sister Eucharia left Melville Island to work with leprosy patients in places such as Darwin, Channel Island and East Arm. In the 1970s Sister Eucharia returned to the Tiwi Islands. She successfully applied for a government grant to establish the small clothing company [[Bima Wear]]. It is still run by Aboriginal people of the Tiwi Islands today.<ref name="TS TW">{{cite web|title=Sister Mary Eucharia|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10070/218060|website=Territory Stories|publisher=Northern Territory Library|accessdate=5 July 2017}}</ref> |
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Plagued by poor circulation in her legs, and serving most of her time as a nun in the sweltering humid heat of the tropics of Northern Australia, Sister Eucharia was restricted her mobility, a disability which plagued her for life. Not letting it interfere with her work. |
Plagued by poor circulation in her legs, and serving most of her time as a nun in the sweltering humid heat of the tropics of Northern Australia, Sister Eucharia was restricted her mobility, a disability which plagued her for life. Not letting it interfere with her work. |
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==Later life== |
==Later life== |
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After four decades of services, aged 67, Sister Eucharia was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in a ceremony on Bathurst Island In 1981.<ref name="Biography dictionary">{{cite book|last1=al.]|first1=editor David Carment ... [et|title=Northern Territory dictionary of biography|date=2008|publisher=Charles Darwin University Press|location=Darwin|isbn=9780980384697|edition=Rev. ed.}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 14:36, 5 July 2017
Olive May Pearce, also known as Sister Eucharia (14 December 1914 - ) was a nun best known for her work with Aboriginal children and leprosy patients.[1] She was made a member the Order of the British Empire in 1981.[1]
Early life
In 1914, Olive May Pearce was born in Glenbrook, New South Wales. She was the second child into a humble, working class family with no strong religious ties. Olive woke one morning at the age of 14 to a vivid dream calling her into the service of the church. Pearce moved with her family to the Sydney suburb of Enfield where she worked with her father in a cake shop for a short time before becoming a domestic servant. She then, at the age of 22, she became a nun in the order of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as Sister Eucharia.[2]
Life in the Northern Territory
After two years of training, she was sent Bathurst Island where she lived for five years. During that time, she cared for hundreds of children, teaching the girls how to cook. In 1941 Sister Eucharia then travelled to [M[elville Island]] to work in a new home for mixed race Aboriginal children.
Prior to the Japanese attacked northern Australia in 1942, Sister Eucharia and two other nuns accompanied forty-one children to Darwin, where they were evacuated to Melbourne and then Adelaide. They returned home In 1945.
In 1946, Sister Eucharia left Melville Island to work with leprosy patients in places such as Darwin, Channel Island and East Arm. In the 1970s Sister Eucharia returned to the Tiwi Islands. She successfully applied for a government grant to establish the small clothing company Bima Wear. It is still run by Aboriginal people of the Tiwi Islands today.[3]
Plagued by poor circulation in her legs, and serving most of her time as a nun in the sweltering humid heat of the tropics of Northern Australia, Sister Eucharia was restricted her mobility, a disability which plagued her for life. Not letting it interfere with her work.
Later life
After four decades of services, aged 67, Sister Eucharia was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in a ceremony on Bathurst Island In 1981.[4]
References
- ^ a b Eucharia, Sister Mary (14 December 1914). "Sister Mary Eucharia". Territory Stories. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ Territory Stories http://www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/218060?mode=full. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Sister Mary Eucharia". Territory Stories. Northern Territory Library. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ al.], editor David Carment ... [et (2008). Northern Territory dictionary of biography (Rev. ed. ed.). Darwin: Charles Darwin University Press. ISBN 9780980384697.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help);|first1=has generic name (help)