Mercy in the Past: Mercy for the Future – Jennifer Oaten
A Shared Heritage
When Ursula Frayne and her small group of Mercy Sisters stepped ashore in the Swan River Colony in 1846, they had very little. What they had was a clear sense of purpose. They came to educate girls, to shelter those in need, and to serve those whom society often overlooked. Within a few years, they had established their first school for girls, which became Mercedes College. From that beginning, the Mercy story in Western Australia grew.
St Brigid’s College followed in 1929, extending the Mercy mission into the hills. Each of the three schools developed differently, shaped by its own community and context. But they shared a common foundation, a conviction that education is one of the most powerful things you can offer a young woman, and that the values you embed in that education matter just as much as the content.
Santa Maria College opened in Attadale in 1938, built on land the Sisters had purchased despite its reputation, as the story goes, for being “in the backwaters of Perth in the mosquito-infested swamps.” The Sisters were undeterred. They sold land nearest the river to fund construction, and within a decade they had created something that would endure for generations.
Coming Together as Mercy
To celebrate 180 years since the Mercy Sisters arrived in Western Australia, all staff from our three Mercy schools, Mercedes College, St Brigid’s College, and Santa Maria College, recently gathered as one community for a shared professional learning day for the first time in our history. We were joined by many special guests, including an incredible 18 Sisters of Mercy and staff from affiliated Mercy schools. For the first time we had stood alongside each other and acknowledged our shared heritage.
With a theme of Walking Forward Together as People of Mercy it was a day of a shared Mass, formation, and genuine connection, and it took place in Santa Maria’s new Cultural Centre, which felt like the right space for a such a significant gathering. Our shared purpose was clear as we celebrated the enduring legacy of Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy, whose vision continues to inspire our schools and communities today.
We were honoured to begin the day with Mass celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, led by the beautiful singing of a combined staff and student choir from our three schools. Archbishop Costelloe spoke about the call and responsibility of staff in Catholic schools to be carriers of the Mission and particularly of our Mercy ethos.
Sister Karon Donnellon RSM, Leader of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea reflected on, Carrying Forward the Mercy Story, and spoke to the legacy we are part of and what it asks of us now, particularly focusing on
- Mercy as a mode of relationship
- A leader has an unusual degree of power to project their light or their darkness
- Catherine McAuley’s willingness to initiate and venture into the unknown and her trust in others’ capacity to grow and develop.
Father Frank Brennan SJ, Jesuit priest, lawyer, adjunct professor at Australian Catholic University and human rights activist, connected the Mercy tradition to the wider questions of justice and human dignity, speaking to Faith in a Changing World. His focus was on
- Putting the person at the centre and that relationships come before opinions, people before programmes.
- The importance of indigenous voices, listening, understanding and reconciliation
- Promoting the dignity and full participation of women in the church.
Staff then participated in collaborative think tanks, sharing perspectives on many contemporary topics.
What stayed with me most was not any single address. It was the room itself. Over four hundred staff from three different schools gathered in the same place, around the same questions. People who have been doing this work for years, some of them for decades. A conversation between two educators who have never met, discovering they are working from the same set of values.
What Mercy Looks Like, 180 Years On
Catherine McAuley did not set out to build institutions. She set out to respond to need. The institutions followed to help address this need. What we have inherited, 180 years on, is not a fixed set of rules but a way of approaching our work in schools. The person in front of you should always be at the centre of our work.
Our Mercy values at Santa Maria, Hospitality, Compassion, Justice, Service and Excellence, are recognisable in the language of our sister schools, even where the particular words differ. Sitting alongside colleagues from Mercedes College and St Brigid’s College, that shared language was immediately apparent.
The conversations that happen at the edges of a day like this are often the ones that stay with you. Over morning tea, in the lunch queue, at the end of a session. Staff heard about approaches they had not encountered. They found that challenges they had assumed were particular to their school were shared much more widely, and that colleagues had found ways through them.
I have been to Mercy Education gatherings over the years that brought together staff from schools across several states, and those days are always valuable. Our day felt different because it was local. These schools share our city. In many cases, they share our history in ways that are closer than any of us had quite realised.
One hundred and eighty years is a long time. Thousands of young women have been educated in Perth’s Mercy schools. Many of them are now raising families, leading organisations and shaping communities. The Mercy tradition has had an impact on their lives, whether they would use that language to describe it or not.
As I reflect on our gathering, I keep returning to the question of continuity rather than the anniversary itself. The Sisters who arrived in 1846 made choices that we are still living with, in the best possible sense. The choices we make now, about how we educate, what we stand for, and how we treat the people in our communities, will shape what the next generation inherits.
In coming together, we are reminded that the Circle of Mercy extends well beyond our own schools. Together, we continue to walk forward with compassion, justice, service, and hope to continue the story of Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy.
I would love to know what the Mercy tradition means to you and your family.
- Catherine McAuley, Catholic Education WA, Catholic Girls School Perth, Featured, Mercedes College, Mercy Education Perth, Mercy schools Western Australia, Mercy Values, Santa Maria College, Sisters of Mercy, St Brigid’s College
Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
Coming Home – Alumni Celebrate the Cultural Centre
Santa Maria College alumni gathered to celebrate the opening of the College’s new Cultural Centre, reconnecting with classmates and celebrating the role of the arts in the community. The evening featured performances by current students and a 42-member Alumni Choir, highlighting the lifelong connections and shared experiences that continue to bring Old Girls back to the College.
From the President – August 2026
The August 2026 Old Girls’ Association President’s Report provides an update on upcoming meetings and alumni activities at Santa Maria College. President Mary Heavens outlines plans for the Pleiades Gathering, the inaugural Santa Maria College and Aquinas social event, and the Golden Girls’ lunch welcoming the Class of 1976.
Sophia, Building Beauty, Confidence and a Business
Santa Maria past student Sophia Whimp (2022) has built a successful home beauty business by combining creativity, resilience and a commitment to authentic client relationships. In this Q&A, she reflects on the lessons she learned at school, the challenges of starting a business at a young age, and the advice she has for students hoping to turn their passion into a career.
