An old picture postcard was unearthed in Conna in
East Cork some years ago. It was slightly faded but otherwise in excellent
condition. It showed a picture of the 17,000 tons turbine steamer ship “T.S.S.
Mongolia” and also had views of its interior. The ship was owned by Peninsular
& Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O).
The contents of the postcard brought back memories
to some of the older generation. It described the voyage, in 1936, of two young
sisters from Curraheen, Conna on the high seas on a one-way ticket to
Australia. It was addressed to their school friend, Elsie
Beecher, who later ran a shop in Conna for many years
Eileen
O’Brien (20) and her sister Gretta (18) had said goodbye to their parents and
their friends to follow their vocations as nursing sisters with the All Hallows
Convent of Mercy in Brisbane, Queensland.
Venerable Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland in
1831 and established a foundation in Australia in 1861. A convent was acquired
by the Order in Brisbane in 1863 and renamed Convent of Our Lady of Mercy All
Hallows’. They ministered in the fields of Health, Education and Social Welfare
programs.
The O’Brien sisters were born and reared in
Curraheen where the Leahy family now resides. Eileen was born on January 26th
1916 and Gretta on August 22nd 1918. Their parents were Maurice and
Frances (nee Smyth). The lands were later divided up by the Land Commission and
one of the fields is now the Community Sports Field. The two girls received
their schooling at Curraglass National School and the Convent of Mercy in
Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. It was at the latter school that they got the
idea of joining the Order together. They had one elder sister who had earlier
left home to get married. Thus the parting must have been a bittersweet and
traumatic one for the parents as they knew they would never see their two
younger daughters again. In those days the voyage to Eastern Australia would
have taken several weeks and as well, nuns were rarely, if ever, allowed to go home.
The post card was written on board the ship by the
elder sister Eileen:
“Gretta
and myself are enjoying the trip very well. We had a nice crossing from Dublin
on Thursday night (November 26th 1936) and arrived in Hollyhead
about midnight. We had a long train journey to London from 12:00 to 6:30 but we
slept on the way. We met Dolly O’Brien in Dublin but had not very much time
there as it was 5 o’clock in the evening when we got in. We had a great day in
London, driving around the city in two busses, visiting all the important
buildings such as Buckingham Palace etc. We left that evening for Tilbery Docks
by train and got on board the ‘Mongolia’ at 6pm, (have a look at the card).
It
was exciting the first evening getting our cabins, cases etc but we are settled
down now, it is our fifth day. We are enjoying ourselves and have not time to
get lonely as we have many amusements on board. Every night we have a game of
cards with one of the priests. There are four of them aboard and every morning
we have Mass, sometimes three! Can you imagine it with the waves rushing along
outside.
The
weather is getting fine now and we have sunshine every day. We are near the
coast of Africa and we saw land yesterday. We are now heading for the Strait. Our
letters will be posted on Thursday 3rd December at Marseille. I
suppose it will not reach Conna for awhile.
If
you have time write soon so that there will be a letter over when we land. We
write home as often as we can. I sent a card from Dublin and London. I hope
they arrived OK”.
In due course the two O’Brien sisters did indeed
become nursing sisters with the Sisters of Mercy and resided at All Hallows
Convent, Brisbane. Eileen took the religious name Sr. Mary Francesco and Gretta
took the name Sr. Mary St Maurice. Francesco and Maurice were probably taken in
memory of their parents.
Both sisters entered the convent at the same time,
January 11th 1937. They took their first vows together on December
21st 1939 and made their final profession on the same day, December
10th 1942.
Years later they were able to visit their friends in
Conna on a few occasions but their parents were dead by then. They also celebrated
their Golden Jubilee in Conna in the summer of 1989. After mass in St
Catherine’s church in Conna, a party was held in their honour in the Sports
Complex. This was attended by many of their relatives and friends including, of
course, their friend Elsie, who was now Mrs Elsie Power. Canon John Kelleher
P.P. made a special presentation to the nuns to mark the occasion.
After many years of service in the Lord’s Vineyard
the two sisters finally passed to their eternal reward. They died within less
than a year of each other, having spent their long lives together. The younger
sister, Gretta, died on June 10th 2006, aged 88 years and Eileen
died on February 22nd 2007, aged 91 years. The two are buried close
to each other in Nudgee Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland.
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