The true Mary MacKillop - an Australian story

THE MARTYRDOM OF MARY MacKILLOP

The story of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop’s martyrdom has been suppressed, as have been so many – the hidden figure in Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’, the true identity of the face imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, the true final resting place of St Francis Xavier’s remains … and who knows what else besides – by a certain ecclesiastical authority.

They do so for their own reasons and at their own risk for Judgement is not in their hands.

Mary MacKillop died stumbling across the forest floor near Trihi. She was on her way to Mount Gambier thence Port Macdonnell where she was to take a steamer to Melbourne to organise the publication of a collection of documents which had come into her possession over the years and which she had painstakingly kept hidden from various bishops who, acting on orders from afar, had demanded details of their existence, their matter and that she surrender them.

A certain Josephite Sister, long trusted by Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, accompanied her for the first part of the journey. This good Sister, Sister Dorothy, claimed in a letter to her aunt that as they approached Trihi Sister Mary MacKillop insisted she leave her as she was expecting to be met by a band of Aboriginal faithfuls who were going to guide her without trace to Mount Gambier where she would rest, then on to the port. The good Sister claimed that Sister Mary felt she was being pursued and her secret documents were at great risk, that all she could trust about her were the good Sister herself and the Aboriginal faithful whom Sister Mary had known for many years and to whom she was confidante and keeper of not only sacred lore but some objects of vertue of inestimable significance to the Aborigines. Sister Dorothy writes to her beloved aunt

My last glimpse of her was swaying along the dusty road, burdened by two great leather valises, one with the documents and a few necessities, the other with whatever the Aborigines had entrusted to her. I wondered at her strength and prayed she would not walk unaccompanied for long in that desolate and forbidding place. I weep now when I think how I abandoned her to whatever her fate was to be.

The Holy Mother has interceded for me and I have been given some understanding that my role was small in all this and none may alter His plans. I think …

I must not dwell any longer on this. Sister Mary of the Cross MacKillop was going to her martyrdom in which I had not been chosen to share in any way.

It is a sin but I am tormented by guilt that I might have been in some way of comfort to her in her extremis. I can share this burden with none but you my dear.

For the rest of the story we must turn to a woman, now no longer with us, who had it from her adored Uncle, her mother’s brother who as a child in Port Augusta had been taught by the true Saint Mary MacKillop.

This man had been initiated into manhood secretly and had been made a guardian of certain stories ‘owned’ by is tribe. According to him, his niece claimed, Sister Mary had been met on the track near Trihi and escorted towards Mount Gambier, then a small town.

The party made camp for the night. The area was thickly forested and remote. Even so, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop insisted on their making camp in a place hidden from the track. Though this was done she remained apprehensive about the light from fires and the smell of smoke. She beseeched the Aborigines constantly to quiet though they were always very quiet.

In their gracious way they smothered the fires and kept their soft voices extremely low. They became affected by Sister Mary’s nervousness and were very alert. An Elder said he would look around the area when a senior woman signalled silence for she had heard something.

All became as statues and the small clearing amongst the towering trees was more silent than a cemetery.

This woman tells us that her uncle informed her that Sister Mary clutched at her two valises on either side of her as she prayed.

The party became worried when the Elder did not soon return and another, alarmed, suggested they remove to the track as the place must be sacred to the people of that area, now long gone. The Aboriginal party agreed as they said they could sense ancestor spirits gathering who were not pleased to be disturbed and they knew no way to appease them.

The uncle said, ‘Sister Mary, she stand up, look here, look there, she listen then she say the track was not safe, horsemen could be coming from Warrnambool to steal her holy things – and ours.’

They did not know if a spirit was talking through Sister Mary or if she was sick or if the Holy Ghost was leading her. They were very frightened and did not know what to do.

Sister Mary saw this and spoke to them very gently. She told them she would find the Elder, that he must have fallen asleep nearby. She told them they must guard her valises and if any white men came they must hide them so they could not be found for the white men were very bad and would take the sacred objects and carry them long way so they would never see them again and the ancestors would be very angry with them for not taking proper care and the white men would use the sacred objects to talk to the ancestors and learn their secrets for they were very clever people.

This woman said her uncle was frightened telling this story even though it had happened so many years before and she herself became her young self and was as frightened as a girl.

Sister Mary slipped into the great darkness of the forest. She had lived with Aboriginal people so long she knew their ways and was silent and no-one, maybe not even the spirits of that place, could see her in her habit with her head held down.

After a while the Elder returned and said they must go back to the track immediately. They told him they must wait for Sister Mary who had gone in search of him. He insisted, saying the spirits of the place were very angry to be disturbed and great trouble would come if the did not leave at once. They would wait the rest of the night on the track and escort Sister Mary away from this place. She would go to the track when she returned and found them no longer in their hiding place.

Everyone argued, even the women and they had to do so very quietly lest the spirits come. Several women cried. They knew they could not stay there but Sister Mary did not return.

So they hid her valises very carefully and returned to the track where they did their best to settle for the night while watching for Sister Mary.

They heard horses coming from Mount Gambier and were very afraid but less afraid than they were of the spirits who they could feel watching them from the forest all around.

Two white men rode towards them and almost passed them but stopped. They asked them what they were doing. The Elder spoke up, he said they were being sent from the mission to Mount Gambier to bring some Aboriginals who has run away, home to Trihi and the station near there. One of the white men asked them if they knew Sister Mary and they said they did. The white men told the Aborigines that she was a bad woman who stole and drank and told lies and they were not to have anything to do with her anymore. They said they were going to take Sister Mary away because she was telling lies and the Pope was very angry with her. She also had some things belonging to the Pope, some papers, and she must give them back. They asked the Aborigines if they knew where Sister Mary kept her papers but the Aborigines said they did not know, maybe the office.

The men rode on but the Aborigines saw a fire later and they knew they had made camp on the track for the rest of the night.  Such was the terror of that place.

Sister Mary did not appear. The Elder suddenly said he would go back, past the camp of the two strangers, past Trihi to the mission and tell the other Sisters that the Pope had sent two men to capture Sister Mary and take her papers. They talked about this and agreed. Two women were to go back with this man to help him explain and to help the Sisters if they had to hide.

Once the warning party had set out those who remained felt very lonely. They huddled, now very cold, waiting for Sister Mary but still she did not come back. They were very afraid. They were too frightened to light a fire in case the two white men came back thinking it was Sister Mary, too frightened to call out for Sister Mary in case the spirits and the white men heard them … They wanted to leave but could not without Sister Mary and because the spirits especially did not like people wandering through their country at night for that was their time. They were too afraid to go amongst the great trees to search of the true Sister Mary MacKillop.

The uncle said it was the longest night of his life and he thought he might be in Purgatory.

At the first call of a bird several women shook him right awake and told him he was to come with them into the forest to search for the true Sister Mary for she must have made her own camp for the night.

The uncle told his niece that he could see that they thought Sister Mary had been taken by spirits but they knew they must look for her to tell the Sisters.

There were little mists around the ground, fallen clouds. They were careful to walk around them whenever they could and to apologise to them for they were the ancestors belonging to that place going to their caves to rest during the day. The uncle said the eyes of the women were like those of mopokes and they walked touching one another, looking around all the while. The sun was shining through the trees now and some of the leaves sparkled and they all knew these were the eyes of the spirits watching.

They came to the place where they had made camp with the true Sister Mary and followed her trail into the bush. They could see that at first she understood where the Elder had gone but soon her trail moved off from his. She was almost like an Aborigine they could see, so carefully had she made her way through the bush but here she had stumbled, there she had stopped and looked around and now did not know where to go. Then she had walked strongly away from their camp and further into the forest.

They followed her trail. Suddenly they stopped – the paws of three dingoes. They were following Sister Mary. The uncle heard the senior woman say a special word, so he knew these were sacred dingoes. He told the women he wanted to go back now. Two of the women turned but the old one hissed at them and went on so they followed.

They came to a glade. The ferns and small bushes were beaten and broken. And there was the horrible sight  - the true Sister Mary, across a rock. There was a spear in her side, between her ribs. Her blood had run and splashed in patterns on the rock, in one of her poor hands she clutched, as testimony to her agony, a dried gout of blood.

They ran, they ran, back to the others.

Everyone was very frightened and wanted to run away but they were frightened to go back to the mission while the strange white men were there and frightened to go on to Mount Gambier because they knew they would be accused of killing Sister Mary. The white men would not believe dingo spirits had done it.

The senior woman suddenly stood up and ordered them to come. She went back into the forest. Then she turned and told them to clear their camp so nobody would know they had been there.

After they had swept the ground and scattered the pebbles they all went back to the glade.

The sun was now shining on Sister Mary’s poor body. At first they were afraid to approach but then the senior woman said some secret words and went to Sister Mary and pulled her off the rock. She ordered some women to get Sister Mary’s valises. She ordered the others to dig.

It was then they discovered the miracle. Where Sister Mary’s blood had fallen on the ground, the earth had turned to ochre. The blood patterns on the rock were like white man’s writing – the true Sister Mary had written in her own blood for it was the miraculous blood ochre that she clutched in her terrible hand.

The senior woman demanded of the boy what the lettering meant but he could not read the words. He took the slate from his school satchel, his prized possession, given to him by Sister Mary and carefully copied the lettering. The senior woman was pleased at this.

They bound Sister Mary’s body and buried it and then hid the valises where only the cleverest Aborigine could find them. Then they broke the spear and hid the pieces amongst themselves.

Then they sat and very, very quietly mourned Sister Mary.

The senior woman said, ‘We go back to mission now, tell Sisters that Sister Mary tell us in Mount Gambier you go home now, she get ride to Port Macdonnell.’

The niece said that her uncle had set out with the others on their return to the mission. They were almost at Trihi when they saw a carriage coming towards them.

It was the mission carriage and the good Josephite Sister, the true Sister Mary’s friend, held the reins. One of the white men sat beside her, the other rode beside them.

They stopped when they got to the little band of Aborigines. Sister Dorothy greeted them and said to the senior woman, ‘Madeleine, I Sister Mary, want you to go straight to the kitchen when you get to the mission and help the other women bake the bread. By the good angels in heaven I tell you they cannot do it properly unless you are there to guide them. Tell them Sister Mary said so.’

She looked straight at the senior woman and the senior woman said, ‘Yes Sister Mary. Good-bye Sister Mary. When you come back to us?’

‘As soon as the Lord allows my dear,’ she said. ‘Good-bye my dears,’ she said to the others.

The uncle said he called out, ‘Good-bye Sister Mary!’ and so did the others as she clicked the horse on. He did not know what made him do this as he knew well that it was Sister Dorothy whom they all loved for she was very kind and gentle and understood their ways better than any.

When they got to the mission there was much occupation but little effect. The Sisters rushed to the small returning party and told them Sister Dorothy was now Sister Mary and they must not forget to call her that when … she returned. They took the senior woman Madeleine aside and she told them her lies about the true Sister Mary getting a lift to Port Macdonnell.

‘Who them white men on the road?’ she demanded.

‘Oh just friends of Bishop. They called in, made us a small visit to see how … what we needed. Listen Madeleine, Sister Dorothy now boss, so we call her Sister Mary till Sister Mary comes back. Tell the others, call Sister Dorothy, Sister Mary. Don’t forget. Make sure the others understand – Sister Dorothy new name Sister Mary.’

The Aborigines who had been on the journey towards Mount Gambier told the others that the true Sister Mary had left them at Mount Gambier to go on to Port Macdonnell.

But everyone knew something was wrong. The Sisters thought it was because Sister Dorothy had been taken away and had become ‘Sister Mary’.

Some Aborigines vanished one night.

The Elder left when Madeleine pointed her part of the broken spear at him.

None of them ever saw him again.

Sister Dorothy, now Sister Mary returned and organised the removal of the mission to Yankalilla. The Josephites concentrated now on teaching poor white children.

The Aborigines at the mission felt a curse had fallen on the place and dispersed. Those with their sections of the fatal spear took them with them as sacred possessions to be hidden from uninitiated eyes.

Those of the party who had accompanied the true Sister Mary were too frightened to return to the site of her martyrdom. Gradually the valises became forgotten.

The young boy carefully transcribed the words he had written on his slate to a school exercise book given him by the nuns as a parting gift.

As an old man he had told his niece he still remembered them exactly though the exercise book had long since vanished. He said he would write them out for her. There were three phrases of few words.  He said he would return for the valises and return the sacred objects to some of his people whom he could trust to guard them and he would collect the true Sister Mary’s papers.

        

© Ian MacNeill