With a deep belonging and a sense 
of history that goes back 129 years, the Ursuline Sisters are packing up and saying goodbye to Armidale and the Ursuline Convent that has been their sanctuary and home.
The Ursuline Sisters have been woven into the very fabric of Armidale’s history since they first arrived from London in 1882, invited by the Catholic Bishop of Armidale to establish a school for girls.
In 1975 St Ursula’s College merged with De La Salle College which today we know as O’Connor Catholic College, occupying the existing grounds of De La Salle College.
Since the closure of the school on the grounds at Jessie Street, the Ursuline Convent has been a place of great hospitality.
“Other things have gone on here, it hasn’t been empty, there have been various apostolates and it has also been a great house of hospitality,” said Sr Mary Kneipp.
“All kinds of people have stayed here, university students, people coming for different events in the town, but it comes to a stage financially when it is very hard to maintain a building of this size with very few people in it.
“Secondly, religious life is very different now. People are more dispersed, we live in much smaller groups and our religious group itself is growing older and we don’t have too many new members.
“A big building like this, that doesn’t have its original use, is very difficult to keep and so you have to make that decision.
“It is very hard for us personally; this was our home. We all made our novitiate here and we have spent lots of time here. It was the first house we ever had, so it has been very difficult for us to do it, you have to be realistic.”
Sr Cath Duxbury, who has lived at the convent since 1989, has seen her order slowly whittle down to just herself over the last four years.
“We have gone down gradually in number as we decided about the change of ownership,” she said.
“It has changed since the school closed and before that, the novitiate was located here, so it not only had the school but also the novitiate.
“Education has changed, the workforce has changed and I think the town has changed.
“So we have just related to those things in a different way from the way we did as a monastic order.
“This was the first stepping stone into religious life for us.
“It was also the first stepping stone for us as an order.
“The sisters came initially from Germany as refugees, so they were a great inspiration to us.
“They built on very little and they built an enormous amount of stuff very quickly.
“A great example to us, a place where so many things happened and so many people connected.”
The Ursuline Convent has been sold to the Catholic Schools Office who will move their offices into the building.
The task now is left to Sr Cath Duxbury, Sr Mary Kneipp and Sr Colleen Foley to pack up years of memories. Sr Mary Kneipp and Sr Colleen Foley, who reside in Sydney, are here to help Sr Cath Duxbury through what will no doubt be an emotional time for all three women.
During November, The Armidale Independent’s Our History column will focus on the history of the Ursuline Sisters in Armidale.
Story: Jo Harrison
