On Monday the 10th of December, we here in St. Mary’s Cabra looked out our front door and beheld a sea of young faces – the students from Australia had arrived. We welcomed them and led them to our dining room for a cup of tea and a chat,there were about forty of them. They were accompanied by four teachers.

These students had come from the Dominican secondary school in Adelaide where sisters from St. Mary’s Dominican Convent , Cabra had founded a community in 1868.These girls were very conscious of their Cabra roots, a few of them had earlier given us an account of the foundation of the convent and described their school and its present activities.As they chatted to us informally in our dining room we learned of their strong Dominican ethos. We were particularly impressed by their outreach – some students from their school went to Cambodia and spent some time among the poor there.Others went to the Australian outback and spent time among the indigenous people.

The evening concluded with a very pleasant performance of songs by the students in our chapel. Along with them we gave thanks for the very fruitful 150 years of Dominican education in Adelaide.

Sr. Kathleen Egan OP