The Emigrant’s Friend

Education and Engagement Coordinator, Dr Allison O’Sullivan

Caroline Chisholm depicted on the Australian $5 bank note, in circulation c.1966-92

Many Australians are familiar with Mrs Caroline Chisholm and her work with female immigrants in the colony of New South Wales, although younger generations may be less aware of her impact on the colony since her replacement by Queen Elizabeth on the $5 note in 1992.

Chisholm’s work did not begin in Sydney. She was married to an officer of the East India Company, Captain (later Major) Archibald Chisholm. Having converted to her husband’s Catholic faith, Chisholm continued her work in social justice and reform with great zeal. While the Captain was stationed in Madras Chisholm founded the Female School of Industry for the Daughters of European Soldiers where the girls would learn reading, writing, and domestic skills, and receive religious instruction.

When Archibald took leave for his health in the colony of New South Wales his family came with him. They arrived in October 1838, just two months before the first five Sisters of Charity. Here Chisholm soon recognised a need in the community: the care of single women immigrants upon their arrival.

Bent St showing old Government Printing Office and the Library, 1842 / John Rae. Courtesy of the Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales.

In November 1841 Chisholm opened the Female Migrant Home in the old printing office and immigration barracks behind First Government House. The site now sits near the corner of Phillip and Bent streets in Sydney. As a Catholic laywoman, Caroline requested the help of the only Congregation of women religious in the colony: the Sisters of Charity, who gladly answered the call. The Sisters recorded in their annals that they were frequent visitors to the Home to “console, advise, and administer medicine.” Chisholm’s mission was so successful that the Home closed in May 1842, having assisted thousands of women.

While her Catholic faith was her driving force, like the Sisters of Charity Chisholm’s help was extended to anyone regardless of faith or cultural background. She was tireless in her hands-on approach, greeting every new arrival at the docks so that no unprotected young woman may be taken advantage of. As she wrote:

one of the most serious evils I know is the practice of young women being allowed to make engagements on board ship. Some families of high respectability do engage servants in this way; but I also know that some people, of the very-worst character, go there and engage servants—servants? No! They are not required as servants—they are not wanted to work. Many have I known who have been taken to houses of the worst character the first day of their arrival. Shall this evil continue? God forbid!

She also often travelled into the interior with newly employed young women to allay their fears.

The blue plaque at Caroline Chisholm Cottage, East Maitland (supplied).

In 1840 when Archibald returned to active service, Chisholm remained in the colony to continue her good work with her husband’s blessing. In 1842 she rented terraces in East Maitland to expand her services. Contemporary news articles suggest that the Sisters ministered at these premises at some point, although after its conversion to the Maitland Benevolent Asylum the suggestion that Catholic women religious were ministering there became contentious, as it was thought to create an impediment to receiving much-needed government funding.** The 1830s-built home is known today as Caroline Chisholm Cottage and is the only known building associated with Chisholm that remains standing. In 2022 its significance was recognised by the placement of a blue heritage plaque.

Chisholm’s relationship with The Sisters of Charity was such that they nominated her to accompany Sr Lawrence Cater on her return voyage to Ireland in 1846. Over the years the Chisholm family’s friendship with the Sisters continued, and when Chisholm’s daughter-in-law Susan lost both her husband William and their baby girl, she felt a calling to join the Congregation, professing her vows and becoming Sister (later Mother) Mary Joseph Chisholm in 1862.

The Sisters of Charity conducted a Hospital for consumptives in the building on the far left. The building in the centre was the original St Mary’s Convent. This cottage was purchased for them by former convict William Davis - the “'98 man” who also donated the site of St. Patrick's Church in Churchill, Sydney. Courtesy of the Congregational Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Australia.

Mother M. Joseph oversaw some of the early Convents and was the first Religious Superior in charge of the K-6 Boys and Girls Primary School in Parramatta in 1882, before becoming the first Rectress of St Joseph’s Consumptive Hospital at Parramatta from 1886-1892. Mother M. Joseph Chisholm died in 1901 and was remembered as “strong of constitution and agile of limb, no distance being too great for her to walk when there was need of her charitable aid.”

When Mother M. Joseph’s father retired, he and his wife split their time between New South Wales and England while Chisholm continued to advocate tirelessly for migrants’ rights. She eventually returned to England where she died in 1877. By the end of her life Caroline Chisholm was one of the most famous women in England. Her gravestone is inscribed: ‘The Emigrants’ Friend’.

For those interested in more detail on Caroline Chisholm’s life and works in the colonies, I highly recommend reading her memoirs (1852) which are available on The Gutenberg Project, as well as her paper on female immigration to the colonies, a written account of her experiences running the Female Migrant Home in Sydney (1842) which is available from the National Library of Australia..

** The presence of the Sisters of Charity in Maitland is not evidenced by any records held by the archives of the Congregation. The assertion that the Sisters of Charity had been ministering at the Benevolent Asylum was repeatedly made by Maitland’s Anglican minister, the Reverend William Stack. Rev. Stack appears to have held strong anti-Catholic beliefs, not unusual for the time. It is unclear how many of his assertions are valid, or the product of paranoia or prejudice. Further research is required into these allegations, before we could definitively claim whether or not the early Sisters ever visited the Maitland area. If any new information comes to light we will keep our readers updated.