Who we are...

Mary MacKillop's House

362 Albert Street,
East Melbourne 3002

Phone: (03)9417 3465
Fax: (03) 9419 6137

Mary MacKillop purchased the land at 362 Albert Street in 1901 as a permanent site for the Melbourne Providence. The Providence was blessed and opened in September 1902. It was built as a house of Providence and was always known as the Providence.

In the early days the sisters visited the slums around the Little Lonsdale Street area where the Cumberland Place School was located. The Cumberland Place School opened in 1891 and functioned until 1938. During the influenza epidemic, the sisters cared for many of the poor and ill. They also ran a soup kitchen from the Providence.

The Providence provided accommodation for servant girls who were unemployed and for young women working in various warehouses around the city.

With the relocation of the Provincial house to Hawthorn East, the house at East Melbourne offered accommodation to country girls coming to Melbourne for the first time to begin work or study. This ministry terminated in 1996.

Plans are currently being drawn up to redevelop the site to provide opportunities for all to experience the creative spirit and dynamism of Mary MacKillop's life and work in Victoria through interpretive exhibits, on going education and Josephite hospitality.

Centres and Associated Works

Mary MacKillop Aged Care
Mary MacKillop's House
Mary MacKillop Centre
Mount St Joseph Girls' College, Altona West
MacKillop Family Services