Among the residents of Portland who became intimate friends of Father Woods was the MacKillop family.  Mr MacKillop was the eldest brother of Mrs Alex Cameron of Penola Station, and Mrs MacKillop the sister of Mr D McDonald also of Penola…[1]

The Catholic School in Portland required a teacher and Miss MacKillop wrote to Father Woods on the subject.  In reply, 30^th August, 1863 he said: ‘I think if you can take it for a time, so much the better. You might, until the school here is vacant…’[2]

Miss MacKillop took the Portland School and remained much longer than at first seemed probable.  Father Woods wrote to her very frequently….[3] Miss MacKillop was acquiring in the Portland school the experience and practical knowledge which fitted her for the work she was designed for…[4]

During this winter there was very great sickness in the district and the priests were kept busy attending to sick calls; yet Father Woods continued his scientific papers, receiving for them sufficient remuneration to enable him to purchase a stock of medicines for the poor. This was a great pleasure to him, though not to the doctor, who was often indignant at the loss of patients.

But it was those who could ill afford medical aid who became the special object of the priest’s solicitude; and there are yet living many who were cured by him when no other treatment was successful…[5]

Towards the end of the year … [6] Father Woods wrote to Miss MacKillop, asking could she come at once to commence the school so long talked of; or, if that were impossible, could her sister come to open the school for the present.

The sister did so and commenced school in St Joseph’s Church with twelve children.  The young teacher lived with her uncle and aunt until Miss MacKillop could come. This she did as soon as possible, intending to take a cottage and carry on the school therein; Father Woods agreeing with her that this school should be on purely Catholic principles.

However, it was impossible to rent a cottage for the purpose, therefore, a six-stalled stable was renovated by removing the stalls, flooring and lining the building, thus making a decent temporary school, a cottage being rented by Miss MacKillop for residence.

The new room was not ready until March – meanwhile the school was carried on in St Joseph’s Church…[7]

The condition of the aboriginals attracted much attention…[8] There was great mortality among the blacks that year, and Father Woods was busy mixing medicines, and attending to their temporal wants …[9]

What might have been done had Father Woods remained longer we know not…[10] but his days in the South East were nearly over, his peaceful quiet life was to come to an end…[11]

The Right Rev. L. B. Sheil, O.S.F., Archdeacon of Ballarat …[12] was consecrated Bishop of Adelaide on the 15^th August, 1866 in the Church of St Francis, Melbourne…[13]  This was an important event in the life of Father Woods… [14]

He wrote …[15] The Bishop has asked me to come into town as his secretary…[16] It is decided now that I leave Penola after Christmas…[17] Surely God will draw good out of it all…[18]

On 19^th September, he wrote to Miss MacKillop:

You will see by the papers that the die is cast and all our arrangements are made …[19] I am appointed Director General of Catholic Education, Chairman of the Board and Inspector of Schools throughout the diocese.  I am also His Lordship’s Secretary…[20]  All my pain at leaving Penola, and all the bitter regret I should feel at leaving so many and such friends is more than compensated for by having the sole control of Catholic Education placed in my hands.

This extract is taken from:

Chapters 12th, 13th and 14th of Julian Tenison Woods: A Life has been used with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Sisters of Saint Joseph 1997 and the publishers, St Paul’s Publications.

If you would like to read the full text, including an informative Introduction, footnotes and an index, this book is available online and from some Mary MacKillop Centres.

For locations and contact details visit the Josephite Books webpage.

Carmel Jones rsj

After the death of the Bishop [Murphy], the diocese was administered by the Vicar General, Father Ryan… [He] was well acquainted with the staunch old Catholics most of them Scotch – in the Penola district. [1]

Mr Cameron was the squatter who owned Penola Station and gave the land on which the church was built… The rich squatters could educate their families without much difficulty, but the poorer classes who were employed by them, and the trades people who began to settle around, were unable to procure teachers for their children.[2]

The zealous pastor [Father Julian Tenison Woods] made many attempts to get instructors. [3]

Dr Geoghegan, Vicar General of Melbourne, succeeded Dr Murphy… The new Bishop ‘took possession of his See on the Feast of All Saints, and ‘commenced a crusade for Catholic Education,’ says Cardinal Moran.  This gave great satisfaction to Father Woods… The first Bishop of Adelaide had rejected state aid to Religion; the second determined if possible to obtain the abolition of state aid to any school.  Let everyone support his own school, then there would be no necessity for an Education Grant… [4]

The Bishop visited [the South East] in June… [He] gave a short Mission, and spoke of the necessity of Catholic Schools at every place he visited… greatly to the satisfaction of Father Woods… [5]

The memory of Father Woods seems embalmed in the district.  During the ten years he attended it, his advice was sought by people of all classes, and his correspondence became very large.  Whoever wrote to him was sure of a courteous reply.  Many letters are still in existence on various subjects, and all charming reading.  What a many-sided mind the man must have had. [6]

In all his labours and troubles, however, he still found time for his scientific pursuits… Before he was removed from Penola, he had become Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Fellow of the Geological Society, of the Linnean Society, of the Royal Society of Victoria, Honorary Member of several Institutes and President of one.  He humorously said he had an alphabet after his name… [7]

Visitors to Penola were delighted with the many specimens of stone he possessed, as well as with his beautiful garden where choice and rare shrubs flourished around the stone church of St Joseph.  These beautiful plants and trees had been brought many a mile and much care was bestowed on them… [8]

The Education Question had always been a source of anxiety, a cause of contention in every part of Australia.  Bishop Murphy struggled hard (as did each Bishop in his turn) to secure education for the Catholic children.  At one time, his Lordship thought he would try to get a few Sisters of Mercy for Adelaide, but there was no money available to send to Europe… [9]

On the Feast of All Saints in the same year, the first ‘Pastoral Address of the Archbishop and Bishops of Australia’ was published. (The Synod was held in October.) The Pastoral contained these words:

For reasons obvious to every well-instructed Catholic, we must have for our children Catholic schools, Catholic teachers, and, as far as we can supply them, Catholic books.  Catholics must secure for their children above all things a religious education…Their children must, in school, breathe a Catholic atmosphere. [10]

What pleasure this pastoral gave earnest Catholics may be easily imagined; it must have given great encouragement to the priests. [11]

This extract is taken from:

Chapters 9th, 10th and 11th of Julian Tenison Woods: A Life has been used with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Sisters of Saint Joseph 1997 and the publishers, St Paul’s Publications.

If you would like to read the full text, including an informative Introduction, footnotes and an index, this book is available online and from some Mary MacKillop Centres.

For locations and contact details visit the Josephite Books webpage.

Carmel Jones rsj

On 7^th January 1857, Mr Woods was ordained priest by Bishop Murphy in St Patrick’s Church, West Terrace, Adelaide, S.A.

Before the month was ended, the Bishop decided to give the young priest a very important duty – the establishment of a permanent Catholic Mission in the South Eastern portion of South Australia – appointing him to the charge of a district that included an area of over 22,000 square miles.  He was to be the only Catholic priest in that wide expanse of country, which is included between the River Murray on the North and West, the boundary of Victoria on the East, and the Southern Ocean.

His residence and headquarters were to be at Penola, the most central spot in the large district over which he was placed; and in turn, he would visit Mount Gambier, Robe (or Guichen Bay), &c.

It was a serious undertaking [in] the first month of his priesthood, and must be considered a mark of the great confidence his Bishop reposed in him; and which events proved was not misplaced…

With the blessing of the Bishop and the best wishes of all who knew him, Father Woods left Adelaide in Lent, and after a stormy passage arrived at Guichen Bay…

The good people of Penola gave their new pastor a warm welcome…

[Bishop Murphy] advised Father Woods to set about getting a new church instead of ‘patching up an old house’… Father Woods … set about carrying into execution the Bishop’s wishes, the generous people of the district supplying the means… But it was some months before the building could be arranged for, or masons be ready to commence their work.  However, the zealous priest found plenty of occupation.  One who knew him well says: ‘He was almost constantly in the saddle, riding from place to place, holding missions, visiting the sick and administering the Sacraments.’…

In some of his long journeys to and from various parts of his extensive mission, Father Woods took time to examine the physical features of the country. In his first half year in the South East, as the district was called, he published several scientific papers, which were read with great interest and attracted considerable attention towards the quiet young priest in his distant bush home.  How he could attend to so many different things and do each well was a wonder…

While busy at his scientific papers, if a sick call came for Father Woods, everything else was forgotten. In a very few minutes, his horse was ready, and he was off with the least possible delay.

He was soon acquainted with everyone in his vast district, and he never failed to make friends by his gentle winning manner. Besides attending to the spiritual wants of the patients for whom he had come, he often assisted in their temporal necessities.  As he spent very little on himself, he was able and always willing to bestow something on the indigent, often indeed to such an extent as to leave himself for a while in very straitened circumstances.  His cheerful disposition made light of inconveniences.

Having spent a night on the Plains, with his saddle for pillow, he wrote: ‘If anyone wants to know what the Egyptians must have suffered, let him go to Australia – it does not matter much where, for the Australian mosquito defies any attempt at sleep – on land.’

This extract is taken from:

Chapters 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th of Julian Tenison Woods: A Life has been used with the kind permission of the Trustees of the Sisters of Saint Joseph 1997 and the publishers, St Paul’s Publications.

If you would like to read the full text, including an informative Introduction, footnotes and an index, this book is available online and from some Mary MacKillop Centres.

For locations and contact details visit the Josephite Books webpage.

Carmel Jones rsj