Explore Mary MacKillop’s Penola

The historic town of Penola, on the South Australian Limestone Coast offers much more than just the famous Coonawarra wineries. Penola also has a well preserved history, including a number of notable former residents. These include St Mary MacKillop, Australia’s first saint.

Penola Heritage Trail

During our previous visit we had run out of time to explore the history of Penola. We had only visited the park commemorating Mary MacKillop’s first stable-yard school.

On our recent visit we were keen to spend a morning walking the Penola Heritage trail.

Scotsman John Riddolph established the Coonawarra wine industry when he planted the first Sauvignon.  Riddolph’s kinsman, pastoral squatter, Alexander Cameron,  established the township of Penola in 1850.  Both names feature prominently in the town’s history.

Petticoat Lane Penola

We stumbled upon Petticoat lane by chance when  looking for somewhere to give the “Pawesome Foursome” a good walk. The historic laneway leads to the Mary MacKillop Centre.

The heritage listed laneway preserves the history of some of the earliest homes in the district.  Visitors can stroll by the collection of stone and timber homes, some dating back to the 1850’s.

Many of the homes are  preserved as a living museum. Period furnishings and story boards depict the day to day life of the original Penola settlers. Even the heritage gardens still grow the herbs, vegetables and lavender from that era. There were very few creature comforts for these early settlers.

We were amazed to find that you could simply walk in and explore many of these cottages free of charge. There were no guides, just walk in as if you were going for a “cuppa” with Granny Sharam.

A number of the historic cottages now also operate as unique bed and breakfasts .  Others sell souvenirs, crafts, antiques and bric-a-brac

Sharam’s Cottages

Sharam’s cottages are the oldest of these original homes. The slab cottage dates back to 1850, when Alexander Cameron asked Christopher Sharam to come to Penola to work as his bootmaker.

Sharam built this first blackwood slab cottage in 1850. The fireplace was the centre piece of the home, where family members gathered. Meals were cooked and baked here, with chairs and couches gathered around the fire. Family members continued to live in the home until 1941, when the National Trust acquired the building.

The heritage herb and vegetable plot to the rear of the cottage has been maintained as it was during the 1850’s. Visitors are free to help themselves to the produce for a gold coin donation. It would seem the honesty system is working, as the garden is flourishing.

Sharam built a second timber slab cottage adjacent to the original cottage to house their growing family. I suppose building a second house was easier in those days than extending the original.

The parlour or “best room” was reserved for guests and not used on a day to day basis. Granny Sharam apparently never lit the fire in this room, using the fireplace to store butter to take advantage of the chimney’s cool draught.

Wilson’s Cottage

Walking along the laneway, vintage petticoats hanging on the old prop clothesline give an authentic feel.

Wilson built his cottage in 1856 from Mt Gambier stone and local mud. Today you can still enjoy the surrounding lavender gardens.

Kitchen fires posed a danger in the old slab cottages. So pressed metal was used to minimise the risk of fire. The neighbouring home, Gammon Cottage actually built a fully detached kitchen away from the main house.

Today it is home to an antique and bric a brac store, where the smell of lavender products still permeates the air.

Detatched kitchen at Wilsons cottage

The Mary MacKillop Centre at the end of the laneway is Penola’s main tourist drawcard.  Here you find the old 1860’s schoolhouse, Cameron’s original farmhouse, the current church and the museum.

About Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods co-founded the Australian order of the Sisters of St Joseph in Penola in 1866. Fr Woods and Mary shared a concern for the lack of education in South Australia. They worked together to establish Catholic education across the southern state.

Mary had spent a number of years working as a governess, firstly with her uncle Alexander Cameron on Penola Station.  She  was ordained as the first Sister of St Joseph in Peonla in 1867.  Mary and  Fr Woods then began their mission to bring education to all children, regardless of their family’s income.

Mary and her sister, Anne initially established a school an a disused stable. The sisters had their schoolroom built in the chapel grounds. They took their first pupils in 1867.

The Sisters of St Joseph were committed to providing education for under privileged children. By 1869 more than 70 sisters had joined the Sisters of St Joseph and were educating children in schools in Adelaide and across South Australia.

Mary’s work to assist the poor took her to many remote areas around Australia. Her ongoing fight for her cause saw her excommunicated in 1871, a ban which was lifted a year later.  St Mary MacKillop was declared a Saint in 2010, a century after her death.

The Josephite order she founded are still continuing her work today.

Mary MacKillop’s Penola

The Mary MacKillop Centre houses exhibitions detailing the work of Mary MacKillop and Fr Woods. We wanted to enjoy our long walk around town with the dogs, so we opted out of the centre itself.  But there was still much to enjoy.

Fr Woods originally conducted services in the local courthouse. He built his stone chapel on this site in 1859.  The current church is not the one from which Mary commenced her work. However it is still significant to her story.

In the grounds of the Mary MacKillop Centre stands the original Cameron Homestead. Here Mary taught as a governess for her uncle, Alexander Cameron from 1860. The building was demolished on Penola Station in 2009. It was then relocated to the centre to form part of the displays depicting Mary’s life.

Like many of the slab houses we had seen on Petticoat Lane, we found it incredible that such large families were raised in these tiny homes. Not just the physical space, but the searing summer heat and freezing winter cold would have been very uncomfortable.

The Presbytery also served as the convent for Mary’s growing order of Josephite nuns.

St Joseph’s Church, Penola

The current St Joseph’s church, built in 1924, stands on the site of the original 1859 stone church.  Parishioners completed shrine to St Mary MacKillop at the rear of the church in 1998.

I was somewhat in awe to visit this shrine to someone who fought so hard for the education for our children we take for granted today.

Mary MacKillop’s Schoolroom

Mary and her sister taught in this 1867 schoolhouse not far from St Joseph’s chapel. The building today houses an interactive display of the schoolroom during Mary MacKillop’s time. From 1866 the sisters established a school in an old stable to educate children regardless of income or social class. Within a few years the sisters had established 24 schools across South Australia to continue their work in educating the disadvantaged.

Penola Heritage Walk

Once we had explored the Mary MacKillop centre, it was time to discover a little more of the history of Penola. It was a sunny winter’s day, so we grabbed a map from the tourist centre to take the “Pawesome Foursome” on the Penola Heritage walk. A one hour walk takes you past many of the interesting old buildings in Penola.

The National Trust owns and maintains many buildings, which are listed on state heritage.

John Riddolph built St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in 1872. The architecture of the stone building seems to be reminiscent of his Scottish heritage.

Penola’s heritage streetscape

The walk takes you past many private and public buildings, many now listed on the state heritage register. These include the old 1850’s Cobb and Co station which now operates as bed and breakfast accommodation.

Taking the “Pawesome Foursome” for a stroll through the leafy parkland, we came across two significant local buildings, currently under restoration with the National Trust.

The 1850’s Bond store was used to house liquor in the days before Federation when taxes applied to goods arriving from Victoria.

Ulva Cottage is adjacent to the old Bond Store. Alexander Cameron built it for his daughter during the 1860’s.

We could have spent all day exploring the history of Penola, so a good reason to return on our next visit south.

Read Also : Coonawarra Wineries Millicent Robe Beachport Southend