On Saturday 23 November 2024, the Society of the Sacred Advent (SSA) hosted a thanksgiving service for Community House and Durack College, and a decommissioning for the latter. This service was in remembrance of both buildings, and the roles they have had in the Ascot campus of St Margaret’s. Reflecting on the rich history of Community House, these building have provided spiritual nourishment for the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent, and has been a marker of sanctity, comfort, and guidance for many. Both buildings, as noted by Bishop Murray Harvey, have seen generations of students and clergy alike enter their doors for retreats, for time spent with the Sisters, or for Quiet Days.

Here are some words shared by Ellena Papas, the Director of Durack College for its final year:

“It was a wonderful afternoon. The SSA, friends of the SSA, past Chaplains and clergy, Principals and Board Members, past and present College Directors and Residents', gathered together to enjoy a sumptuous afternoon tea in the Resident’s lounge. They enjoyed the opportunity to wander through the College, remembering special moments and reflecting on the times they’d spent there, before attending a decommissioning service led by Bishop Murray Harvey in the Sisters’ Chapel. This was a beautiful, poignant service, highlighted by the recollections of Mrs Leanne Harvey, Sister Gillian SSA, and Charlotte Pitot. The common theme, to my mind, was the thread of the very real love and true community each had found within their time here, and deep gratitude each felt and expressed for the privilege of experiencing it. At the conclusion the College presented two gifts to the school: the first, a framed Durack Family tree, and the second, a signed, first edition copy of the book Kings in Grass Castles by Mary Durack, which records the purchase of the land and the building of Community House. These will be displayed in the newly refurbished Wellbeing Centre – a very fitting home.”

Sister Gillian provided a reflective account of her memories of Community House, and the role it has played in the story of the SSA and both St Margaret’s and St Aidan’s:

“Community House has had a number of lives. Although the Durack’s were not there for long, Community House will always be the big house in the city which stands as witness to Irishman, Patrick Durack, who came to Australia and made good. There will be many descendants wanting to connect with this place that Patrick Durack named ‘Maryview’ after his wife.

SSA, the Society of the Sacred Advent, and St Margaret’s came to Community House in 1910 and what an extensive association they have had. We did enjoy a fitting centenary celebration with the school and community in 2010. We may not be able to walk through some of the complex today, but we are certainly able to imagine the scene at the time of our association with it.

From 1910 – 1919 the whole school, day girls, boarders, staff, and Sisters, were all accommodated in Community House. Admittedly, art of speech lessons were given walking up and down the driveway. St Margaret’s has always been a boarding and day school and is fondly remembered by ‘Old Girls’ from around the world and especially those from outback Queensland.

The SSA Community years from 1910 – 2012 approximately were surprisingly led by relatively few leaders. Probably the best known was Mother Emma (1906 – 1939). The Sisters opened three northern schools starting with St Anne’s, Townsville, in 1917, and when Mother Emma died in 1939, Bp Oliver Feetham, Townsville, said that of all the people who had lived in Queensland there were few who had affected it so powerfully as Mother Emma. She will never be forgotten. We can picture her in one of the front rooms to the left of the main door writing every week to each of the Sisters who were working away.

In our Australian lectionary, Mother Emma’s Day is March 9. For some years now, St Margaret’s and St Aidan’s girls have been jointly celebrating at a service in St John’s Cathedral to mark Mother Emma’s Day. Community House has always been the mother house of the Community with Sisters working away around the state. St Aidan’s was not only opened in 1929 during the depression years but has survived wonderfully.

Those of us here today will remember Mother Eunice (1982 – 2016) best. She presided over the transition to retreat work, hospitality and spiritual counsel. Many of our ordained clergy will recall their ordination retreats there. Her most lasting legacy was the introduction of the SSA Schools Trust in 2003, which has ensured that the two existing SSA Schools (St Margaret’s and St Aidan’s) will always be run according to the ethos of the SSA with the foundation of the Christian faith according to the Anglican tradition, which most of those with any connection with either school always wanted.

Those here today with the most recent association with the complex are the graduates of the tertiary Durack College, an innovative program over the past ten years.

It is extremely pleasing to see the Sisters’ Chapel and now Community House being refurbished by the schools under the guidance of St Margaret’s Principal, Ros Curtis AM. We are here today to recognise a new life for Community House. St Margaret’s will have oversight, with the school having focus on a wellbeing centre. SSA and St Aidan’s will have occasional access from time to time.

The Society, SSA, remains a religious community but has taken a new direction as a dispersed community with Sisters taking vows which will enable them to continue in their present lifestyle and being open to married women. The vows: simplicity of life, fidelity to vowed relationships beginning with Baptism, and obedience to Christ’s call to serve the world, could apply to any Christian person. We, the Sisters, with the schools and the wider Church, look forward with great hope in the continuing of God’s call on our lives in this world.”

It will be wonderful to see Community House transformed into a student wellbeing centre in 2025, continuing the site’s rich history of care and support. This wellbeing centre will serve to the benefit of St Margaret’s students, staff, and families alike, situated at the heart of the campus, but also at the heart of the SSA’s ethos: the holistic education of young girls, focusing on their spiritual, physical, emotional and academic wellbeing.