MSB Mercy Heritage Rooms (Museum)

Heritage Room #1 - Convent Life (formerly, the covent chapel)

• Piano - this piano came with the Sisters from Cooktown and so it pre-dates the Herberton convent itself. Note the fine engravings in the timber keyboard cover. There were once two brass candle-holders on the vertical facing, the whereabouts of which are presently unknown.
• Commemorative Roll of Sisters - to commemorate their 120th anniversary of ministry in Far North Queensland, the Sisters of Mercy commissioned a set of engraved timber pieces in the form of an open book upon which are engraved the names of every Sister of Mercy who served in Far North Queensland up to that point. The roll begins, in italics, with the pioneer five Sisters who arrived in Cooktown in 1889 to establish the Congregation in this region. Thereafter, the names are in alpahbetical order of surname.
• Oratory Stalls - a set of two stalls which were part of the original convent oratory (chapel). Stalls were specially designed seating for those in religious orders when they gathered in their chapel for daily prayers. They are arranged to face opposite each other, rather than towards the front, because of the particular manner in which the daily community prayers were traditionally chanted - with each side taking turns to chant a verse [of the Psalm] at a time.
• Chalices and Ciborium - the metal chalices and ciborium on display in this room are of particular historical interest. From the engravings on their bases it appears that: one was donated to the convent by Bishop James Murray in 1910 (the year the Sisters arrived in Herberton); another was donated by a priest by the name of Fr. Dempsey; another was donated by the first convent in Cooktown; and another was donated by Bishop Thomas Cahill. Each of these engravings discretely asks the priest using them at Mass to pray for them - a traditional engraving when donating a chalice/ciborium.
• Silver Teapot (Mother Evangelist Morrissey) - a silver teapot presented to Mother Mary Evangelist Morrissey in 1921 by St Monica's Branch H.A.C.B.S Cairns.
• Wall painting of this property prior to 1918 - one of the wall paintings in this room is of the property (wouldn't have been known as MSB back then, rather more likely as 'The Roman Catholic Complex') prior to March 1918. This dating considers that construction began on the current convent building in 1919 and a cyclone rendered the original, timber convent uninhabitable in March 1918.
• The 'Stuffed Birds' - a glass-fronted cabinet containing a variety of taxidermied birds and a lizard. The origins of this cabinet are largely shrouded in mystery; even the present Sisters cannot tell us what its purpose was or whose it was. When the question was put to the Past Students' Facebook group recently, it seems that many past students don't recall having seen it. Those few who had, recall that for some period of time it was kept in the Parlour where speech exams were conducted and so those students recall seeing it. Others who did piano exams likewise recall it. One story (oral, not written) has it that it originally belonged to a Pharmacist (or his wife) in Cooktown, who had connections with the Sisters of Mercy there. When MSB was built and some of the Cooktown boarders and Sisters relocated to Heberton the Pharmacist donated it to MSB with the intention it could be used in Science classes. Some of the present Sisters recall not a few older Sisters disliking it and so perhaps it was left to be a curious display in the Parlour. Prior to the Heritage Rooms project, it had been hidden away in a lesser-known room. Now, it comes back for all to see. Who knows how old this display is...

Heritage Room (#2) - Student & General College Life
(formerly, the covent community room)

• Rock Eisteddfod trophies, 1994 & 1996 (MSB collection): 1994 and 1996 remain highlights of many MSB past-student conversations mainly because of the State Rock Eisteddfod wins that our musical and performing students achieved those years. ...
• MSB Blazer (donated by Lucille Savina, nee Keegan): this college blazer was first worn by Denyae Allsop (nee Keegan) from 1963-1966 after which it was "handed-down" to her younger sister, Lucille Savina (nee Keegan) who kindly donated it to the MSB Heritage Collections. 
• Novice's Suitcase (belonging to an early group of Mercy Novices who arrived from Ireland in 1928): this suitcase was found in the "dungeon" - that space beneath the convent building where earlier boarders would remember having to stow their suitcases after arriving to MSB for boarding each term. Nothing was known about this suitcase until we discovered remnants of the old passenger luggage tags for both a ship travelling from London to Brisbane and then Queensland Rail travelling from Brisbane to Herberton. The ship tag immediately indicated to us that this was not a student's luggage and that it would have belonged to one of the groups of Nuns who came from Ireland. We could identify the name of the ship as the "TS Hobson's Bay" which ceased sailing under that name in 1935. So we dug-up some old records that the Sisters had of Sisters who had come out from Ireland to Herberton and then cross-referenced with the ship's passenger inventories (accessible online) and found that a group of Novices was recruited in County Waterford, Ireland, and escorted by Mother Gertrude Power by ship and then rail all the way to Herberton to serve at Mount St. Bernard College. The names of these Sisters is listed below - this very suitcase belonged to one or a few of these young ladies, who left home and kin with no promise of ever returning, all for the mission of Mercy Education at MSB.
• Typewriter (on loan from Traylea Sexton, past student 1993-1994): the story as we have it is that this typewriter was part of a number which were brought to MSB from the original convent in Cooktown for use by students in certain subjects.