Our Lady’s Home expands

19 March 1939. Most Rev. Norman Gilroy, Archbishop Coadjutor of Sydney, lays the foundation stone fo

19 March 1939. Most Rev. Norman Gilroy, Archbishop Coadjutor of Sydney, lays the foundation stone for a new building at Our Lady’s Home, Coogee. By this stage, the community’s 11 nurses are making more than 10,000 visits to the sick poor throughout inner Sydney each year, in addition to serving dozens of meals every night to the needy. Better facilities are urgently needed to continue ‘The Work’ and to attract more nurses. The community requests that the original timber cottage, whose chapel contains the remains of their beloved co-founder, Eileen O’Connor, be retained. Well-known church architect, Clement Glancey, designs a U-shaped building that connects to the cottage at either end via a porch. Construction costs are estimated at £8000. It is six months before the start of the Second World War.