Places of interest in Sydney

Visitors to Our Lady’s Home often ask what other places are associated with Eileen O’Connor. Here’s a few public places that you might be interested in visiting:
 
Randwick Cemetery (Malabar Road, South Coogee) was the original resting place of Eileen O’Connor. The community at Our Lady’s Home walked to the cemetery each morning for many years to recite the rosary at her graveside. In 1936, the community gained permission to reinter Eileen’s casket in the newly-blessed Chapel at Our Lady’s Home. Her body was found to be incorrupt when the casket was opened. Randwick Cemetery now hosts the congregational plot of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, which is the resting place of several of the foundation nurses and co-founder, Reverend Father Ted McGrath msc.
 
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (193 Avoca Street, Randwick) features prominently in the history of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor. 20-year-old Ted McGrath arrived here in 1901 to begin his studies at the recently-opened Missionaries of the Sacred Heart monastery in Kensington. A decade later, he met the O’Connor family in the course of his parish duties as a recently-ordained priest. In 1913, he and Eileen O’Connor co-founded Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor. The foundation nurses attended daily mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart for many years before the Chapel at Our Lady’s Home was blessed in 1932. Eileen O’Connor’s Requiem Mass was celebrated at this church on 13 January 1921.
 
Waverley Cemetery (St Thomas St & Trafalgar St, Bronte) is a fascinating destination in its own right, but even more so that it is the final resting place of Eileen O’Connor’s parents, Charles and Annie. Irish immigrants, Charles and Annie were married at St Ignatius Church, Richmond, Victoria, on 21 January 1889. Eileen was born in 1892 and baptised in the same church. Three more children followed: Mary, Charles and Francis. In 1902, the family moved to Sydney, where Charles worked as a bookkeeper with Anthony Hordern & Sons. Initially living in Surry Hills, the family later relocated to Redfern.
 
The O’Connor family were parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (2 Kellick Street, Waterloo) for many years. A stained glass window depicting Eileen O’Connor is located near the front entrance of the church. Mary attended the nearby Sisters of Mercy school, while Charles and Francis attended the local Patrician Brothers school. Eileen rarely attended school due to her handicap. Eileen and Mary briefly attended Mount St Bernard (now Sacred Heart Primary School, Pymble), a boarding school conducted by the Sisters of Mercy. However, Eileen found the amount of movement required between the classrooms, refectory and dormitory too taxing and returned to the family home in Redfern.
 
Charles O’Connor died on 24 April 1911 from pneumonia following treatment for carcinoma of the liver. His Requiem Mass was conducted by Annie’s brother, Rev Father Francis Kilgallin, a parish priest in the-then Diocese of Maitland. Charles’ death plunged the O’Connor family into financial difficulty and ultimately, asked for assistance from Fr Ted McGrath. Annie O’Connor remained in close contact with Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor after Eileen’s death. She died on 2 June 1936. Charles and Anne O’Connor are buried in Section 18, Plot 4253 of the Roman Catholic portion of Waverley Cemetery.