WHEN ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched Mercy, Mater and Me, the autobiography of long-time friend, former Mater Hospital administrator and Queensland icon Mercy Sister Angela Mary Doyle, he was in a self-revelatory mood.
The Federal Member for Griffith informed the 150 guests gathered on September 10 in front of the original Mater Private Hospital building in South Brisbane, of his family’s connections to this Queensland institution – how his mother had been retrained there as a nurse, his sister had nursed there and that his son Marcus had been born there.
“I also left a part of myself here not so long ago in very public circumstances,” he told a crowd chuckling at his insouciance at what must have been a very unwelcome operation – the removal of a gall bladder – during a high-stakes, high-pressure election campaign.
Mr Rudd also had a tale to tell of an emergency dash from his Canberra unit the previous evening to find ingredients to help his son bake a cake to take to his school peer group the next day.
For Sr Angela Mary, Mr Rudd’s availability to launch her book Mercy, Mater and Me was clearly another great moment in a great life spanning about 50 years’ involvement in the administration and support of this influential and ever expanding institution.
Surrounding the diminutive Mercy Sister were many friends she had gathered over the years, including her beloved sister and religious associate Sr Nuala Doyle – described as “the power behind the throne” by one speaker at the launch.
A large contingent of Taiwanese Buddhists at the book launch told another remarkable story – one linked to the reason for the existence of Mercy, Mater and Me.
It was Taiwanese man Dr Yu-Huei Chang who suggested to Sr Angela Mary two years ago that she write the book.
Dr Chang also funded the book in gratitude for Sr Angela Mary’s support of the Taiwanese community, particularly on their arrival about 20 years ago when they were struggling to get access to high quality health care due to barriers such as language and sometimes financial difficulties.
Through an interpreter, Dr Chang told the crowd he had first met Sr Angela Mary when she was Mater Hospital administrator.
“I was impressed at the way Sister Angela Mary helped the Taiwanese integrate into the Australian way of life,” Dr Chang said.
“Her life is an example to which we should all aspire.
“I have supported the publication of her book out of admiration for her years of devotion and her help for Chinese migrants over many years.”
Sr Angela Mary in her speech harked back to her arrival in Australia in 1947, when at just 21 she had left her family in County Clare, Ireland, to join the Brisbane congregation of the Sisters of Mercy.
She spoke of a five-week journey aboard a troop ship to Australia then took listeners back to a time when “timber houses dotted the countryside” below the hill where the Mater complex now stands.
“The fact that they were timber amazed me,” Sr Angela Mary said.
“In County Clare, all the houses were built with stone.
“What held me though was to see lights in each home, where I pictured happy families gathered together, enjoying one another’s company, just as our family had done.
“As I stood and looked, I realised that in this city, not one person knew I existed.
“(But) just look at this gathering of my friends today. Never could I have foreseen that this would ever come to pass.”
Sr Angela Mary went on to talk about her “unsought” appointment in 1966 as administrator of the three Mater Public Hospitals in Brisbane – a position she held for 21 years.
The Mercy Sister also paid tribute to many who had supported her with the book and through her long life.
Foremost among these was her “very dear sister Nuala” without whom Sr Angela Mary said it “is literally true my entire life would have been different”.
As well as Dr Chang, she thanked Brisbane Mercy congregational leader Sr Sandra Lupi for her support.
She also thanked Mater Hospital chief executive officer Dr John O’Don-nell for his “painstaking annotation” of her book manuscript; expressed her gratitude to Queensland historian Helen Gregory and thanked Lynn Bryan, from University of Queensland Press, for her support.
These comments led to her words of thanks to Mr Rudd.
“I have always hoped you would be free to launch this book for me and now my dreams are realised,” she said, looking down to where Mr Rudd sat in the front row.
In his response, Australia’s former Prime Minister praised Sr Angela Mary as a “great Queenslander, Aust-ralian, Daughter of Erin’s Isle and ambassador of the Christian faith”.
In launching her book, he described it as “a beautifully written story about family, country, faith and mission”.
Mercy, Mater and Me is available from the Mater Foundation and from Mary Ryan Bookshops.
