Foreward to the Second Edition

A hundred years is a long time. Many people come and go in that length of time. Very few people five to hundred. Some organizations do. The Pallottines have been in Australia for that time. It is just over 100 years since the first Brothers and Priests arrived at Fremantle on the 11th of February 1901. A few months later they took up their task in the Kimberley.

We have written about many of these men in our recently published history, Nothing is Wasted in the Household of God. It was our intention to do a corresponding book about all the wonderful local people who made the Church happen in the Kimberley. The idea was great. The execution was more involved. In the end we ran out of time. Maybe the idea will come to birth at a later time.

The Pallottines still keenly want to honour the people with whom they have worked over the years. Ten years ago a book was compiled by Father Francis and Sister Brigida. It tells the stories of many of the people so important in the life of the Church, in their own words. This is Your Place sold quickly and for a long time was out of print.

The Pallottines decided to re-issue this book as a tribute to the people who are the very substance of Church, who have made Church happen. The people whose stories are told here are people who mean much to us. There are others whose stories are told in other places. There are some who are very important but whose stories remain untold. The effects of their fives are still strong in the community. Maybe one day their stories will be written. At least their glory is in their long-term influence on their families, friends and neighbours.

I hope the people who have urged us to reprint this book enjoy it. We certainly enjoy reading and re-reading these pages, with their additional store of photographs. We all know that though these are important stories they are far from the whole story. The complete picture lies in the community of the people, the Church. It is in honour of all these people that we the Pallottines have re-published this book.

Thanks to Sr Joan Mansfield and the St John of God Sisters, Bishop Chris Saunders, Fr Larry Finke and the Battye Library, for assistance with photographs and to Jane Lodge for a completely new design. I also want to pay special thanks to Peter Bibby. He took on this task and brought it to completion.

Mike McMahon, SAC (Regional)

$20.00 plus GST, postage, packaging.

Pallottine Regional
45 Ionic St
Shelley   WA  6148 Australia
Telephone:  61 8 9354 4061
Fax:  61 8 9354 2839
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(Copyright Broome Diocese and the Beagle Bay Community. New Edition 2001 published by the Pallottine Centre)