Alumni Profile: Sister Hermenilda

Alumni Profile

SISTER HERMENILDA

Sr Hermenilda was born on 7th March 1921 and recently celebrated her 100th birthday. Hermie, as she is affectionately known amongst the Sisters, is the third eldest in a family of eight, she was born in North Melbourne and was four when her family moved to Brunswick.

What year did you graduate?

I completed the Leaving Certificate in 1936 which was equivalent to the current Year 11. Back then most students completed the Merit Certificate (Year 8) and left school to enter the workforce.

What study/work did you undertake after your time at St Aloysius?

After I graduated from St Aloysius, I completed a six-month course in Commercial Studies which included typing, shorthand and bookkeeping. We had an excellent teacher, Sr Barbara Hill. I then worked for British Products as a junior. During the war, I was asked to do the accounting work because a lot of the men were called to service.

What influenced you in becoming a Mercy Sister?

Well, I was sick of people telling me I had a Mercy face! One day I got word the Rev Mother of the Coburg Convent wanted to see me and I was so angry because I thought she was going to ask me join, so I piled on the lipstick and did up my hair. When Rev Mother asked me, I said “No I’m going to get married and have a big family like my mother”. I knew Rev Mother would keep at me so I made up my mind to join, but also that they would kick me out smartly! Two of my sisters and my aunt were also Sisters of Mercy, so it was in the blood I had no hope of getting away. I entered the convent when I was 21.

Study/Career/Travel highlights?

I worked for 12 years in Tasmania. I taught in Deloraine for six years, where I was Junior of the House. Then I moved to Burnie as Superior for another six years, I was 31 years old at the time. I still keep in touch with quite a few past pupils.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve overcome?

After my appointment as Superior in Burnie, I taught and held positions as Principal in over 20 schools across Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales including St Mary’s in West Melbourne and St Anges in Geelong. Many parents didn’t think girls ought to be educated and I used to feel so sorry for them because they were clever girls and we would have got scholarships for them to come to St Aloysius but they weren’t allowed to stay on. It was a very unjust system which made me very sad.

Alumni Profile

SISTER HERMENILDA

How do you recall your time at St Aloysius? What is your fondest memory?

A couple of my favourite teachers were Sr Barbara Hill who was in charge of the Commercial class and taught Latin, had a great sense of humour, and really stood out in my mind. The other was Mrs Wallace, we used to have meetings at her house and offer supper at the end of our meetings. The Principal at the time was Mother Madeleine Murphy, I remember she looked at my skirt one day and told me it was too short!

What advice do you have for the students of today?

It’s such a difference world, I’d be asking them to tell me what to do! Students today are much cleverer than we were at that stage of life. They are very shrewd and knowledgeable now.

Who or what has inspired you throughout your life?

I was very lucky to have my parents, they loved one another. Dad had a great sense of humour and he’d do fun stuff with us, mum was very demure and gentle, together they had a very warm and loving relationship. My aunt also lived with us and she made all our clothes including the St Al’s uniform. Dad did shift work with the railways. We’d be in the kitchen with the latest baby, and he would always remember to give mum and all us kids a kiss before he headed off. When he was on the early shift, the noise he would be making would wake us. He would yell out to us if we wanted a cup of tea or coffee, and he’d make us a cup of warm milk with plenty of sugar in it, we used to think it was the most wonderful thing!

SR. HERMENILDA (LIL) MCMANUS

Sr. Hermenilda (Lil) McManus 7/3/1921 – (Sr. Lil is now 100!)

● Sr. Lil is an alumna of St Aloysius

College. She was born in Parkville and moved to West Brunswick in 1925.

● Sr. Lil is one of eight children whose two sisters also Professed as Sisters of Mercy. ● Sr. Lil was academically a high achieving student who was recognised throughout her education at St Aloysius

College by awards and scholarships. She specialised in the Commercial stream of the Curriculum.

● Sr. Lil established a Career in the

Commercial and Business worlds of Melbourne in the late 1930s to early 1940s ● Sr. Lil entered the Mercy Order at

Rosanna in 1942, was Professed in 1945 and finally Professed on 24th

January 1950 ● Sr. Lil attributes her vocation to the influences of the Mercy Nuns on her and other girls as students. ● In Sr. Lil’s long vocation she has practised in education and worked in schools across Victoria, Tasmania and

New South Wales since March 1945.

● She has taught and held positions as Principal in no less than fifteen Mercy schools, often simultaneously leading her Community as Superior. All of this, along with fulfilling ongoing roles as

Parish Worker. To this day she continues to engage with students of a nearby

Mercy Secondary College in a pastoral care capacity. ● The Motto that Sr. Lil chose upon her profession was “I can do all things in him who strengthens me” which she has lived out in her service as a

Sister of Mercy with a kind heart, a gentle disposition, a superior intellect, optimism and a lovely sense of humour.