Abstract

This paper highlights the need for studies to be undertaken on Irish women who became ‘female religious’ in Roman Catholic religious communities and who taught in Australian schools up until 1922. The paper is structured in three parts. It opens by outlining the international context that gave rise to the existence of these personnel in Australia. The more specific background is then sketched out. A broad overview of the literature on the distinct group of teachers in Australia in question follows and the fact that the current research base on them is somewhat unwieldy and disjointed is highlighted. This contention in turn, it is argued, indicates the need for engagement in a major research programme which takes a macro perspective on Irish female religious as teachers in Australia.