An Overview of the Historiography of Women Religious in Australia

In the past twenty years there has emerged in Australia a burgeoning body of literature of scholarly interest in the history of Catholic women religious. This evolution has been stimulated and influenced by the historiography emerging from countries in the northern hemisphere. The interplay between these geographical boundaries has been critical in our emerging scholarship. Publication of Jo Ann McNamara's recent general history of female religious was a long awaited text, canvassing the overall picture across two millennia and several continents, (1) and providing the initial background necessary for specific study. Historians, in North America and Ireland in particular, restored religious women not just to church history but into educational and social history as well. Historians in Australia, both religious and secular, have been influenced by the early historians in the field, for example Mary Ewens and Mary J. Oates in the USA, Marta Danylewycz in Canada, and Catriona Clear in Ireland, who initiated study in this area. The international historiographical development in this genre which is emerging, and has recently been documented by Stephanie Burley, (2) Carol Coburn, (3) and Elizabeth Smyth, (4) provides a useful tool for existing and beginning scholars. However a historiographical review of the literature of the history of women religious in Australia must include the influences from research in various related fields, and in diverse genres. Relevant concepts, themes and methodological approaches in religious and women's histories, feminist studies, and institutional histories have been integrated into, and informed, research on Australian female religious. Therefore it is essential to canvass, albeit briefly, the influences from those particular genres. Australian religious history There have been several indications in the last two decades that the social significance of religion is being reconsidered by historians. In the sub-discipline of Australian religious history, there has been an increase in research, detailed in two comprehensive recent reviews, (5) which reflect 'the most scholarly work written in the last twenty years', (6) and highlight the inclusion of a religious dimension in the writing of secular history. Furthermore, the changed directions of religious history are revealed as it moves towards including questions relating to gender, race and minority groups particularly migrants. Such changes in general religious historical scholarship have also a place in the analysis of Australian Catholic female religious. Initially, histories of Catholicism in Australia were highly clerical, (7) but in the past two decades several academics have contributed lively, general, cultural and social histories, (8) which establish the central religious themes and developments in Catholic religious history. Class and gender relations, politics and demographics, all relate to the establishment and development of Catholic convents and their institutions. In addition, several texts alert the historian of Catholic female religious to the influence of race, conflict, division, age relations and changing spirituality. Also useful are the articles which highlight the developing historiography in the area (9) and the gradual appearance of Catholic religious history in non-religious academic journals. Women's history In women's history in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a steady stream of research emerged that related to religion in women's lives, particularly in their drive for social reform and their participation in philanthropic endeavours. (10) Although there was minimal representation of Catholic women in these writings, they alerted the historian to the possible, but undocumented, role of female Catholic religious in similar areas of service, such as nursing, social work and particularly education. The first Australian text to focus on women and religion was Women, Faith and Fetes: Essays in the History of Women in the Church in Australia, (11) which examined the varied roles of women within the churches, including Catholic female religious. …

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