Our  Monastery

"Come aside by yourselves

to a deserted place and rest a while."      Mark 6:31

Bunbury is a city in the southwest of Western Australia. The diocese takes in all the lower portion of the state. The monastery is under the jurisdiction of the Australian Regional Vicariate of the Anglo-Irish Province.   

Our Lady of Lourdes is the titular of the monastery.  There were ten Foundresses.  The founding Prioress is Mother Anne of Jesus (Vil) from Bangkok Carmel.   The foundresses took up residence in their new Carmel on July 22nd 1977, and Bishop Myles McKeon celebrated the first Mass the next day 23rd July 1977.

"I will bring them to

my holy mountain. 

I will make them joyful

in my house of prayer.

Their offerings and

their sacrifices

will be accepted

on my altar,

for my house

will be called

a house of prayer

for all the nations.

Isaiah 56:7

Due to certain circumstances, the Chapel was not ready until the day of the Official inauguration and Enclosure, 13th November 1977, at which time the Blessed Sacrament was reserved. From the time they were officially established, our sisters observed the Rule, Constitutions and Declarations given in April 1977.  The Community's first house, a former Mercy Convent, was in Ferguson Road, Dardanup. Our sisters soon had many friends and benefactors in the area, but the house was situated next to a school and not suitable for a Carmelite monastery, so another location was sought for to build a permanent Monastery. The site chosen was in Gelorup, 13km from Bunbury, still virgin bush just being developed.  A two-hectare lot on Gelorup Rise was bought and donated by the Bishop.              

                            The sisters with Bishop Emeritus Myles McKeon and Bishop Gerard Holohan

whom were present for the monastery's Silver Jubilee.

Bishop Peter Quinn who had succeeded to the Diocese of Bunbury on 4th August 1982 was instrumental in this matter. The foundation stone was blessed by him on the 18th September 1983 and on completion of the buildings, on the 25th March 1984 he con-celebrated the first mass with by then retired Bishop McKeon on the occasion of the official opening and inauguration. This was in the presence of many friends and benefactors. The Bishop pointed out that the building of this Carmel fulfilled a wish, being his first major work as Bishop of Bunbury.   On the same day, in harmony with the wishes of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, he consecrated the whole diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.   The style of the Monastery is original, our sisters and the Bishop worked with the Architect, Mrs Iris Rossen, to produce a monastery that is small and laid out in a way that promotes solitude and silence, while witnessing to poverty. The external part of the Monastery, including the chapel, is built in the style of the old colonial rural homesteads.

On 4th November 2001, our sisters celebrated their Silver Jubilee of their foundation in Australia.  The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Gerard Holohan.   Among those present for the celebration were many individuals - clergy, religious and lay - who had helped the nuns establish themselves and then continued the association in many different ways over the years.