What We Collect

The Mary MacKillop Place Museum Collection holds over 10,000 objects with Indigenous items that date back to pre-colonial times in Australia, and European items that date back to the 17th Century.

The collection includes objects, documents, art, books, ephemera, costumes, relics and domestic furnishings and items housed in historic Alma Cottage, built in 1855. The collection has a focus on objects owned by the MacKillop family and Julian Tenison Woods, as well as items that were the property of Sisters of Saint Joseph, friends, associates and church leaders. Objects that reflect the story of Catholicism in Australia are also well represented.

The collection is displayed across three galleries and Alma Cottage on the Mary MacKillop Place site and are supported with curator floor talks to unearth the stories behind the objects. Further items are housed in the Collection Store and various Sisters of Saint Joseph properties.