When Patricia came to Abbotsford Convent as a writer-in-residence in the early 2000s, it was more than a professional milestone. It was a return to the place that had shaped her childhood after the death of her mother — a site of resilience and memory.
In the mid-1950s, at just 11 years old, Patricia and her three sisters were brought to the Good Shepherd Convent orphanage by their father.
“Dad was a labourer working seven days a week and couldn’t care for four girls alone. So he had two choices: keep us together at the orphanage, or separate us for adoption,” Patricia recalls.
Her memories of those years are fragmented but vivid. Lumpy porridge at breakfast, the vast kitchen garden that sustained the women and girls who lived there, and the extraordinary moment of dancing for Queen Elizabeth during her 1954 visit to Australia.
“There was a lot of regime and routine, too,” said Patricia.
“You’d get up, say prayers, have breakfast, go to school, then dinner and the rosary every night before bed. I remember darning in the sewing room above the infirmary as well.”
After two years at the orphanage, Patricia’s father brought the sisters back home, and the two older girls were sent out to work. Patricia was aged 14 by this time, and although she was happy to be home, she was sad not to be continuing her education, instead being sent to work at a department store on Chapel Street.
Patricia’s thirst for knowledge never waned and at 32, and already the mother of two, she returned to her studies.
“Once my children were in primary school, I thought, ‘now what?’. So, I applied to the Council of Adult Education to do a bridging course, and then I completed the HSC.”
Patricia showed a natural aptitude for academia, and she went on to study a BA at Monash University.
Her lifelong love of prose led her to become an award-winning poet and librettist, publishing two poetry collections and collaborating with internationally-renowned composers, whilst still finding time to become a performer in a Women’s Circus.
In 2003 Patricia returned to the Convent, having secured a writer’s residency which gave access to free studio space from which to explore her writing.
Her anthropology minor at university had shifted her view of the Convent. Instead of deprivation, she’d begun to see layers of complexity.
Patricia’s studio was one of the nuns’ old bedrooms.
“That first day, I went into my new studio, closed the doors, and had a long conversation with the walls. I was speaking with ghosts of women from the past,” said Patricia
During her writer’s residency Patricia interviewed over seventy women who had a connection to the Convent at some stage during 1927-1974.
These oral histories combined with archival records and Patricia’s own memories, formed the basis of The Abbotsford Mysteries, a book of poetry published in 2011.
Patricia describes the interview process as “humbling, humorous, and at times disquieting”.
“Being trusted with such potent memories was an immense privilege. My intention was to neither censor nor sanction the experiences of the women I spoke to. I was simply the vehicle for their stories,” says Patricia.
The Abbotsford Mysteries’ poems were later put to music and turned into a podcast.
Today, aged 84, Patricia enjoys visiting the Convent from time to time.
“My perspective of the Convent is coloured by my time in the orphanage, of course. However, the fact that it has become an arts precinct has enabled me to revisit it on my own terms, as a poet.”
Book a She Shapes History women’s history walking tour of the Abbotsford Convent
Listen to The Abbotsford Mysteries Podcast
Purchase Patricia Sykes’ book of poetry, The Abbotsford Mysteries
