Entry to the exhibition is free, and the exhibition catalogue will be on sale.

The exhibition offers a view of the life and spirit of this group of women and of the rural communities from which they came, and Boorowa is important as one of the earliest places the Sisters came to, serving in the school, parish and district.

The first Australian woman to join the Sisters was Catherine Donovan, whose family were generous benefactors, her brothers providing funds for the Boorowa School and the Cootamundra Mercy hospital.

The view presented in the exhibition is essentially from the outside, through the eyes of the curators Nancy Clarke and Claudia Hyles, who drew on the Congregation’s archives and on the oral histories of the Sisters to assemble the exhibition.

The picture presented is of a group of religious women who approach a vocation to serve “the poor, sick and ignorant” with the down-to-earth practical energy and sense of fun that their Foundress, Catherine McAuley, epitomised.

The story is told of their lives as Sisters of Mercy guided by the Foundress’ Rule and Constitutions, from the Congregation’s origins in Ireland to the journeys to the towns of Goulburn, Albury and Yass. Also presented, as mercy houses spread throughout southern New South Wales, is a history of the Sisters’ initiatives in education, health and welfare, and the evolution and final handing on of these to others.

The inner life of the congregation is portrayed: how the Sisters have arrived at decisions about their life and work, their attention to preserving their mercy spirit and identity through time, how they have accepted new members, fostered the spiritual and professional life of the Sisters and how they have managed their finances.

There will be Sisters on hand to answer questions and guide visitors through the exhibition.

There are over 100 items on show, including reconstructions of the front parlour of the convent ready for the priest’s breakfast, and of the refectory where their sisters had their meals.

The life sized clinical teaching model from the Albury Mercy Hospital has been dressed in the distinctive Mercy Sisters’ religious habit from the 1960s.

A TV slideshow takes the viewer on a journey through the cities, towns and villages where the Mercy Sisters have been working.

The opening times for the Boorowa exhibition are Friday 20 August 12.30pm to 4.00pm; Saturday 21 August, 10.00am to 8.00pm; Sunday 22 August, 9.00am-11.00am.