Sisters' Profiles
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Marion Firth SGS

 

When both parents are the descendants of pioneering stock, it could be expected that their children might exhibit some of the qualities of our Australian trail blazers. 

On her paternal side, Sr Marion Firth can lay claim to being a descendant of Ezra and Eliza Firth, pioneers of the Mt Surprise district near Georgetown in north-west Queensland. Ezra and Eliza settled the land there in the 1850s after having walked their stock from the Brisbane region many hundred of kilometres away. Their first child, Marion’s grandfather, was the first white child registered as being born in the Cook shire.  That this was considered of some significance to the pioneering parents is borne out in that they named their child, Cook Leichhardt - Cook for the district and Leichhardt for the famous explorer who had first opened up the area.

Pioneering also figured in the history of the maternal side of Marion’s family.  Her great-grandfather, Martin Hammond, together with the famous pioneering families, the Duracks and the Tullys were pioneers of the Windorah district in south-west Queensland.

Marion is the third born in a family of eight children.

With such pioneering in her genes, Marion has frequently given evidence of that willingness to give new things a go, of deep conviction, of preparedness for hard work, of the ability to bring a task or project to completion.

The first 20 years of her Good Samaritan ministry was given to teaching. Then came a time at North Fitzroy, Melbourne, where she used her skills and her compassion in parish pastoral work and community development.  For nine years when in Melbourne, she volunteered  each Friday night to be a ‘vannie’ on the St Vincent de Paul soup van, preparing and distributing soup and sandwiches, and offering a ready smile and a listening ear to the poor, marginalised and homeless in the city area.  Marion says that these encounters were mutually enriching.

Soon after the Good Samaritan Sisters had begun their mission in Kiribati, Marion responded to the request of Bishop Paul Mea and went to fulfil the role of development Project Officer and Secretary in the Diocesan Office. She ministered in Kiribati for eight years.

Marion now is the Director of the Good Samaritan Congregational Centre at Glebe Point. Many experience her hospitality and open-heartedness and have benefited from her organisational skills. 

Her stewardship of Toxteth House and her giftedness in community living are ministries she fulfils with generosity and diligence. 

She is indeed a true daughter of her pioneering ancestors.

 

 

by Margaret Ann Kelly SGS