our history

Highways and Byways has its roots in the story of the Missionary Sisters of Service (MSS) and their founder, Father John Wallis. In 1933 a young, newly ordained priest, Father John was challenged by a cry of the heart from a Bruny Island woman: Why can’t we have Sisters to help us educate our children? Does no one care about us people of the bush? John did care.

For the next ten years he thought about it, prayed about it, talked and wrote about it, until a vision emerged of a community of women who would go out into the highways and byways, seeking out people on a mission of love and service. On 8 July 1944, the first little group of women came together to form what became the Missionary Sisters of Service. Over the following 75 years, their outreach grew, not only geographically, but also in the kind of works they undertook, always responsive to the needs of the times. For their fuller story, see www.missionarysisters.org.au.