Kings Birthday honours
News
A Josephite Sister who has dedicated much of her life to ensuring the legacy of St Mary MacKillop continues and a retired Adelaide priest have been awarded Order of Australia medals (OAM) in the 2025 King’s Birthday honours list.
Sr Mary Ryan rsj successfully steered the Mary MacKillop Precinct and Museum at Kensington through a major redevelopment including the opening of a state-of-the art interpretive museum in 2019 and has held leadership roles across Australia over the 53 years since she was professed.
She is now the assistant director of the Mary MacKillop Spirituality Ministry in Kensington, Adelaide.
The humble Sr Mary said the award came “out of the blue”.
“I received an email on a Sunday afternoon two and a half months ago,” she said.
Thinking it might be a spam or a hoax, another look at the gov.au address revealed it was official.
Since then she has come to accept that the honour is “for all of us (Sisters of St Joseph)”. Her official citation refers to the order founded by Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods, saying the Sisters follow Australia’s first saint in caring for the marginalised.
While her nomination for the award remains anonymous Sr Mary views it as recognition of her
53 years of ministry and not merely the 13 years since she became involved with the Mary MacKillop Precinct.
She said the King’s Birthday was “a wonderful day” as messages, texts and flowers made their way to her.
Fr Allan Winter was recognised for his service to the Catholic Church and local communities through his pastoral work, spiritual leadership and support of social causes.
Ordained on September 4 1974, Fr Winter spent two years in Mount Gambier before being appointed to Tranmere parish where he learned the Italian language and began his long service to the Italian community.
After six years in the Tranmere Parish Fr Winter received his first appointment as parish priest in the Parkside. Seven years later he was appointed to the Payneham parish where he served for 34 years until his retirement in 2021.
