12 Facts About Marion Macfarlane

Marion Macfarlane was the first woman to be ordained in the Anglican Church in Australia.

Marion Macfarlane was ordained to the "Female Diaconate" in 1884 in the Diocese of Melbourne, then in 1886 converted to Catholicism, took the name Sister Mary Euphrasia, and joined the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.

Marion Macfarlane was born 19 July 1840 in Colney Hatch, Middlesex, England, daughter of the Scottish writer Charles Macfarlane.

Marion Macfarlane was clothed as a novice in 1868 and professed in 1870 and worked primarily in nursing before leaving the order for unknown reasons in 1878.

Marion Macfarlane emigrated from England on the Cuzco arriving in Melbourne on 15 November 1878.

From 1879 to 1884 Macfarlane was Matron of the Servants Training Institute, a new Church of England initiative in East Melbourne designed to prepare girls for domestic service.

On 8 February 1884 Marion Macfarlane was ordained to the "Female Diaconate" by James Moorhouse, the Anglican Bishop of Melbourne, at Christ Church, South Yarra.

Marion Macfarlane initially worked with H F Tucker, the Vicar of Christ Church South Yarra, and appears later to have lived at Bishopscourt, East Melbourne, with Bishop and Mrs Moorhouse.

Marion Macfarlane became a novice in 1887 and was professed in 1891.

Marion Macfarlane died on 29 April 1898 at the Oakleigh convent and was buried at Booroondara Cemetery, Kew.

Marion Macfarlane's ordination was unusual in that it took place in the high church Anglican context of Melbourne rather than the Evangelical Sydney, and explicitly used the language of ordination.

Peter Sherlock argues that since Marion Macfarlane was ordained with the episcopal laying on of hands, with Bishop Moorhouse intending to create a "Female Diaconate", she should be considered to be the first woman to be a member of the clergy in the Anglican Church in Australia.