In December 1910 a function was held in the Wellington Town Hall to honour Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, founder of the Sisters of Compassion order, for her half century of selfless service to the people of New Zealand.
"This public testimony to the Reverend Mother," said Governor-General Lord Islington, "was representative of all classes, all creeds and denominations."
Aubert worked among the poor and the sick, especially at the settlement of Jerusalem - Hiruharama - and later in Wellington where she established a foundling home for illegitimate children. But even as she was being honoured for good deeds that would have filled the lifetimes of lesser people to overflowing, she continued to work.
In 1910 she set up a foundling home in Auckland - first in Hobson St and then in a Mt Eden mansion built by businessman J.C. Firth before he went bankrupt.
The Herald welcomed the initiative. "The good work which has been done in Wellington for suffering and incurable children has made the name of the Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aubert known through the Dominion," it said.
