Our History

Marymead is a local community-based child and family service which provides a range of family support and substitute care programs. It employs approximately 100 salaried staff in addition to our valued respite and foster carers and volunteers. The centre is situated in Narrabundah, a suburb of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.

Established under the auspices of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in early 1967, the Centre was operated by the Sisters of the order for some twenty years as a temporary care residence. When the Sisters withdrew from their activities in Canberra in 1986, Marymead was accepted as a responsibility of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. The dedication of the Sisters through the first years of the Centre established Marymead as a quality child and family welfare service with strong community support in the ACT and surrounding areas of the Archdiocese in NSW.

Marymead’s Board of Management is appointed by the Archbishop and regularly reports to him on the Centre’s activities.

BEATIFICATION OF MARY OF THE PASSION The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary was founded by Helen de Chappotin to work with the poor and disenfranchised, and established and operated the Marymead Children’s Centre, as it was then known, until the Sisters departure in 1986. Mary of the Passion (Helen de Chappotin) was beatified in Rome on Mission Sunday, 20 October 2002. Marymead continues to work with marginalised and disadvantaged people in the spirit of her mission.