Featured image: 1964 Pat Will, Cathy Bateman & Annette Parker – Rabaul Diocese, PNG
This September, the Palms team was presented with one of the earliest editions of Palms Post printed in March 1965 from Sr Annette Parker.
Sr Annette Parker had kept the Palms Post for many years and has now given it to Palms as a gift that showcases the organisation’s earlier days. Sr Annette was one of the original members of the Palms Executive Team alongside Mary Gilchrist, Len Burney and Roy Boylan so she’s seen how Palms has changed over the years including our approach with overseas communities.
“The culture of the time was to help people. Now Palms has evolved and now it is about showing local people how to do the job and leave. It’s not about you, it’s about the community,” Sr Annette said.
Much like today’s stories from the field, Letters from Lay Missionaries are the most exciting to read.
That year the first training course for lay missionaries took place at Loreto Convent in Kirribilli, NSW and the second course, scheduled for later in the year was scheduled at Kincoppal Convent, Elizabeth Bay, NSW.
Zena Harrison, a Palms missionary who was based in Wewak, Papua New Guinea (1965), wrote:
“Father took me out for a driving lesson in his jeep, the other day. Talk about fun! We’re both still alive, but at one stage I nearly sent us down a small embankment. Father was screaming at me to change to second gear. I did that O.K. but he was still yelling. I looked at him and he said, “Take your foot off the clutch!” I think after that it was a little bit too much for him so he got out and let me take it up and down the airstrip for a few times by myself”.
With a focus on recruitment and promotion of the training course for lay missionaries (now known as Palms’ Orientation Course), Palms Post from 1965 to 2024 has not changed in its aims to recruit those who are interested in engaging in valuable skill exchange and availing of the many new experiences and challenges that come with an overseas placement. Read the full 1965 Palms Post here.