ABSTRACT
In 1994, at Yankalilla, a small town just south of Adelaide in South Australia, an extraordinary image appeared on the wall behind the altar in the local Anglican Church. On closer inspection by several parishioners it was revealed to be a figure, raised out of the plaster wall, of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. Over a period of years following the discovery of this image, the tiny church became a site of pilgrimage for thousands of spiritual tourists from all over the world and is now popularly known as the Shrine of our Lady of Yankalilla. The Shrine is also closely connected to an important site associated with Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop: in 1867, MacKillop opened one of her first schools for poor Catholic children in a small cottage that stands near the church.
