“Go and do the same” This quote from the Parable of the Good Samaritan is at the heart of St Francis Catholic School Ayr’s Catholic Identity Model. The Good Samaritan Sisters were welcomed to the Burdekin district in September 1912 and for 84 years contributed to the charism and history of St Francis Catholic School. The Sisters’ spirituality, inspired by the Parable of the Good Samaritan is still reflected in the school's daily life today. 

After moving into a beautiful new administration building in 2021, our foyer was a blank canvas waiting for that special piece of artwork that could pay respect to the rich traditions and faith that our school is built upon. It needed to tell the story of who we are and reflect our Catholic Identity Model of Love of God, Love of Neighbour and Love in Action.

We spent nine long months looking at different images before we came across a very special painting on the Good Samaritan’s website. We discovered that the artwork we loved was gifted to the Good Samaritan Sisters by the artist Justin O’Brien. After months of investigation and thanks to the Good Samaritan Sisters’ Archivist and the Estate of Justin O’Brien we were granted permission to reproduce the image of The Good Samaritan. This beautiful image now takes pride of place in our foyer and reminds us every day that like the Good Samaritan we too must “go and do the same”.