Purpose Mary Mackillop, the only Australian to have been declared a “saint” by the Roman Catholic Church, co-founded the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph, a religious congregation established primarily to educate the poor. Prior to this, she taught at a Common School in Portland. While she was there, the headmaster was dismissed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the narrative accounts of the dismissal, as provided in the biographies of Mary, are supported by the documentary evidence. Contemporary records of the Board of Education indicate that Mary played a more active role in the dismissal than that suggested by her biographers. Design/methodology/approach Documentary evidence, particularly the records of the Board of Education, has been used to challenge the biographical accounts of Mary Mackillop’s involvement in an incident that occurred while she was a teacher at the Portland Common School. Findings It appears that the biographers, by omitting to consider the evidence available in the records of the Board of Education, have down-played Mary Mackillop’s involvement in the events that led to the dismissal of the head teacher at Portland. Originality/value This paper uses documentary evidence to challenge the account of the Portand incident, as provided in the biographies of Mary Mackillop.

中文翻译：

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玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）的不道德行为：她在波特兰的早期教学生涯

目的玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）是唯一一位被罗马天主教会宣布为“圣人”的澳大利亚人，与他人共同创立了圣约瑟夫姐妹学院，这是一个主要旨在教育穷人的宗教团体。在此之前，她在波特兰的一所普通学校任教。在她在那里的时候，校长被解雇了。本文的目的是研究在玛丽的传记中提供的解雇叙事叙述在多大程度上得到书面证据的支持。教育委员会的当代记录表明，玛丽在解雇中所起的作用比传记作者所建议的更为积极。设计/方法/方法书面证据，尤其是教育委员会的记录，曾被用来挑战玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）在波特兰公立学校任教期间发生的一起事件的传记。调查结果表明，传记作者通过忽略考虑教育委员会记录中的可用证据，轻描淡写了玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）参与的事件，这些事件导致波特兰总校长被解雇。独创性/价值正如玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）的传记所提供的那样，本文使用文献证据来挑战Portand事件。淡化了玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）参与的事件，这些事件导致波特兰的班主任被解雇。独创性/价值正如玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）的传记所提供的那样，本文使用文献证据来挑战Portand事件。淡化了玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）参与的事件，这些事件导致波特兰的班主任被解雇。独创性/价值正如玛丽·麦克基洛普（Mary Mackillop）的传记所提供的那样，本文使用文献证据来挑战Portand事件。