Their numbers fluctuated from eight who arrived in the city in 1916 to about 17 in the 1950s and then four by 1995.

Then by 2004 there were two.

The last Sister of St John of God will leave Goulburn in coming weeks, ending nearly 100 years of health care in the city.

Sr Eileen Regan is saddened by the prospect, but she’s also a realist.

“We knew it was coming and that we’d eventually be transferred,” she told the Post.

Sr Eileen is moving back to Western Australia, where she completed much of her early nursing work. Much of the order is also based in that state.

Her departure comes after that of Sr Boniface Scully several weeks ago.

Like many of her order, she devoted almost a lifetime of service, in this case 55 years to running and working in the former St John of God Hospital’s kitchen.

Though retiring soon after the facility’s transfer to the Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) in 2004, and its renaming as the Bourke Street Health Service, she’s very much a part of “the family.”

Staff and management bade her a warm farewell at an afternoon tea last month.

The Service’s senior nurse manager John Gale paid tribute to the Sisters’ role over many years.

“It’s a remarkable contribution and part of the spirit of Goulburn,” he told the Post.

“I think that’s a part of what Goulburn is and we miss and love them a great deal.”

The order came to Goulburn from WA in 1916 at Bishop John Gallagher’s invitation. He wanted them to establish a 13-bed hospital in a doctor’s residence, bequeathed to the church.

The eight Sisters lived upstairs until a convent was built on the present grounds in 1925. The facility grew to 24 beds, including a male and female ward and by 1950, additions and alterations took it to 70 beds, complete with a children’s ward, coronary care and intensive care units.

In 1979 the hospital became a private provider of publicly funded health care and its services have expanded considerably, including oncology and palliative care.

The chance to work with the sick drew the young Eileen Regan when she entered the convent in Ireland in 1953.

“I wanted to go to Africa to work on a mission but when I was interviewed (for the convent) they mentioned St John of God in Australia and their work in the hospitals. It appealed to me,” Sr Eileen said.

She trained initially as a general nurse, working in Western Australia and later as a psychiatric nurse in Sydney.

Sr Eileen arrived in Goulburn in 1995 from Brighton, Victoria to take up the pastoral care role. It utilised her training in that field at a major Melbourne cancer hospital.

“It was very handy to have those nursing skills,” she said.

“Pastoral care is about listening, empathising and being able to respond. I feel it’s like you care for the whole person, including their spiritual side.”

Sr Eileen has seen many changes, from the Sisters’ move from the convent in 1999 into the community, to the tremendous contribution of nursing and medical staff, the hospital’s transfer to GSAHS in 2004 and of course, the name change.

“It was sad to see the name go but it had to be,” she said.

“(The transfer) didn’t change much for me. I felt greatly accepted in the hospital and the real care and treatment of the person as an individual continued. It carries on. We do what we have to do.”

Sr Boniface’s ill health necessitated her move to WA, although she had wanted to move back there.

The decision also meant Sr Eileen’s transfer to Safety Bay, a seaside suburb of Perth, where she will live with other Sisters.

On her impending departure, Sr Eileen said it was sad to be leaving but she felt wonderfully enriched by her time in Goulburn and would carry many happy memories of support and friendship.

The Service’s management and staff will farewell her this week.

“Sr Eileen would have been beside many a person who passed away and that has been a big part of the Sisters’ ministry,” Mr Gale said.