NAMES	Year
Sister Teresa Cheetham	1885 - 1902 (Not formally Appointed)
Sister Sebastian Leitner	1902 - 1924
Sister Bernadine O' Driscoll	1924 - 1938
Mother Joseph Connaughton	1938 - 1968
Sister Judith Egan	1968 - 1971
Mrs Thankam Paul	1971 (Acting Principal)
Sister Sylvia Cheong	1972 - 1982
Mrs Molly Chong	1982 - 1987
Sister Sylvia Cheong	1987 - 1992
Miss Anna Dreba	15 July 1992 - 15 September 1997
Mr. Christopher Tan	16 September 1997 - Present

Sister Teresa Cheetham
+ Teresa Cheetham was born in Rochdale, England in 1863. She was the niece of the foundress of the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionaries of St. Joseph.
Sister Teresa entered the Congregation in 1878 and was among the first Sisters to take her vows on September 1883. She sailed for Kuching in May 1885, along with her other Sisters, namely Mother Helen, Sister Aloysius, Sister Mary of the Cross and Sister Josephine. She was one of the first sisters to come to Borneo.
Sister Teresa was only 22 years old when she first arrived in Kuching and she helped to lay the foundation of what was later to be St. Teresa’s Convent School.
In 1891 she went to Sandakan and there founded St. Mary’s Convent School. She was the first Superior in Sandakan and it was there that she died of fever on April 16, 1919 at the age of 56.
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Sister Sebastian Leitner
+ In 1899, Ursula Leitner left her home in the Austrian village of Kufstein to enter the Congregation of the Francisan Missionaries of the St. Joseph in Manchester, England. Three years later she professed and in 1902 left England for Sarawak.
Sister Sebastian (Ursula Leitner) arrived in Kuching on May 7, 1902. Her first mission was among the Land of Dayaks on Singghi Mountain. Later she started St. Teresa’s Convent School, Kuching. In those early days at the beginning of this century it was a difficult task to encourage parents to send their children to school. Sister Sebastian lived to see almost one thousand five hundred pupils attending St.Teresa’s, from Kindergarten to the Senior Cambridge Standard. The children were the joy of her life.
Four years in her mid-twenties were spent in Sandakan, after which she returned to Kuching. In 1934, she made her one and only visit home to her beloved Austria and also to England.
During World War II when the sisters were interned in Japanese Internment Camp, Sister Sebastian, on account of her nationality, was exempted. She spent this precious time in doing what came her way, but in particular she looked after the Little Sisters of St. Francis, a local Congregation which had been founded with the assistance of the other sisters.
Sister Sebastian was greatly loved by the people of Kuching. Rich and poor, young and old, Christians and non-Christian, all regarded her as a friend. They came to seek her advice whenever they were troubled or worried. She was a great friend of the second and third Rajahs, Sir Charles and Sir Charles Vyner Brooke.
The Diamond Jubilee of Sister Sebastian’s Religious profession, May 19, 1961, was a day of rejoicing. Under the title "Sixty glorious Years", Sister Sebastian was privileged to tell all on the then radio Sarawak the story of her life, far from home and country, and about her devoted service of those whom she had come to love and cherish as her own.
Some three years before her death, she was asked if she would like to return to England. Sister Sebastian’s reply was : "I would like to die with my people in Sarawak."
Sister Sebastian died peacefully on December 10 1963. While her body laid in St. Joseph’s Church, Kuching, many people paid their final respects to the dear old nun they had known so well. Among those who filled past her coffin were some of the surviving old pupils, and the children the grandchildren and great-grand children of the former pupils. Sister Sebastian was buried near her beloved brother, Father Joseph Roeck Mill Hill Missionary, who died in Kuching in 1900 after only one year’s missionary work in Sarawak.
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Sister Bernadine O’Driscoll
+ Amelia O’Driscoll was born in Manchester, England, on February 14, 1876. She entered the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionaries of St. Joseph on October 3, 1898, and was professed on May 19, 1901.
Sister Bernadine (Amelia O’Driscoll) first went to St. John’s College, Waterford, in Ireland for a short period, and then taught in Nelson, England, until 1924.
On October 19, 1924, Sister Bernadine sailed for Kuching and on arrival took charge of St. Teresa’s Convent School. In December 1937, she was appointed Regional Superior. She was noted for her gentleness and kindness.
Although somewhat frail and delicate-looking, it was amazing how well Sister Bernadine bore the privations of a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. Her gentle manners and lady-like appearance commanded the respect of even the rough Japanese soldiers.
On account of her poor health and advanced age, the Japanese commander allowed her to be sent "home" to St. Teresa’s in late 1943.
After Liberation in September 1945, instead of traveling to England as was expected. She decided to remain at St. Teresa’s to see what could be restored again from the wreckage of more than fifty years’ hard work.
It was not until 1951 that Sister Bernadine returned to England, and was able to celebrate her Golden Jubilee there. After some time her health, as always rather delicate, began to give real cause for concern. Towards the end of 1953 it was thought that she could not live much longer. From then on, her progress towards recovery was slow. On this account Sister Bernadine retired to St. Clare’s Convent, Kanowit and it was there that she died on March 30, 1954.
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Mother Joseph Connaughton
+ Mary Josephine Connaughton was born in Ireland in December,1915. Having completed her second year’s study for a Commerce Degree at University College, Dublin, Ireland, she entered the Congregation of the Frianciscan Missionary Sisters of St. Joseph on August 22, 1933.Sister Joseph was professed on July 2, 1935 and returned to Dublin in 1936 to continue her studies. In 1937 she was awarded a First-ClassHonours Degree in Commerce and a year later gained the Higher Diploma in Education at University College, Cork, Ireland.
Sister Joseph sailed for Kuching on October 7 1938 and arrived on October 31. After teaching for some time at St. Teresa’s Convent School, Sister Joseph became its headmistress. Under her expert, caring and kindly guidance, the school went from strength to strength . Examination results were always outstanding but more important still the girls were lively, happy and contented, and great care was given to advising them in the choice of their future careers. Sister Joseph loved Borneo and its people. Her personal charm, her gentleness; her gracious, quiet but efficient manner endeared her to all; of whatever status, with whom she came in contact both socially and in the highly specialised world of education.
The Japanese invasion of Borneo in 1941 resulted in the holding of all the Sisters in the Batu Lintang Internment Camp in Kuching. Release came in 1945 and after a period of recuperation in Labuan Island Rest Camp, Sister Joseph was one of those able to return to work which had been so rudely interrupted by the war. Sister Joseph had a spell of home leave from September 1949 to September 1950, after which she returned to Borneo. She was then appointed Directress of all the Sisters’ Schools in Sarawak. Five years later, she became Regional Superior in Sarawak. In 1963, this appointement was extended to include Sabah which until then had been a separated region. This meant added responsibility and travelling, but Sister Joseph proved to be capable and resourceful.
In 1969, she left Sarawak and after some time in England went to St. Francis’s Convent School, Kota Kinabalu, for two years as headmistress. In 1971, when most of the Sisters had left Sabah, Sister Joseph returned to England and for the next four years studied in Rome at the Regina Mundi College where she was awarded a Master of Arts Degree in the Religious Sciences from the Gregorian University.
In 1975, Sister Joseph was elected to the General Council, that is, the Central Administration of the Congregation, and was entrusted with the responsibility of the Formation in the Congregation. She had almost completed her first year programme and with the exception of North and South America had visited all the houses at home and abroad so that the community was enriched by the fruits of her studies at the Regina Mundi.
A fortnight before her death, Sister Joseph had returned to England from Kenya. Her return home had been delayed for a few days by sickness which had been diagnosed as malaria. At home, Sister Joseph seemed to be recuperating and was already planning the programme for the Congregation for 1977. She died peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of Thursday, December 30, of a heart attack.
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Sister Judith Egan
+ Sister Judith Egan was born in Kilkenny, Ireland on June 2, 1926 . She entered the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of St. Joseph on march 25, 1946 and was professed on march 12. 1948.
For two years Sister Judith worked with the children in England before leaving for Sarawak in 1950. Sister taught in Kanowit and Sibu and was one of the first Sisters to go to Seria in 1955 to help to start St. Angela’s School. In 1957 , she came to Kuching to teach in St. Teresa’s.
In 1962, she returned to Ireland to study at Cork university and gain a B. A. degree. She then returned to Sarawak in 1965 and to St. Teresa’s Kuching , where she eventually became the principal. When the sisters left Kuching in 1971 , after home leave , Sister Judith went back to Seria, where she remained until 1978 , Sister Judith was among the last sisters to leave Borneo 93 years after the first Sisters had arrived there in 1885.
For three years Sister Judith was the principal of a school in England before leaving once more for an overseas mission, this time going to Kenya where she taught from 1981 until 1983.
Sister Judith is presently residing in Broughton Hall, Stafford where she is on the staff of a home for elderly Sisters.
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Sister Sylvia Cheong
+ Sylvia Cheong Shaw Lan was born in Miri, Sarawak in November 1940. As her father was working in Brunei, Sylvia was educated at the Seria English School in that Sultanate.
Sylvia Cheong was sent to St. Teresa’s School in Kuching for her senior education and she passed the S.C. Examination in 1957. Teachers recall that the quiet, serious girl, even at the age of sixteen or seventeen, had decided that she would become a nun.
Sylvia Cheong entered the order of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sarawak in 1962, and was professed in 1964. To permit full use of her academic talents, Sister Sylvia was sent to the National University of Ireland to study for a B.A. and then later to London university to complete a Cert. in Education.
Upon her return to Sarawak, Sister Sylvia started to teach at St. Joseph’s School, Miri in 1969.
In 1972, after the Franciscan Missionaries of St. Joseph had left Sarawak, Sister Sylvia took over as principal of St. Teresa’s School in Kuching. She was thus the first Sarawakian and the first Old Girl to hold this post.
Sister Sylvia added the Science Laboratory to the school during her time as principal. The school saw its peak enrolment of over 1,400 in those years.
Sister Sylvia was transferred to St. Elizabeth’s in Sibu in 1982.
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