“Some days it feels like a century ago — other days it feels like yesterday,” she said.

At this time of year, the memories are especially fresh. The dates have significance. Memories are attached to them. 

On November 30, it was 50 years since Connie, or Sister Mary Rosina as she was known, was struck with a machete by a mentally ill man while marking exam papers in the rear of a classroom on the remote island of Magien, off the coast of New Britain, a province of Papua New Guinea. 

Connie, who was working as a missionary in the remote outpost of Turuk, was killed instantly, her spinal cord severed with two blows to the back of her neck. She was found slumped over her desk, pencil still in hand, after terrified children fled the classroom and raised the alarm. She was 41.

Her three surviving sisters: Muriel McElgunn, Evelyn McNally and Mrs Mills remember the day the horrific news reached home. 

“The head nun of Connie’s order called our parish priest in Koroit, Father Boylan, who came and told me what happened,” Mrs McNally said. 

“I then had to tell my mum and then had to let everyone else know.” 

Mrs Mills said her mother and late sister Gertie were due to visit her home at Warrong that day. When they didn’t arrive she called to find out where they were. 

“Gertie answered the phone and said ‘Connie is missing, you better come in’,” Mrs Mills said.

“I didn’t know she had been killed until I got to mum’s.”

“It was devastating. It didn’t sink in for a while.” 

They said all their sister ever wanted to do was join the convent and devote her life to helping people less fortunate. 

“Right from the time she could think for herself, she wanted to be a nun,” Mrs McNally said. “She went to the Warrong State School and then to Warrnambool High School. She didn’t go to St Ann’s, so wouldn’t have been around nuns for that to influence her decision.” 

The eldest of Victor and Grace Gladman’s seven children, Connie went to teachers college in Melbourne and taught in schools around the Wimmera and Mallee region. 

“She wanted to go and join the convent much sooner, but dad wouldn’t let her,” Mrs Mills said. “He wanted her to go out and experience the world to see if becoming a nun was what she really wanted, so that’s what she did. 

“All she wanted to do was teach children in poor areas and give them a chance at education — it was her mission in life. Once dad saw joining the convent was all she wanted, he was happy for her to go.” 

At age “23 or 24”, Connie left the family home at Warrong and headed for Bowral, where she joined the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and took the name Sister Mary Rosina. 

For the 15 years before her death, Sister Rosina had been working as a missionary teacher in Papua New Guinea. 

Sister Mona Sackley, who lives in the order’s convent in Sydney, remembers Sister Rosina from time they spent together in Rabaul. 

“We lived in the convent there together for a time,” Sister Mona said. “I remember she couldn’t wait to get to the outposts. She moved to the Vunapope mission outside Rabaul and then was stationed at Turuk. 

“She was a much-respected member of our order. I remember her as a kind and conscientious person. ” 

Sister Mona said that as a qualified teacher, Sister Rosina worked as a teacher’s supervisor. 

“The government wanted qualified people to work with local people to help train them to be teachers. 

“That’s what she was doing when she was killed. She was at the back of the classroom supervising the teacher and marking papers. It was terribly sad. I remember it all happening.” 

Mrs Mills said Connie’s last visit to her mother’s Koroit home had been about three years before her death.

“She wasn’t far off coming home permanently when she was killed,” Mrs Mills said. 

After her death, Connie’s body was taken from the island back to the convent at Turuk. The next day she was flown to Rabaul for burial at the Vunapope mission. 

“They found a Holden ute for the funeral procession from the convent in Turuk to the airstrip.  In the photos you can see local people lining the route,” Mrs Mills said. 

Mrs Mills and Mrs McElgunn travelled to New Britain three years ago with other members of the family to visit the grave. 

“It’s a simple grave with a stone cross, in amongst the coconut groves. It’s quite a beautiful little cemetery, surrounded by jungle,” Mrs McElgunn said. 

“It was quite moving being there and seeing the conditions they were working in,” Mrs Mills said. 

There is no memorial to Sister Rosina in the south-west.  The only thing that comes close is a street named in her honour, Connie Drive, in a Koroit housing estate built on land that was once owned by Connie’s only brother, Robbie Gladman. 

The trio decided against anything special to mark the 50th anniversary, preferring to remember their sister in their own way.  For Mrs McElgunn, Mrs McNally and Mrs Mills, their sister isn’t ever far from their thoughts.