The Congregation of the Sisters of St John of God was originally founded in Ireland in 1871, at a time of great need. Hunger and famine were rife and there was much oppression and suffering. It was in this atmosphere of poverty and distress that Thomas Furlong, the Bishop of Ferns, County Wexford, helped institute an Order of Nursing Sisters to meet the needs of the starving and degraded people of his diocese.

Sister Visitation, born Brigid Clancy, along with five other Irish Sisters, responded to the Bishop's plea to minister to the sick and destitute of his region. They arrived in Wexford on 7 October 1871 and this became "Foundation Day" for the Sisters of St John of God.

In 1895, at the request of Bishop Matthew Gibney of Perth, eight Sisters answered the call to bring their nursing skills to Australia to care for the many victims of typhoid and other diseases in Western Australia. These women who we now refer to as our "Pioneer Sisters" formed a very talented and courageous group of women. At the time of their arrival in Australia they were aged from 21 - 34 years and all were women of deep spirituality and personal faith in Jesus Christ.

The Sisters first residence was at 227 Adelaide Terrace, Perth. This residence consisted of 15 rooms in two houses and before long became both home and hospital.

The Sisters also went out to nurse the sick in their own homes around Perth and as far away as Yalgoo, 400km from Perth. In 1896, two of these Pioneer Sisters went to the Goldfields of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie in response to a serious outbreak of typhoid fever amongst the miners.

Soon more women joined them and over ensuing years the Sisters opened hospitals in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Thanks to the humble dedication and hard work of the Sisters of St John of God spanning more than a century, St John of God Health Care has grown to be an outstanding provider of health care in Australia.

The Sisters have completed their mission in healthcare and in 1994 they established the St John of God Foundation to help fund and support a wide range of social welfare, community and pastoral care programs in rural and urban communities either directly or through the St John of God family.