This ornate iron cross is believed to have once adorned the original gravesite of Mother Mary MacKillop at Gore Hill cemetery, Sydney atop a marble base. Mary MacKillop was reinterred in 1914 at the memorial chapel in Mount Street and it is thought that her good friend Joanna Barr Smith retained the original cross and base which were  offered at auction in the early 1970s when contents of the Barr Smith home were for sale. The cross and base were separated at this time and the true significance of the cross has only recently been discovered.