The Novitiate is the training school for nuns.  Australia’s first Novitiate would have been when the order arrived in Australia in 1875 as two postulants, or pre-novices, were in the party.  A few years later a second floor was built onto the west end of the original house bought for the convent in Ballarat, to accommodate the Novitiate. In 1892 a new wing was built to be the Novitiate in Ballarat.  It had cells (bedrooms), classroom and a flat roof used for recreation.

With the increase of novices the Novitiate moved to Normanhurst in 1956 and then to No. 77 St. Vincent Place Albert Park, Loreto House, in 1969.