The family emigrated to Australia in 1865, settling in Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, New South Wales.
She applied to the Department of Public Instruction in May 1877, and was appointed an assistant at Braidwood Catholic School.
She received the habit on 22 October 1881, professing on 3 January 1884 as Sister Mary Berchmans.
She became superior of the Melbourne convent in 1892, with responsibility for St Patrick's and four other primary schools founded by the Sisters between 1891 and 1897.
[1] In August 1935, a bronze bust of Daly by Paul Raphael Montford[5] was unveiled in commemoration of her foundation of St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, with the hospital opening of the Berchmans Daly wing in October 1960.