Partridge was accused of being a lunatic by the local Catholic bishop, whom she subsequently sued in the New South Wales Supreme Court in 1921 for false arrest and reputational damage.

Her mother was Anne (née Cardiff), an Irish Catholic, and her father was Edward Partridge, a corporal in the Royal Engineers and an English Protestant.

[1] Sources indicate that her supervisors believed Liguori was unsuitable for religious life or teaching (which was the order's predominant work) and tried to persuade her to return to her home in Ireland.

Allegedly, Liguori refused a sedative believing that it was poisoned and fearing for her life she fled the convent that night barefoot and dressed only in her nightgown.

Liguori was taken to Sydney by E. B. Barton, the grandmaster of Protestant institution the Loyal Orange Lodge of New South Wales.

It was a time of significant sectarian division and conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the popular press fed public interest with stories about the pursuit of the 'escaped nun'.

Seeking redress, and with the support of the Loyal Orange Lodge, Partridge subsequently sued Bishop Dwyer for £5,000 for false arrest and associated trauma, citing damage to her reputation.

Partridge ultimately lost her bid in the Supreme Court when Justice (Sir) David Ferguson and a jury of four men found in the bishop's favour.

Her brother Joseph, who had travelled from Hong Kong to attend the court case, had previously attempted to have Partridge place herself under his care, something that she had refused to do.

This exhibition drew attention to the story as one of scandal and abuse, with comparisons to modern feminist struggles, and not just as a tale of sectarian conflict.