MH17 verdict: Sister Philomene Tiernan's last miracle after she died

Sister Philomene Tiernan was a force to be reckoned with, she was patient, determined and strong, but to Dermot she was simply his aunty Phil.

Outside her sprawling family, Sister Phil was well known in Catholic religious and education circles, and she was at one time the head of the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) order in Australia and New Zealand.

Sister Phil, 77, was among 298 passengers and crew who died in an instant, when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, and the remains of passengers and crew were strewn across fields of glorious sunflowers in eastern Ukraine.

When MH17 disintegrated in the skies, there were 38 Australian citizens and residents on board.

In an eerie twist of fate, Sister Phil's death mirrored that of her uncle Pat, an RAAF airman who was shot down over the Netherlands after a bombing mission to Germany in 1944.

She'd been in Europe for the dedication of a war memorial in his honour. While in the region, she'd also attended a retreat in Ireland for Sacre Coeur schools.

Sister Phil was one of the last MH17 victims to be identified, and it was almost a year until her remains could be brought back home.

On Wednesday Sister Phil's nephews Dermot and Ray, and Dermot's 18-year-old daughter, Harriet, will be in the Netherlands for the murder trial verdict of four suspects accused of the downing of MH17.

Philomene grew up in South Burnett in regional Queensland, but lived most of her life in Sydney and she knew early on she wanted to dedicate her life to the church.

She was educated at Stuartholme School, an independent Catholic boarding school for girls in Brisbane, run by the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) nuns.

"She loved Stuartholme and she loved the work that the nuns did," Dermot Tiernan said. "At school she decided to become a Sacre Coeur sister.

"She joined the convent not long after school and her grandparents drove her to Sydney, Kincoppal."

At the time it was a closed order and her family thought they would never see her again.

"In the late 60s they decided to open their doors and the sisters were allowed out into the community. Then in the 70s they got rid of the habit. It became gradually a more open order," Mr Tiernan said.

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Aunty Phil was very caring, but she was also "one of the most terrifying drivers I've ever ridden with," Mr Tiernan recalls with a little laughter.

"She could laugh, but she was a serious person. She became head of the order in Australia and New Zealand for at least one seven-year term, it might have been two. To do that you've got to be a serious person," he said.

The last conversation Mr Tiernan had with his aunty Phil was at Stuartholme School.

"She said 'Derm, your girls have to come to this school'. I've got three daughters and I said 'aunty Phil I would love that but, 'A' we've missed the cut off and 'B' I don't think I can afford it'," he recalls.

"She said 'I'll find a way', but then I never saw her again."

Six months after she died, Mr Tiernan received a phone call from Stuartholme's principal asking him to attend the school.

"I went up there and she said 'when I was in Ireland I spoke to Phil and your daughters are all enrolled, and there's a bursary and Harriet starts in two months' time'," he said.

"We refer to that as aunty Phil's last miracle."

As he packed his bags to fly to the Netherlands for the verdict, Mr Tiernan said the trip is bringing up a lot of sad emotions.

"There's no anger, I don't think in Australia we believe in vengeance. I'm happy that there will be some level of justice," he said.

"The disbelief of how she was taken from us hasn't diminished."

Reflecting on the eight years since he last saw his aunty Phil, an emotional Dermot held back tears and said "aunty Phil is still in my life, she's still in my thoughts".

"Every time I drop the girls to school I'm reminded of her and of that conversation we had. She is still there, I remind the girls about aunty Phil all the time and make sure that they're grateful of what she did for them.

"She's still in my thoughts if not every day, every other day."

The Dutch court handling the murder trial of the four suspects will hand down its verdict on November 17.

Judges will begin reading the verdict at 1.30pm on Thursday (11.30pm AEDT) at the high-security court next to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.