Matron Isabella Barron

Kiama Cottage Hospital officially opened at the top of Barney Street in May 1887. At the time, there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in the community so a number of patients with typhoid fever were admitted to the hospital before it was officially opened. In 1887, the nursing staff consisted of the Matron, Miss Isabella Barron, and a wardsman, John Barron. John and Isabella were brother and sister, and had migrated to Australia from Scotland three years earlier. They were paid a combined £80 per annum to run the hospital. John and Isabella arrived four days before the official opening of the hospital and immediately set to caring for the patients with typhoid fever.

Unfortunately, John Barron died suddenly within two years of arriving in Kiama, while Isabella continued to work as Matron of Kiama Hospital for a further 21 years. While John and Isabella worked together, Isabella, as Matron, was responsible for all the domestic duties for the hospital, such as the cooking and laundry, while John dealt with all the heavy manual work, along with any tradesmen and shop owners in Kiama that worked with the hospital.

After John died in 1889, Isabella had to suddenly manage both roles and was promoted to Matron-Superintendent in charge of the hospital. Isabella’s salary was set at £52 per annum for the remainder of her time at the hospital. Shortly after John died, Isabella’s niece, Margaret Barron, was employed as her assistant. However, this arrangement was short-lived as Margaret married and had children. While giving birth to her second child, Margaret and the child died. Isabella took on Margaret’s first-born child (who was 11 months old) to raise. The hospital committee allowed Matron to have the child with her at the hospital at her own expense.

Matron Barron lived at the hospital and was available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She rarely took holidays. For the first 6.5 years of her employment, Isabella worked without any leave. By 1894, she was forced to take leave as her health was suffering. While Matron Barron was on leave, she didn't receive normal 'holiday' pay, as we would today; she had to remunerate the relief person out of her own salary. In 1907, Matron Barron was offered an increase in her salary from £52 to £60, but declined as she felt she was close to retirement.

In July 1910, Matron Barron, now aged in her 50s, resigned from her position after taking 6 months forced leave due to a decline in her physical and emotional health. During her 23 years at the Cottage Hospital, some of the conditions that Matron had to navigate included the limited water supply; cooking with wood and coal on a fuel stove; and limited supplies, as the hospital committee only provided splints, surgical instruments and opium (bandages were made from old linen donated by the ladies of Kiama). She also had to deal with deranged people the police brought into the hospital before they were sent to asylums in Sydney.

Matron Isabella Barron was a very well-respected member of the Kiama community during her years here. She died in 1926 at age 77 at the ill-reputed Rydalmere Psychiatric Hospital and her body was returned to Kiama to be buried in the Kiama Cemetery next to her brother.

Isabella Barron's recently added plaque on her headstone.

The original Kiama Cottage Hospital that Matron Isabella Barron managed from its opening in 1887 until 1910.

Matron Isabella Barron (1849-1926) and her brother John Barron's grave at the Kiama Cemetery 2020.