Ellen Barron

Ellen Barron (1875 — 8 July 1951) was a nurse in Queensland, Australia. She was a matron and leader in the Queensland nursing profession.

Barron was born in Berkshire, England, was educated at Oxford and Queensland, and trained at the Brisbane General Hospital. She was head nurse at the Maryborough General Hospital from 1902 to 1904.

Barron enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in World War I. She was stationed at Lemnos during the landing at Gallipoli, and she also served in Egypt and France. She returned to Australia in early 1917, suffering from pulmonary fibrosis.

On her return from active service, she was appointed to the Valley Centre of the Maternal and Child Welfare Services, and in 1922 she was sent to New Zealand for six months to study child welfare under Sir Truby King. In 1923 Barron opened the first training school in child welfare nursing in Brisbane.

In 1928 Barron was appointed superintendent of nurses, Maternal and Child Welfare Service. She retired in 1939.

She was associated with the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association Rest Home from its inception in 1924, and for some years was honorary secretary and a trustee.

Barron was a long-term professional colleague of Florence Chatfield (died 1949) and they lived together for part of their retirement. Barron died in the War Veterans' Home at Caboolture on 8 July 1951 and was cremated.