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From Ballarat & District in the Great WarOctober 8, 2018

Every now and then a truly romantic story comes out of the mud and blood of the battlefield – out of a time of great tragedy and heartbreak came many moments of lasting love. When I was told that Ballarat’s Alfred Barrett had married a French war bride, I must admit my heart did a typical womanly swoon. Their story, however, was far more remarkable than just a flimsy romance novel. And certainly more significant.

Born at Ballarat on Foundation Day (now Australia Day) 26 January 1892, Alfred Horne Barrett (Capt) was the first-born son of school teacher, Alfred Barrett, and Mary Ann Horne. His parents were both locally born – Alfred senior was born in Ballarat East, and Mary Ann, came from Allendale.

Being born into a family where education was highly prized was a particular advantage for the Barrett children and from the outset Alfred and his sister and brothers were encouraged to pursue higher learning. Their successes across a variety of fields would be an outstanding legacy for their parents.

For Alfred, his education began at the Pleasant Street State School, which was only a short walk from the family home of “Waratah” in Mair Street. The children transferred to the Humffray Street State School in Ballarat East during August 1904.

After completing his State School education, Alfred advanced to the Ballarat Church of England Grammar School. In December 1909 he successfully passed the Senior Public Examinations and prepared for entry into the medical school at the University of Melbourne. The degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery were conferred upon him in December 1916. His academic achievement paved the way for his siblings – his brother, Will, graduated to Dookie Agricultural College where he spent two years before the war intervened. Their sister, Barbara, became a chemist, and the youngest surviving son, John Newell, became a dentist. All-in-all, they were a particularly well-rounded and educated family.

Following his graduation, Alfred took his first position as Resident Medical Officer of the No11 Australian General Hospital at Caulfield. This was to be only a brief posting, as Alfred then made the decision to enlist to utilise his medical training at the Front. He applied for a commission on 8 May 1917 and, despite having no previous military training, was gazetted as captain just four days later.

As was necessarily the case, Alfred had also been required to pass a routine medical examination – standing at just under 6-feet tall and weighing only slightly more than 10½-stone, he was fairly lightly built. But his chest expansion of 38-inches was impressive enough to suggest a high degree of physical fitness. His fair hair and light blue eyes made for a handsome image in the khaki of his officer’s uniform.

Less than seven weeks later, Alfred embarked from Adelaide on board the troopship Borda bound for England. The voyage took an agonisingly slow nine weeks before the Borda finally docked at Plymouth on 25 August.

On 23 October Alfred sailed for France and the following day joined the medical staff of the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Abbeville. Once again this was to be a brief posting – just two and a half weeks later he was transferred to the Australian Army Medical Corps of the 5th Division and then joined the 8th Field Ambulance at Remy Siding outside Ypres, Belgium. This transfer came hard on the heels of the news that Alfred’s younger brother, Will, a sergeant with the 39th Battalion, had been killed in action during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge. No doubt Alfred attempted to find news of his brother during his time in the Salient.

Yet again it was to be a brief appointment, as on Christmas Day, Alfred joined the Australian 36th Heavy Artillery Group as the unit’s Regimental Medical Officer. This was a real mark of respect for such a junior officer – the RMO was very often a lieutenant-colonel. The unit was at the time stationed at the village of Wormhoudt (20 kilometres south of Dunkirk) that would become infamous during World War II when 80 British and French prisoners of war were massacred by German soldiers of the Waffen SS.

As the months passed Alfred went quietly and efficiently about his work. A letter to Base Records from his father dated 11 October 1918, appeared to indicate that they were concerned as to his welfare. The reply, which took nearly a week to arrive, stated that there was ‘no report of casualty or indisposition.’

The war was entering its final stages when Alfred was granted a leave pass to England on 12 October. He returned to France as the month drew to a close and was with his men when the guns finally fell silent on the Western Front.

Finding suitable employment or education for troops awaiting repatriation home became paramount in the early months of peace. So it was that on 7 April 1919, Alfred journeyed once more to England where he was granted the opportunity to undertake post graduate work under the Inter-Allied Fellowship of Medicine Scheme. The course ran for three months, which Alfred completed successfully. He was then attached to the demobilisation section for duty.

However, it was an event of a far more personal nature that was to mark 1919 for Alfred Barrett – on 9 August at Tourcoing (a city on the French-Belgian border) he married Marie Claire Laroy, a sweetly beautiful young French woman. The undeniably romantic vision of the handsome Australian officer with his pretty bride was captured in a perfect portrait of the couple.

On 23 September 1919, Captain Doctor and Mrs Alfred Horne Barrett embarked from Devonport on board the transport Ascanius bound for Australia.

On 14 December 1919, Alfred was discharged from the AIF being one of the few to avoid both illness and/or wounds during the course of his service. He was then appointed as a captain in the Reserve of Officers for the 3rd Military District (Victoria).

Initially the young couple took a soldier settlement block at Walpeup near Ouyen and Alfred worked as a doctor around the district. It was at Ouyen that they welcomed their first son, John William (Bill) on 22 October 1920. A second son, Alfred George was born at a private hospital in Caulfield on 21 November 1922.

When the medical practice in Cobden became available in 1924, Alfred Barrett took over the running of the practice, which included a small private hospital and surgery. He was to become the longest serving and most significant doctor in the district. However, it was not without problems – before Marie-Claire would agree to live at The Bungalow, many alterations had to be made to the large, rambling old weatherboard house. Many years later, the couple’s eldest son, Bill, gave a talk to the Heytesbury and District Historical Society, in which he described life at the hospital.

‘…My mother was unhappy about the fact that the bathroom and kitchen in the house also served the same functions for the hospital, which was part of the rather large weatherboard structure, and local Cobden builder Mr. Fred Williams was engaged to duplicate those facilities and also to add a sleepout after which she agreed to live there.

The hospital section of the house consisted of a four-bed ward, a two bed ward, a private ward, the theatre, which was also used as the labour ward; a nursery, a waiting room, kitchen, bathroom and outside toilet at the back. The waiting room also served as the nursery in the winter as it had a fireplace.

There were two beds on the rather large verandah protected by canvas blinds and they were used in busy times, making the total number of beds, nine.

The staff lived in a sleepout away from the house, mostly called the shack and later occupied the house next door. They were a matron, two nurses and a cook. There was also a handy man Les King who did all the messages, cut the wood and pumped water into the hot water system. Then there was a gardener and additional handy man, called Percy Cleland.

The washing was done by boiling everything in a large copper at the back of the house and then sterilizing it in the kitchen oven. My father did his own dispensing in the little room next to the waiting room as there was no chemist in the township in the early days…’

The Barrett family were well settled in Cobden when Marie-Claire was safely delivered of a third son. Newell Laroy arrived on 22 June 1927 at the Corio Private Hospital in Warrnambool.

During the years between the wars, Alfred showed how important a proactive doctor could be in a rural community – he was responsible for overseeing the improvement of health standards for children across the Shire of Heytesbury and fought against the over-crowding of classrooms; he promoted baby health care; and actively pursued a programme of immunisation to protect children against major childhood killer diseases such as diphtheria. He also began progressive checking for tuberculosis.

The disastrous bushfires of 1944 saw Alfred work tirelessly attempting to save the lives of those who had been severely burned.

Even when enjoying some time away from his practice, Alfred managed to contribute to his community. He served as President of the Cobden RSL, acted as medical officer for the Cobden Turf Club, and during WWII was an active fund-raiser. He was also a very competitive golfer and loved fishing. When fishing he even could turn his hand to providing a fine prize – when the Lower Heytesbury Patriotic Society organised a card party, Alfred promised to provide the prizes. He travelled to Peterborough the night before the event and caught several bream, which then became ‘novel and delectable trophies.’

By the outbreak of the Second World War, Bill Barrett was studying medicine. His brother, George, received a commission in the Australian Army and fought with the 2/5 Independent Company (commandos) against the Japanese. Some years later, Newell, the youngest of the Barrett boys, became an engineer, successfully rounding out the professional achievements of the family.

However, in the relative quiet of Cobden the biggest problem appeared to be roaming cattle on the local roads that caused a number of accidents – even Alfred Barrett fell foul of the wandering beasts. When he hit a cow on the Ecklin Road in June 1942, Alfred’s car was badly damaged and he had to walk the many miles home. As was noted at the time, ‘…A doctor's time is too precious to be wasted through any cows…’ It should be noted that the cow died in the accident.

By 1950 the small hospital in Cobden had begun to struggle. Unable to find suitable staff, Alfred realised he ‘…could no longer cope with the difficulties involved with maintaining the hospital…’ The decision was made to retain a trained nurse and the theatre for minor operations and other emergencies. However, the many women who had looked to the hospital to deliver their babies were then forced to travel to either Camperdown or Terang. After the closure, Alfred and his family continued to live at The Bungalow.

In February 1958 the Cobden Bush Nursing Hospital was opened. Two years later Dr Bill Barrett joined his father at the Cobden practice.

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 1963 included the name of Alfred Barrett, who had been awarded the Order of the British Empire in acknowledgment of his nearly 40 years’ service to the shire. As a mark of respect and recognition for the work done by their long-serving medical practitioner, the Dr Alfred H. Barrett Wing was then opened at the Cobden Bush Nursing Hospital in July 1964.

Marie-Claire Barrett died on 23 Apr 1968 at the Cobden Bush Nursing Hospital. Alfred Barrett followed very soon after, dying at the Cobden Bush Nursing Hospital just six weeks later on 3 June.

Dr Bill Barrett continued the practice in Parrott Street, Cobden, until 1989. Like his father, Bill was much loved by the community he cared for.