Barbara Bell

Barbara Bell (1870-1957), was a Catholic educationalist and later a religious sister who made a significant contribution to teacher training in Australia. Early life and family Barbara Bell was born in Dublin, Ireland on 26 July 1870. She was the third child of Hamilton Bell and his wife, Bridget ( Funcheon) Bell. Her father was a well-known teacher and a member of the Irish National Council of Education. Siblings included a brother and a sister Mary Bridget (1874-1946), known as Molly, who was also an educationalist and later joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Loreto Abbey in Ballarat, Victoria. Education and career Bell was educated by the Dominican nuns in Dublin and later in Belgium. She taught with the Ursuline sisters in Holland and in 1895 obtained a teaching diploma from Cambridge. She was invited by Mother Mary Gonzaga Barry to come to Australia to instruct the Loreto Sisters in Ballarat in new methods of teaching and to establish a college of teacher education. Mother Gonzaga Barry oversaw the development of Australia's first Catholic teacher training in 1884 and in 1906 the order turned the Loreto Convent at Albert Park in Victoria into a teachers’ training institution, the Central Catholic Training College. Her services extended to many other schools and convents in addition to those run by the Loreto sisters. Bishop Delaney invited her to Tasmania in 1899 where she worked with the Sisters of Mercy. She also travelled to New Zealand where she assisted the sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) in New Zealand.