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Kate LOBB nee COOMBS 1866-1939

Pioneer midwife of early 1900s

Kate Lobb was born in Kiama, NSW, in 1866 the daughter of Joseph Coombs and his wife Sarah Ann nee Selway. Joseph and Sarah had married in Gordano, Somerset, in 1853 and on 4 September 1856 arrived in Sydney on the ship Lloyds with their daughter Sarah born 20 November 1854 in Surrey, England. They settled in Kiama, New South Wales, where another eight children were born:

Sarah 1854-1943 married William Roberts in 1876

Elizabeth 1856-1936 married John O’Toole in 1878

Fred 1858-1937 married Emma Pratt in 1882 and Mary Macgrath in 1890

Emily 1860-1868

Ellen 1862-1942 married John Oliver in 1881

Anne 1864-1951 married John Bennett in 1885

Kate 1866-1939 married Alfred Meredith in 1888 and Arthur Lobb in 1903

Amy 1871-1948 married William Harvey in 1895

Emma 1874-1961 married.Edward Williams in 1897

Sarah Ann Coombs died in Wollongong on 11 June 1897 and was buried in the local cemetery. Joseph Coombs died in 1913 at the home of his daughter Kate in Sutherland, New South Wales, and was buried at Wollongong with his wife.

In 1888 at Wollongong, Kate Coombs married Alfred J Meredith. Alfred was born in Kiama in 1862, the son of Leslie Evan Meredith and his wife Emily Susanna nee Moon. Kate and Alfred had three children all born in Wollongong:

Alfred Leslie 1888-1968 married Adelaide M Hayes in 1910 and Evelyn May Phillips in 1920

Amy Olivette 1890-1950 married David Percy Dive in 1928.

Wilfred Dunstan Sellway 1892-1939 married Clara Myrtle Dumbrell in 1916

Alfred J Meredith died in Wollongong of pneumonic influenza in 1895. Shortly afterwards Kate moved to the Sutherland Shire where she soon established herself as a midwife. In 1903 she married Arthur James Lobb who was born in Hillend, New South Wales, in 1876 the son of Daniel Lobb and his wife Mary nee Hannan.

Daniel and Mary Lobb had been married in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1870 and were living in Tambaroo when their first child John was born in 1871. Other children soon followed: Daniel in 1872, James 1874, Arthur James 1876, Ada A 1878, Elizabeth 1883 and Florence 1886.

Daniel obtained a Publicans Licence and ran a hotel in Tambaroo, near Hillend, from 1874 to 1879, after which date he ran a hotel in Lithgow. However, there were problems as, by November 1890, Daniel was applying for a certificate of discharge from bankruptcy. The family were then living at Loftus, New South Wales. After this Daniel became a bus proprietor, re-established his finances and was able to afford a trip home to England with his daughter Florence, in 1909. He also built a hall in Sutherland known for many years as Lobbs Hall.

Mary Lobb died on 8 July 1904 and was buried at Woronora Cemetery. Daniel Lobb died on 1 October 1928 and was also buried at Woronora Cemetery.

By the time Kate Meredith married Arthur James Lobb in 1903 she was a practising midwife. They lived in Merton Street, Sutherland, in a cottage called ‘Bristol’ and there raised two children –Mary A Lillian born 1904 and Arthur James Frederick born1909. Kate also raised Amy Olivette born 1914, the daughter of her son Alfred Leslie Meredith after the tragic death of his wife Adelaide, nee Hayes in 1916. In 1920 Alfred married Evelyn May Phillips-Stevens but Amy believed for a long time that Kate and Arthur were her parents.

At Sutherland in1932 Mary married Arthur E Lye. She died in 1993 and was buried at Woronora Cemetery. Amy married John Maurice Keats in 1939 and died in 2007. She was also buried at Woronora Cemetery. Amy was interviewed by Merle Kavanagh for the Sutherland Shire Library Oral History Project.

The recording  is available at their online site. www.sutherlandshire.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Local-Studies/Oral-Histories/Amy-Keats

Arthur James Frederick married Lillian Florence Burcham in 1936 at Paddington, New South Wales. He was a teacher who, in 1933, was employed at the Deaf and Dumb Institute located on City road opposite the gates of Sydney University. Later he moved to Queensland and worked at the Deaf and Blind School at Annerley. He died at Mount Gravatt, Queensland, in 1995.

Kate’s reputation as a midwife was well-known and appreciated throughout the Shire. She continued to practise until her death after a career which spanned forty three years. Her nurses’ registration in the NSW Australia Medical Registers dates from 1927 to 1938. She was a familiar figure as she went to attend her patients in her sulky with her horses cared for by husband Arthur, a blacksmith. Kate dressed in a distinctive blue cape and matching bonnet with long tails at the back. Her bag was always placed in the same place, packed and ready when the phone call came. A room in her house was a dedicated ward for one patient. Her facilities, also the contents of her bag and sterilisation procedures for her instruments were regularly inspected by Health Inspectors.

During her time as a midwife in the Shire, Kate saw the establishment of the electricity and reticulated water supply, the opening of the Tom Ugly’s Bridge and commencement of the Sutherland-Cronulla line. When she died. construction of a sewerage line was decades into the future and the pan system operated. Despite all these difficulties, Kate’s reputation continued to grow.

There were few doctors practising in the area in the early 1900s and her care and support was vital. As the Shire grew, more doctors like Doctor Sanbrook and Doctor Cooley had practices in the district and women like Nurse Hill helped to ease the burden. Stories about Nurse Lobb figure in many recollections recorded by local residents such as being rowed across the river to National Park to attend a birth or going out in all weathers and all times during the night and never putting pressure on patients to pay their bills. She told a relative that if they could afford to pay her they would.

When this much loved and respected woman died suddenly of a heart attack in 1939, her contribution to the community was mourned by many. A memorial tree-planting ceremony was held by the Sutherland Parents and Citizens’ association and her grave was inscribed with the words ‘A Tribute from the Mothers of Sutherland’. Kate Lobb died on 11 July 1939 and was buried at Woronora Cemetery. Arthur James Lobb died on 2 August 1948 and he too was buried at Woronora Cemetery beside Kate.

Colleen Passfield 2019

To view the family tree of Kate Lobb in our database click on her name at the heading of this page .

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