Isabella Goldstein was very active in Collingwood in the area of welfare work during the 1890s and into the first decade of the twentieth century. She was also prominent in the campaign for woman suffrage, and in 1891 was a leader in gathering submissions for the women's suffrage petition.

Born in Portland to the wealthy Scottish-born Hawkins family, Isabella was 18 when she married Jacob Goldstein. Eldest daughter Vida was born in Portland, followed by four more children born in Warrnambool, before the family moved to Melbourne, where they resided in Malvern and St Kilda. Isabella and her husband belonged to the Charity Organisation Society and lived by the credo that it was the duty of good Christians to help the poor, either by donations, or by giving them skills that would break the cycle of need and penury. The Goldsteins were very much in the latter camp, also focusing on trying to change laws in order to make the lives of the poor fairer and easier. The Charity Organisation Society aimed at giving poor people the means of finding work, in order to restore their self-sufficiency and self-respect.

The Goldsteins attended the Presbyterian Scots Church in the city. In 1883 minister Dr Charles Strong was forced to resign and soon set up the Australian Church. Isabella and her children were quick to join Strong, a passionate champion of Melbourne’s underprivileged. Isabella was very active in the Social Improvement, Friendly Help and Children’s Aid Society which concentrated principally on Collingwood. Among its many practical activities was the setting up in 1886 of a Collingwood creche which was a great boon for working mothers. Isabella was a creche committee member from its inception, and an active participant in various fund-raising activities, which ranged from glittering balls to sales of work and cake stalls. Her daughter Vida, who was to rise to prominence as a suffragist, and the first woman in Victoria to stand for Parliament, often assisted in organising and staffing events, as did her youngest daughter Aileen occasionally. 

While the Goldsteins were typical of many philanthropists who lived in more salubrious suburbs but worked for poor areas like Collingwood, there were also a number of Collingwood residents in the upper echelons who were active in similar work, such as Harriett Kreitmayer,  Margaret Saddler, Carrie Earle and Helen Bowie. There was also participation by the lower echelons. Isabella was the leader of a sewing group consisting of working-class women who met weekly to make useful clothing. When the group planned a fund-raising fair, Strong wrote movingly to the newspapers under the heading ‘Help the Poor to help the Poorer’ to ask for support for what he described as a somewhat unique and pathetic effort by ‘those who are not themselves well off‘ to help on a good work in their own district.

The 1890s brought a devastating economic depression to Victoria and the poor suffered more than ever. In May 1891 Isabella visited the slum areas of Collingwood with Charles Strong. In 1891 Strong gave evidence at the Royal Commission on Charities. He described wretched housing in Collingwood; Collingwood Council took great umbrage on hearing reports of his comments, feeling their district had been singled out as worse than others and their officers disparaged, though this was not the case.

A Herald journalist known as “Hawkeye” followed up with his own visit to inspect poor housing which he described in a lengthy article in which he referred to Isabella, who took offence at being cited without consultation. Her letter to The Herald concluded as follows:

I know that Collingwood is no worse in this respect than other suburban cities.

I sincerely hope that Hawkeye's article will help to awaken the public to the fact that the condition under which our Melbourne poor live is fast drifting towards the level that is almost universal in the crowded cities of the old world. To have come to this in Marvellous Melbourne in our half century of existence is surely most humiliating.

Along with Dr Strong, Isabella was a committee member of the Anti-Sweating League, which agitated against sweated labour, that is work done in poor conditions with pitiful piece rates paid to women sewing at home. Strong was not content to try to paper over the cracks of an inequitable society but laboured to remedy the underlying situation. He was outspoken about the evil of sweating in the clothing trade and devoted much effort to attempting to improve conditions in this and other areas. The Anti-Sweating League, founded in 1895, was ultimately successful in lobbying for incorporating improved conditions for workers under the Factories and Shops Act (1896).

By the turn of the century Isabella had become less enthusiastic about some of Strong’s methods and causes, and left the Australian Church to join the First Church of Christ, Scientist in 1902.

Active in so many areas, Isabella was an inspiration to many. Daughter Vida emphatically acknowledged Isabella’s influence, experience and example in developing her own outlook on life, and Vida’s biographers emphasise Isabella’s importance in developing Vida’s outstanding leadership qualities.

Bomford, That dangerous and persuasive woman: Vida Goldstein

Kent, Vida: a woman for our time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Goldstein

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldstein-jacob-robert-yannasch-7041

Trove list: https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/148520