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The Royal Melbourne Hospital
celebrates 160 years - 1848-2008
| Since its doors first opened to patients on 15 March 1848, The Royal Melbourne Hospital has been an icon of patient care. |
 'The ladies have come to stay'
- Women of The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Exhibition 22 Sept - 22 Oct 2008 |
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With its origins in a public meeting of citizens in 1841, only six years after Melbourne was first settled, the hospital’s foundation stone was laid with much fanfare and a public procession on 20 March 1846. In contrast, there was little celebration when the hospital opened two years later.
The patients on this day numbered six: two inpatients and four outpatients.
All were male, with the first two female patients treated on 22 March. As was the custom of the day, all were admitted upon the recommendation of a subscriber or financial benefactor to the hospital. During its first year, a total of 89 inpatients and 98 outpatients were treated.
The hospital continues to this day as one of Victoria’s oldest public institutions, predating The University of Melbourne and the State Library of Victoria, both founded in 1854, and the Victorian Parliament, opened in 1856. Indeed it is older than Victoria itself, which became a separate colony from New South Wales in 1851, three years after the hospital opened.
Originally called the Melbourne Hospital, and situated in a 10-bed, two-storey cottage on the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston Streets, the hospital expanded and was then completely rebuilt on that site in 1913. |
Links
Events
RMH History online
RMH Timeline (pdf)
RMH historical publications
RMH Archives
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Picture Galleries
  
The Melbourne Hospital
- the first 50 years
The people of RMH:
- Faces of the 1900s
- Faces of the 1800s
- Nursing leaders
- Presidents
The move to Parkville 1944
Charles Connibere Memorial
Nurses Home 1944-1993
Stewart Professors of Medicine
and Surgery 1955 -
Merlyn Myer Historical
Room reopening |
It moved to its present location in 1944, but remnants of the old buildings still exist on its original site within the QV Centre.
Renamed The Royal Melbourne Hospital by Royal Charter on 27 March 1935, the hospital in 2005 amalgamated with the former Mount Royal Hospital and now encompasses a second campus at Royal Park. Today The Royal Melbourne Hospital treats over 105,000 inpatients, 300,000 outpatients and 50,000 emergency patients per year.
Since 1848, the hospital has been at the forefront of the training of medical, nursing and allied health professionals. It participates in world-class medical research and provides general, specialist and trauma services and excellence in patient care.
Archives Department
Level 1, Building 24 - Parkville Hostel
The Royal Melbourne Hospital - Royal Park Campus
Poplar Avenue, Parkville 3052
Victoria Australia
Telephone 61 3 8387 2646
Email rmh-archives@mh.org.au
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