Agency
Queen Victoria Medical Centre (previously known as Victoria Hospital for Women and Children 1896-1897; Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children 1897-1897; Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital 1897-1977)
VA 1254
1896 - 1987
Agency names
Officially known as: Queen Victoria Medical Centre (previously known as Victoria Hospital for Women and Children 1896-1897; Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children 1897-1897; Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital 1897-1977)
In September 1896, eleven female doctors, including Victoria’s first women to be registered with the Medical Board of Victoria Dr. Constance Stone, founded the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children. Most of these women were members of the Victorian Medical Women’s Society founded some 18 months prior. The hospital was a free out-patients clinic and dispensary for women located in the local St David’s Welsh Church Hall on LaTrobe Street, Melbourne.
The Victoria Hospital was renamed in 1897 becoming the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, also known as the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital or simply Queen Vic., alongside the establishment of the Queen’s Shilling Fund appeal to raise funds for the hospital and a more permanent location to house in- and out-patient facilities.
On the 30th of April, 1897 The “Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital” became an incorporated institution under the Hospitals and Charities Act 1890. (Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 52, 30 Apr 1897)
In 1898, the hospital had enough funds to purchase and relocate into the old Governess Institute in Mint Place, Little Lonsdale Street. The government transferred the land to the Queen Victoria Hospital Committee (Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 68, 8 Jul 1898) and the hospital remained there until 1946.
Over the years, the hospital expanded and employed many female medical professionals. In 1899, the hospital’s first honorary dentist was appointed as well as the first dispenser in 1900.
In 1902, Queen Victoria Hospital was registered by the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association as a training school for nurses. Its aim was to produce nurses who are trained and registered uniformly across Victoria. In that same year, Dr. Constance Stone died from tuberculosis.
The hospital expanded to include a pathology laboratory in 1910 and opened a Venereal Diseases Clinic in 1917. During the pneumonic flu epidemic (“Spanish Flu”), the hospital operated as an emergency hospital for ten weeks in 1919.
By 1923, six Queen Victoria Hospital auxiliaries had formed to raise funds for the hospital. They formed the Central Council of Auxiliaries. Over the years the auxiliary committees raised funds for more resources, buildings and accommodations for staff.
Dame Mabel Brookes was the president of the hospital from 1923 to 1970. During the early years of her presidency, the hospital established three new wings within 10 years, including a dedicated maternity and birthing wing named the Rachel Forster Wing and an X-ray department in 1929. In the same year, the hospital received an anonymous gift of 25,000 pounds which enabled the hospital to become a complete community institution.
Under Dame Mabel’s leadership, the Queen Victoria Hospital accepted an offer from Sir William McPherson, a former Premier of Victoria, to build the Jessie McPherson Community Hospital in memory of his mother. The community hospital was established as a private wing, in which its fees helped to finance the Queen Victoria Hospital. It opened its doors on the 1st of December 1931.
With the increasing birth rate and need for maternity beds during the 1940s, an appeal for more nurses and beds led to patient transfers and extra wards being established at Central Hospital (the old Royal Melbourne Hospital VA 1048) during 1946, as well as extra beds in the Jessie McPherson wing. At the end of December 1946 , the executive of the Queen Victoria Hospital launched an appeal for funds to transfer to the recently vacated Central Hospital (old Royal Melbourne Hospital VA 1048).
By the end of 1947, the Queen Victoria Hospital had officially moved into the old Central Hospital facilities on the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale street with funding from the State Government assisting in its refurbishment.
The Jessie McPherson Community Hospital remained at the old premises but was still closely affiliated. In 1952, the community hospital transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital site.
The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Gift Fund for mothers and children was set up by the State government in 1953, in preparation for the Queen’s coronation in 1954. The first 60,000 pounds was allocated to the Queen Victoria Hospital to go toward establishing a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Commemoration Block which was opened in late 1954.
In 1955, the hospital’s General Training School for nurses resumed following the closure of the Melbourne School of Nursing.
After a 1960 report on “Medical Under Graduate Education in Victoria”, the Council of Monash University opened negotiations with Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital to become a teaching hospital. On the 9th of August 1963, the formal instrument of agreement was signed and Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital became Monash University’s teaching hospital and centre for Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Paediatrics.
In the same year, the hospital admitted its first adult male patients, employed male medical staff and consequently became known as a “Family Hospital”. The year 1963 also saw further expansion of the hospital with the establishment of the Robert Menzies Block to accommodate Monash University staff and students, a new Pathology Department, a new Haematology Department and several hospital service departments. Speech and Occupational Therapy Departments were established in the following year and in 1965 the first undergraduate students were received.
In 1972, Queen Victoria Hospital was the first public hospital to establish a Family Planning Clinic.
On 7 December 1973, the Victorian Minister for Health announced the Government’s proposal to relocate the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital on to a 20 acre site in Clayton. The site was originally occupied by McCulloch House, a convalescent home for elderly people.
Finally, in 1977 the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, McCulloch House and the Jessie McPherson Community Hospital amalgamated to establish the Queen Victoria Medical Centre (Victorian Government Gazette, Gazette 58, 6 July 1977). In the preceding years, the medical centre expanded to include the first state-funded Sexual Assault Clinic in 1977, the first Birth Centre in Victoria in 1979, new birth suites after an amalgamation of the Jessie McPherson and Queen Victoria suites in 1980, and a Child Psychiatric service also established in 1980.
By 1982, Monash University scientists at the Queen Victoria Medical Centre lead the world in fertility research with the birth of 21 children as a result of their work in in vitro fertilization (IVF).
In 1982, the Minister of Health announced the relocation of the Queen Victoria Medical Centre to Clayton. The Queen Victoria Medical Centre (Guarantees) Act 1982 authorised the Treasurer of Victoria to give financial guarantees for the construction of the Medical Centre’s new location in Clayton. On 28 September 1983, the Premier, the Honourable John Cain, unveiled the foundation plaque for the new medical centre site.
On the 1st of January 1987, Queen Victoria Medical Centre, Prince Henry’s Hospital and Moorabbin Hospital amalgamated to form the Monash Medical Centre (Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 102, 10 Dec 1986). The Queen Victoria Medical Centre remained at its Lonsdale Street address until the amalgamated hospitals relocated to the new Clayton facilities throughout 1987.
On the 1st of August 1995, the Southern Health Care Network (VA 5264) was formed to provide health services across the south east region of Melbourne. It comprised of the Monash Medical Centre (located in Clayton and Moorabbin), Dandenong Hospital, the Kingston Centre, the Hampton Rehabilitation Hospital, Mordialloc-Cheltenham Community Hospital, Sandringham and District Memorial Hospital, and Westernport Memorial Hospital.
Southern Health Care Network changed its name on the 1st of July 2001 to Southern Health, and later to Monash Health in 2013 (VA 5264).
The Victoria Hospital was renamed in 1897 becoming the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, also known as the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital or simply Queen Vic., alongside the establishment of the Queen’s Shilling Fund appeal to raise funds for the hospital and a more permanent location to house in- and out-patient facilities.
On the 30th of April, 1897 The “Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital” became an incorporated institution under the Hospitals and Charities Act 1890. (Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 52, 30 Apr 1897)
In 1898, the hospital had enough funds to purchase and relocate into the old Governess Institute in Mint Place, Little Lonsdale Street. The government transferred the land to the Queen Victoria Hospital Committee (Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 68, 8 Jul 1898) and the hospital remained there until 1946.
Over the years, the hospital expanded and employed many female medical professionals. In 1899, the hospital’s first honorary dentist was appointed as well as the first dispenser in 1900.
In 1902, Queen Victoria Hospital was registered by the Victorian Trained Nurses’ Association as a training school for nurses. Its aim was to produce nurses who are trained and registered uniformly across Victoria. In that same year, Dr. Constance Stone died from tuberculosis.
The hospital expanded to include a pathology laboratory in 1910 and opened a Venereal Diseases Clinic in 1917. During the pneumonic flu epidemic (“Spanish Flu”), the hospital operated as an emergency hospital for ten weeks in 1919.
By 1923, six Queen Victoria Hospital auxiliaries had formed to raise funds for the hospital. They formed the Central Council of Auxiliaries. Over the years the auxiliary committees raised funds for more resources, buildings and accommodations for staff.
Dame Mabel Brookes was the president of the hospital from 1923 to 1970. During the early years of her presidency, the hospital established three new wings within 10 years, including a dedicated maternity and birthing wing named the Rachel Forster Wing and an X-ray department in 1929. In the same year, the hospital received an anonymous gift of 25,000 pounds which enabled the hospital to become a complete community institution.
Under Dame Mabel’s leadership, the Queen Victoria Hospital accepted an offer from Sir William McPherson, a former Premier of Victoria, to build the Jessie McPherson Community Hospital in memory of his mother. The community hospital was established as a private wing, in which its fees helped to finance the Queen Victoria Hospital. It opened its doors on the 1st of December 1931.
With the increasing birth rate and need for maternity beds during the 1940s, an appeal for more nurses and beds led to patient transfers and extra wards being established at Central Hospital (the old Royal Melbourne Hospital VA 1048) during 1946, as well as extra beds in the Jessie McPherson wing. At the end of December 1946 , the executive of the Queen Victoria Hospital launched an appeal for funds to transfer to the recently vacated Central Hospital (old Royal Melbourne Hospital VA 1048).
By the end of 1947, the Queen Victoria Hospital had officially moved into the old Central Hospital facilities on the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale street with funding from the State Government assisting in its refurbishment.
The Jessie McPherson Community Hospital remained at the old premises but was still closely affiliated. In 1952, the community hospital transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital site.
The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Gift Fund for mothers and children was set up by the State government in 1953, in preparation for the Queen’s coronation in 1954. The first 60,000 pounds was allocated to the Queen Victoria Hospital to go toward establishing a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Commemoration Block which was opened in late 1954.
In 1955, the hospital’s General Training School for nurses resumed following the closure of the Melbourne School of Nursing.
After a 1960 report on “Medical Under Graduate Education in Victoria”, the Council of Monash University opened negotiations with Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital to become a teaching hospital. On the 9th of August 1963, the formal instrument of agreement was signed and Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital became Monash University’s teaching hospital and centre for Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Paediatrics.
In the same year, the hospital admitted its first adult male patients, employed male medical staff and consequently became known as a “Family Hospital”. The year 1963 also saw further expansion of the hospital with the establishment of the Robert Menzies Block to accommodate Monash University staff and students, a new Pathology Department, a new Haematology Department and several hospital service departments. Speech and Occupational Therapy Departments were established in the following year and in 1965 the first undergraduate students were received.
In 1972, Queen Victoria Hospital was the first public hospital to establish a Family Planning Clinic.
On 7 December 1973, the Victorian Minister for Health announced the Government’s proposal to relocate the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital on to a 20 acre site in Clayton. The site was originally occupied by McCulloch House, a convalescent home for elderly people.
Finally, in 1977 the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, McCulloch House and the Jessie McPherson Community Hospital amalgamated to establish the Queen Victoria Medical Centre (Victorian Government Gazette, Gazette 58, 6 July 1977). In the preceding years, the medical centre expanded to include the first state-funded Sexual Assault Clinic in 1977, the first Birth Centre in Victoria in 1979, new birth suites after an amalgamation of the Jessie McPherson and Queen Victoria suites in 1980, and a Child Psychiatric service also established in 1980.
By 1982, Monash University scientists at the Queen Victoria Medical Centre lead the world in fertility research with the birth of 21 children as a result of their work in in vitro fertilization (IVF).
In 1982, the Minister of Health announced the relocation of the Queen Victoria Medical Centre to Clayton. The Queen Victoria Medical Centre (Guarantees) Act 1982 authorised the Treasurer of Victoria to give financial guarantees for the construction of the Medical Centre’s new location in Clayton. On 28 September 1983, the Premier, the Honourable John Cain, unveiled the foundation plaque for the new medical centre site.
On the 1st of January 1987, Queen Victoria Medical Centre, Prince Henry’s Hospital and Moorabbin Hospital amalgamated to form the Monash Medical Centre (Victoria Government Gazette, Gazette 102, 10 Dec 1986). The Queen Victoria Medical Centre remained at its Lonsdale Street address until the amalgamated hospitals relocated to the new Clayton facilities throughout 1987.
On the 1st of August 1995, the Southern Health Care Network (VA 5264) was formed to provide health services across the south east region of Melbourne. It comprised of the Monash Medical Centre (located in Clayton and Moorabbin), Dandenong Hospital, the Kingston Centre, the Hampton Rehabilitation Hospital, Mordialloc-Cheltenham Community Hospital, Sandringham and District Memorial Hospital, and Westernport Memorial Hospital.
Southern Health Care Network changed its name on the 1st of July 2001 to Southern Health, and later to Monash Health in 2013 (VA 5264).
Jurisdiction: Victoria
