Royal Melbourne Hospital marks 170 years at the forefront of medical progress

OLDER than the MCG, the State Library, and even the state of Victoria itself, the iconic Royal Melbourne Hospital recently celebrated its 170th anniversary.

OLDER than the MCG, the State Library, and even the state of Victoria itself, the iconic Royal Melbourne Hospital recently celebrated its 170th anniversary.

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Archivist Gabriele Haveaux, has spent the past 23 years cataloguing the hospital’s history.

She she the Royal Melbourne Hospital had been at the forefront of medical progress since its inception at the original Lonsdale St site.

“This was the first public hospital in Victoria, and the first clinical school for medical students opened in 1864,” Ms Haveaux said.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital developed Australia’s first cardiac pacemaker.

“Prior to World War II, most physicians would have been generalists ... there were no training colleges and no specialisation. We were at the forefront of a lot of that.”

The hospital opened on March 15, 1848, admitting Melbourne’s first public hospital patients to the 10-bed facility, increasing to 20 beds by the end of the year.

Royal Melbourne Hospital theatre sister from 1938.

Victoria’s first blood transfusion service was established at the hospital in 1925, followed by the first successful kidney transplant in Australia in 1962, the development of Australia’s first cardiac pacemaker in 1965, and the first bionic ear electrode for the brain in Australia in 1995.

Melbourne Health chief executive Professor Christine Kilpatrick said the anniversary was an opportunity to not just reflect on the past, but to look to the future.

“In our 170 years we have achieved many firsts that have shaped health care in Australia and around the world,” Prof Kilpatrick said.

“But what is really exciting is to think about what the next 170 years will bring.”