- Entry type: Organisation
- Entry ID: AWE0049
Queen Victoria Hospital
- Also known as Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital
Also known as Queen Victoria Hospital for Women
- Occupation Hospital
Summary
Established in 1896, the Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne was the first women’s hospital in Victoria, operated for women by women. Originally housed in William Street, Melbourne, new premises were purchased with money raised by Victorian women contributing to Dr Constance Stone’s ‘Shilling Fund’. The hospital moved to its Lonsdale Street site in 1946. In 1989 it was relocated to the Monash Medical Centre at Clayton.
Established in 1896 as the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, as a clinic in a local church hall, The Queen Victoria Hospital was one of three hospitals in the world founded, managed and staffed by women, ‘For Women, By Women’, for the benefit of poor women uncomfortable with male doctors. There were eleven female founding doctors led by Dr Constance Stone.
The hospital was funded by an appeal coinciding with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. After three years, there were enough funds to move into separate premises, the old Governess Institute in Mint Lane. Known as the Queen Victoria Hospital for Women and Children, the name changed to the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital when the Queen died in 1901.
In 1946, the hospital moved into premises vacated by the Royal Melbourne Hospital on Lonsdale Street. In 1965, it became Monash University’s teaching hospital for obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics, at which point it became a ‘Family Hospital’ that treated and employed males.
In 1977 the hospital amalgamated with McCulloch House and was renamed the Queen Victoria Medical Centre. The years later , in 1987, it merged with Moorabbin Hospital and moved to Clayton. In 1991 it was involved with yet another merger, this time with Prince Henry’s Hospital, to form the Monash Medical Centre.
Details
From its beginnings as an out-patients’ dispensary in La Trobe Street (where the three Drs Stone – Constance, Clara and Mary – worked on Monday mornings), the Queen Victoria Hospital expanded its premises with the purchase of the Governess’ Institute at Mint Place in 1899, funded by a Jubilee Shilling Fund appeal.
The National Council of Women of Victoria moved for the establishment of an operating theatre for out-patients at the hospital in memory of Mary Stone, honorary secretary of the Council from 1904 to 1910. The theatre was opened in 1912. When the hospital added a new pathology block in 1937 it was named after Dr Janet Greig. In 1946 the hospital moved to premises on Lonsdale Street.
In 1977, the Queen Victoria Hospital was one of a number of institutions (including the Jessie McPherson Hospital and McCulloch House, a convalescent home) to amalgamate and form The Queen Victoria Medical Centre. It continued to operate from its Lonsdale Street site until 1989, when it was sold and relocated to the Monash Medical Centre at Clayton.
Following its closure, the centre tower of the hospital was refurbished and handed over to the women of Victoria. It is now known as the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre.
Published resources
- Book
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Resource Section
- Queen Victoria Hospital (1899 - 1977), 2003, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/asaw/biogs/A002228b.htm
- Resource
Archival resources
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