Our Hospitals through the years

Brief histories of Southern Health campuses (for paediatrics exhibition):

Queen Victoria Hospital (1896-1987)

The Queen Victoria Hospital was opened as a hospital for women and children. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, it became the first hospital in Victoria to introduce more liberal visiting hours for parents as its paediatricians, among them Dame Kate Campbell, believed that the inclusion of the family structure was an important factor in a child’s recovery. The hospital also gained prestige through Dame Kate’s ground-breaking discovery of the causes of retrolental fibroplasia in premature babies. Another important phase in the history of paediatrics at this hospital was in 1965, when the new Monash University appointed paediatric oncologist, Professor Arthur Clark, as its Foundation Professor of Paediatrics. The appointment was crucial in enhancing the prestige of the Queen Victoria Hospital as a teaching hospital. Both Dame Kate Campbell and Professor Arthur Clark were important pioneers of neonatology at this hospital, an area of paediatrics, which has impressively gone from strength to strength since the relocation in 1987 of the Queen Victoria Hospital to Monash Medical Centre in Clayton.

Homeopathic Hospital (1869-1934)/Prince Henry’s Hospital (1934-1992)

The Homeopathic Hospital in Melbourne opened a children’s ward in 1910. After this hospital was renamed Prince Henry’s Hospital in 1934, the children’s ward continued to function until 1978, when rationalization of paediatric services across Victoria forced its closure. Important relics of the ward include a set of paintings that were specially commissioned by the Homeopathic Hospital from artist Miss Jessie Traill (born in Victoria in 1881; died in Victoria in 1967), who served as a V.A.D. nurse at the military hospital at Rouen in France during World War I. This artist was also known to have decorated the children’s ward of the Queen Victoria Hospital.

Monash Medical Centre Clayton

Monash Medical Centre Clayton was opened in 1987, following the relocation of the Queen Victoria Medical Centre and Prince Henry’s Hospital to Clayton Road. Neonatology became an internationally significant area at this hospital under the direction of Professor Victor Yu, since he founded a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Queen Victoria Hospital in 197x. In 2008, paediatric surgeons carried out in utero surgery on a baby girl whose umbilical cord was obstructing blood flow to one of her legs. In this sense the boundaries of paediatrics are constantly being pushed by its practitioners.

Monash Medical Centre Moorabbin (part of Monash Medical Centre since 1987)

Monash Medical Centre Moorabbin  was established in 19xx in Centre Road, when it was still known as the Moorabbin Hospital. In 1987, when the Queen Victoria Medical Centre and Prince Henry’s relocated to the new Monash Medical Centre in Clayton, Moorabbin was added as an additional campus of Monash Medical Centre. Monash Medical Centre Moorabbin has been the site of the South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault (SECASA) since 1987.

Dandenong Hospital (opened in 1942; part of Southern Health since 1995)

Dandenong Hospital was established in 1942. However, because of World War II, it was only in 1955 that a children’s ward became a reality at this hospital, when Dandenong was feeling the effects of the post-war baby boom as the fastest growing municipality in Australia. This hospital served a region that was rapidly changing from countryside to industrial suburb. In 1966, negotiations commenced with Monash University for the development of a public obstetrics department. The arrangement made with that university provided Dandenong with a Head of Obstetrics and enabled Monash students to have clinical training. The arrangement was eventually formalised by affiliation with Monash University in 1986. Dandenong Hospital became part of the Southern Health Care Network in 1995.

Kingston Centre (part of Southern Health since 1995)

Kingston CentreKingston Centre was established between 1909 and 1911 at its current premises in Cheltenham, when it was still known as the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum. Like Dandenong Hospital, Kingston became part of the Southern Health Care Network in 1995. Since 19xx/2xxx (?) it has been the site of the Paediatric Continence Clinic and the Paediatric Urodynamics Unit.

Casey Hospital (part of Southern Health since 2004)

Opened in 2004, Casey HospitalCasey Hospital in Kangan Drive in Berwick is witnessing a baby boom on a scale similar to that which Dandenong Hospital experienced after 1945. Since Casey has emerged as the fastest growing municipality in Victoria, it has also become largest provider of maternity services in Victoria.