1999: hospitals mainly concerned with potential ramifications of Y2K on IT systems
1999: MMR vaccine campaign for 18–30 year olds
1999: Infanrix® (DTP) vaccine introduced – from 2 months of age to 4 years of age inclusive
1998: Mercy Private enter a joint venture with St Vincent's Private Hospital, becoming St Vincent's & Mercy Private Hospital, Australia's largest private Catholic hospital.
1998: hepatitis B paediatric vaccine (3 doses) introduced in a Year 7 secondary school program
1998: Pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine (Pneumovax 23®) introduced for people aged 65 years and over
1997: influenza vaccination program began for over 65 year olds
1997: Victorian Infectious Diseases Service established at RMH
1996: the RMH took over the general infectious diseases services of the former Fairfield Hospital after its closure in June 1996
1995: Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital's board abolished and it becomes part of the Inner and Eastern Healthcare Network
1995: RMH became part of the Western Health Care Network, then the North Western Health Care Network from 28 October 1997 and from 1 July 2000, Melbourne Health
1995: RMH assumed responsibility for the psychiatric services of the former Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital
1995: RCH and RWH merge as “Women's and Children's Health Care Network” which also takes control of Sunshine Hospital's Womens and Childrens services
1995: The Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre (A&RMC) was formed by the amalgamation of the Austin Hospital (including the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre) and the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital (HRH)
1995: Kennett Govt restructures health services in Victoria
1995: State Govt establishes Metropolitan Hospitals Planning Board to further review the distribution of hospital beds, aim was to integrate the smaller community hospitals and aged care facilities with the large tertiary referral hospitals and psychiatric services, through common governance structures which resulted in the establishment of large health care networks and completed the transformation of hospitals from charities to public services under government control and resulted in the controversial closure of some smaller hospitals.
1994: RMH Research Foundation established (became the Melbourne Health Research Directorate in 2002 and then in 2008, the Office for Research)
1994: 1st MRI machine purchased for RCH
1994: Peter Mac Hosp moves to East Melb site from its previous site on the corner of William and Little Lonsdale Sts
1994: MMR vaccine introduced for males and females in Year 6 of primary school
1993: new underground carpark opens at RMH
1993: hepatitis A (Havrix®) vaccine introduced
1993: Fairfield Hospital laboratories amalgamated with other laboratories to become the integrated Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratories
1993: Commonwealth Minister for Health approved the recognition of emergency medicine as a principal specialty
1992: Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine introduced (catch-up vaccine for children aged 18 months to under 5 years, then in 1993, introduced for children aged 2 months to 18 months) quickly leading to a 95% reduction in childhood invasive HiB infections such as
epiglottitis 1992: mental health asylums in Victoria decommissioned and replaced with community and general hospital care
1992: Monash Medical Centre opens
1991: Prince Henry's Hospital closes
1990: Sunshine Hospital opens primarily for Womens and Childrens services
1989: measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine introduced
1988: Royal Children's Hospital Foundation (for fundraising) is established.
1988: Kew Asylum / Willsmere Psychiatric Hospital closed.
1987: Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital decommissioned
1987: Prince Henry's was amalgamated with the Queen Victoria Medical Centre and Moorabbin Hospital to form the Monash Medical Centre
1987: Final graduates from the last RCH School of Nursing
1987: hepatitis B Vax II (recombinant) vaccine introduced
1987: infants 'at risk' commenced birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine;
1987: Pneumovax 23® vaccine introduced for pneumococcal disease
1986: RMH amalgamates with the Essendon and District Memorial Hospital (EDMH)
1986: Murdoch Institute founded at RCH
1986: combined diphtheria–tetanus vaccine superseded by DTP vaccine as the 4th booster dose, introducing the first pertussis-containing vaccine booster at 18 months of age
1986: 1st Fellowship Exam of the ACEM - 8 successful candidates
1985: Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital research develops the Bionic Ear
1984-85: end of Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine school program for tuberculosis
1984: the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine was incorporated by 73 founding Fellows and the 1st primary Exam conducted
1983: new medical research centre was established at Fairfield and 1st AIDS patient admitted
1983: measles–mumps vaccine introduced and hepatitis B vaccine (plasma-containing product) introduced
1982: extension of the Essendon and District Memorial Hospital (EDMH) with the addition of more maternity beds and the construction of a general hospital completed
1982: Pneumovax 14® vaccine introduced for pneumococcal disease
1981: mumps vaccine introduced
1981: Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine was established
1980: smallpox vaccination ceased
1977: 1st ultrasound machine purchased for RCH
1975: South Wing Outpatients building added to RMH and Vascular Surgery Unit established
1975: the Whitlam Federal Govt introduces Medibank - removing means-tested public hospital admissions and replacing it with a universal health “insurance”, providing free public hospital treatment for all patients
1975: South East Purification Plant at Carrum opened to address the sewerage outflows of the rapidly expanding south-eastern suburban population growth
1973: new North-West building at RCH opens
1972: Intensive Care Unit (ICU) established at RMH
1971: rubella vaccine introduced
1969: the Melbourne Dental Hospital renamed Royal Melbourne Dental Hospital
1969: measles vaccine introduced
1967: Renal Unit established at RMH
1967: first full time Director of a 'Casualty Department' in Australia was appointed in Geelong, Victoria
1966: Melbourne District Nursing Society renamed Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS)
1966: oral polio vaccine (OPV, Sabin) introduced
1965: Clinical Sciences building added to RMH
1965: Austin becomes affiliated with Uni Melb medical school
1964: Gastroenterology and Respiratory Units established at RMH
1964: the Maternity Wing of the Essendon and District Memorial Hospital (EDMH) is opened
1964: new sewerage pumping station in Brooklyn superceded the old 19th century Spotswood one
1963: the old RCH Redmond Barry building is demolished
1963: the Melbourne Dental Hospital moved from Spring St to Parkville
1962: the new RCH building opens
1961: Monash University opens allowing for a 2nd medical school in Melbourne to be established which became affiliated with the Alfred and Prince Henry's Hospital
1960s: Spinal Injuries Unit established at the Austin Hospital
1962: Prince Henry's Hospital changes affiliation for medical schools to the Monash University's Faculty of Medicine
1962: the amalgamation of the Victorian Branch of the British Medical Association and the MSV from 1907 finally form the Victorian Branch of the AMA.
1960: Kew Asylum / Mental Hospital is renamed Willsmere Psychiatric Hospital
1960: Royal is added to the name for the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital
1960: Prince Henry's Medical Research Centre established
1958: new nurses home opens at RCH
1958: first Victorian Mental Health Week was held by the Mental Hygiene Authority
1957: Cardiology Department established at RMH
1957: Channel 7 joins the Good Friday Appeal to introduce the all day telethon
1956: Royal added to Women's Hospital to become the RWH
1954: another severe polio outbreak then Salk vaccine becomes available in 1956
1953: the Footscray and District Hospital opens (soon renamed Western General Hospital, then Maribyrnong Medical Centre, Western Hospital, and now called Footscray Hospital of the Western Health service)
1953: Royal assent given to change name of the Childrens Hospital to the RCH
1953: diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis (DTP) vaccine introduced (triple antigen)
1952: Prince Henry's was affiliated to the University of Melbourne as an undergraduate and postgraduate teaching hospital
1951: Fairhaven, for the treatment of venereal diseases, closes as the advent of penicillin meant prolonged hospitalisation was no longer needed. Reopened in 1956 as Fairlea Women's Prison.
1950: the North Wing and a Resuscitation Ward (precursor to ICU) is added to the RMH
1950: Peter MacCallum Clinic for cancer patients officially opens in one room of the QV Hospital
1949: chemotherapy is used for the 1st time on leukaemia patients at The Childrens Hospital; severe polio outbreak;
1948: Cancer Institute established by bill of State parliament, which was to pave the way for the Peter Mac Hosp
1948: Department of Anaesthesia established at RMH
1948: land acquired for the new childrens hospital
1948: Queen's Memorial Hospital renamed Fairfield Hospital with new legislation also enabling the hospital to treat general medical and surgical patients.
1948: Alfred Hospital takes over management of the Caulfield Convalescent Hospital
1947: Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital (HRH) opens (succeeding the 115th Heidelberg Military Hospital )
1946: Plastic and Facio-maxillary Unit established at RMH
1945: the federal government passed the Commonwealth Hospital Benefits Act, offering both public and private hospitals a payment of six shillings per patient per day. The introduction of medical insurance allowed greater access to private care, the poor and most emergency care were left to the large public teaching hospitals
1945: the Hospital and Charities Board asked the Essendon Council to consider establishing a hospital in honour of the men and women who served in the Second World War.
1945: a joint Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery was established at RMH
1945: tetanus toxoid vaccine available for civilians after World War II
1944: the public finally get access to the new RMH and by the end of the year, patients were moved from the old site which was to become the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital until decommissioned in 1987
1944: penicillin is used for the 1st time at The Childrens Hospital
1942: the newly built RMH in Parkville is utilised by the military
1940: Queen's Memorial became a Training School for nurses, Dr Frank Macfarlane Burnet, later Sir Macfarlane Burnet (Nobel Prize, 1960), was appointed consultant epidemiologist.
1937-38: polio epidemic
1936: Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria established by the state govt
1936: Dr WK Bouton, the surgeon in charge at the Melbourne Homœopathic Hospital, died. He was probably the last “pure straight homœopath” to work at the Hospital.
1935: Mercy Private Hospital established in East Melbourne by the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic religious order involved in health care since providing extra nurses during the 1919 influenza epidemic
1935: through Royal Charter, the Melbourne Hospital became known as The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH)
1934: the Melbourne Homeopathic Hospital becomes Prince Henry’s allopathic hospital, in honour of the royal visit of the Duke of Gloucester was indicative of homoeopathy's fading appeal.
1932: community immunisation for the public began
1931: Herald and Weekly Times newspaper group starts the 1st Good Friday Appeal for the Childrens Hospital
1930: A 100-bed orthopaedic campus of the Childrens Hospital is opened in Mt Eliza caring for children with tuberculosis, osteomyelitis and infantile paralysis.
1929: ongoing overcrowding of the RMH results in plans to move it to Parkville Cow and Pig Market site
1928: the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory is established at Uni of Melb to store and distribute the nation's radium for cancer treatment
1927: diphtheria toxoid vaccine introduced
1926: The Alfred Hospital's Baker Medical Research Institute established, funded initially by Thomas Baker and his family
1925: the Caulfield Hospital, a military and repatriation hospital, comes under the control of “The Melbourne Hospital” (RMH) as a convalescent hospital
1925: Yarra Bend Asylum closes as patients transferred to the newly opened Mont Park Psychiatric Hospital. Buildings in the northern section of the parklands became part of the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital. Other buildings previously used by male patients of the asylum were converted in 1927 to a hospital, known as Fairhaven, for the treatment of venereal diseases
1925: tetanus toxoid vaccine introduced and pertussis toxoid vaccine used in case contacts and epidemics
1924: diphtheria toxin–antitoxin introduced
1922: Charities Board established to co-ordinate fund-raising activities for the public hospitals
1920's: growing criticism of homeopathic practices and the Melbourne Homœopathic Hospital results in increasing use of orthodox doctors and the eventual replacement by orthodox medicine in the 1930s.
1921: 1st auxiliary groups such as the Red Cross Auxiliary, established at RMH
1921: 1st babies ward is opened at The Childrens Hospital
1919: influenza pandemic
1918: Vegetables and fruit, which doctors previously believed children couldn't digest, are included in patients diet for the first time at the Childrens Hospital
1917: smallpox vaccine produced in Australia (since 1804 it was sourced from UK) and tetanus antitoxin introduced for the armed forces
1915: the new “The Melbourne Hospital” (RMH) is already over-crowded with 375 patients accommodated by using the 320 beds plus balconies as makeshift wards
1914: Act of Parliament established a board of management for the Queen's Memorial Hospital after years of public concern on its management
1913: new “The Melbourne Hospital” (RMH) opens with 4 operating theatres, electric lifts, x-ray equipment, an ophthalmic and other specialised departments
1912: Mont Park Asylum opens and housed ex-military personnel with psychiatric illnesses after 1915
1908: decision finally made to rebuild “The Melbourne Hospital” (RMH) on its existing site after failure to acquire a Parkville
1908: the Victorian branch of the British Medical Association drew up a code of ethics which excluded from membership those who “based their practice on an exclusive dogma, such as homœopathy”, and forbade its members to consult with those who did so.
1907: Victorian Branch of the British Medical Association and the MSV amalgamated
1907: Royal Park Asylum opens
1906: the Victorian Medical Act was amended to regulate the admission of medical practitioners who had qualified in other countries, and in particular those that had not complete a course of training equivalent to that of the Melbourne University where five years of study was required, but as a result of pressure, a special exemption was obtained for the Melbourne Homœopathic Hospital, permitting the importation of one doctor a year from either the Boston Homœopathic University and medical College, or the New York Homœopathic Medical College and Hospital.
1906: Bethesda Hospital was opened by the Salvation Army - the first not-for-profit hospital established to cater for wage and salary earners who could not afford expensive private hospital care
1904: new operating theatre and a new casualty-room were opened at the Melbourne Homœopathic Hospital
1904: in response to the need for public hospital access during epidemics, the Queen's Memorial Hospital in Fairfield opens (later renamed Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital)
1903: Kew asylum renamed the Hospital for the Insane