Our History

– 150 years of history at The Royal Children’s Hospital –

A concise and chronological record of the rich and diverse 150-year history of The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH).
Please feel free to scroll through all 150 years or easily filter information via categories or tags.

The historical images have been sourced from the RCH Archives and Collections, unless stated otherwise.
Images have been chosen to illustrate the subject matter and may not necessarily reflect the date of the event.

The RCH has produced such an immense amount of groundbreaking achievements and we cannot assume to have captured them all here.
Do you think an achievement, person, or event is missing? Please send your suggestion to: archives@rch.org.au. We hope you enjoy exploring!

Showing Events Tagged with: First Nations People

1983
First Aboriginal Liaison Officer
Ruby Lako was the first person to be appointed to this new role, funded by the Health Commission. It was a difficult position – the indigenous status of patients was not recorded by the hospital at the time.
People
1980-1989 community First Nations People Parkville social work The Royal Children’s Hospital women
1992
Aboriginal Liaison Policy Advisory Committee Established
The committee consisted of hospital staff and Indigenous community members.
Departments and Campuses
1990-1999 community First Nations People Parkville The Royal Children’s Hospital
1995
First Aboriginal Family Support Worker
Neville Austin was appointed to this role, which was created after much advocacy from the Aboriginal Liaison Policy Advisory Committee.
Image credit: Peta Philp
People
1990-1999 community First Nations People Parkville social work The Royal Children’s Hospital
1998
First National Sorry Day
May 26th, 1998
Image credit: Janelle Jakowenko
Social and Economic Influences
1990-1999 community First Nations People Parkville The Royal Children’s Hospital
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