VPRS 17409 Annual Reports

Full description

The Royal Women's Hospital (RWH) traces its origin to the hospital created in August 1856 and known as the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children. With the exception of a nine year period between 1995 and 2004 when the hospital was merged with the Royal Children's Hospital to form the Women's and Children's Health Care Network (subsequently Women's and Children's Health) the hospital has been in continuous operation as a corporate entity, although occasionally changing its name and organisational structure. Such changes have generally been the result of changes in Victorian state legislation.

During the period 1995-2004 the RWH continued to function under its own name while legally part of the network. Network records which only relate to Royal Women's Hospital functions are attributed to the RWH. Records created at the executive level which relate to both hospitals are attributed to the Women's and Children's Health Care Network / Women's and Children's Health.

The first report of this series was issued at a public meeting on 13 December 1856, only four months after the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for the Diseases of Women and Children opened in Albert Street East Melbourne. It was a report of the Committee of Management (more commonly known as the Ladies Committee) to the donors and philanthropic backers of the fledgling institution and was intended to reassure them that their interests were being well managed and to encourage further support by the recruitment of new Subscribers. Such reports, although greatly changed in style and substance are still (2013) produced annually and continue to serve much the same function.

The first Annual Report was issued on 30 June 1857

The reports provide detailed lists of hospital personnel - Board members, senior staff and for many years, donors, Subscribers and Life Governors. They give reports from the different departments of the hospital - medical (maternity and infirmary or gynaecology), nursing and in later years the many ancillary departments such as pharmacy, social work, pathology etc. Financial statements are also provided. The reports became the official form of reporting to the government which progressively became the major provider of funds.

This set of reports is made up of the bound master set (1856-1980, 12 volumes) retained in the Chief Executive Officer's office until 1995 plus individual editions from 1981-2013. The year 1858 is not included, but a copy is held by the State Library of Victoria.

During the nine years (1995-2004) that the Women's was aggregated with the Royal Children's Hospital in the Women's and Children's Health Care Network [VA 5016]. The Network took over publication of the corporate annual report, and the Women's continued to publish its own reports, called the "Year in Review" (1999, 2001 to 2002).

From 2005, RWH continued to produce its own annual report.

Series History
Prior to transfer to Public Record Office Victoria, the records in this series were maintained as part of the RWH Archives in RWH series number 0842.