1. St Kilda Road: from Gold to Royal Park, 1853-1914
The origins of The Royal Melbourne Hospital - Royal Park Campus can be traced back to the gold rush of the early 1850s.
The discovery of gold brought immigrants to Victoria in their thousands, from all parts of the world. In 1851 Melbourne was a small provincial town with a population of 23,000, but by 1853 it had grown to a metropolis of over 70,000, becoming the largest city in Australasia. Immigrants arrived with little or no money, not realising a trip to the goldfields involved an eight-day journey with provisions that had to be paid for at exorbitant prices. Consequently many stayed on in Melbourne, and as a result of this vast influx of people, accommodation and provisions became both scarce and expensive.
To house these numbers, a tent city known as Canvas Town, sprang up on the outskirts of Melbourne, on the track that was St Kilda Road. Tents were pitched for a weekly rent of five shillings. Those who could not afford this rent lived in the open or sought shelter amongst the trees.
Public sympathy for newly arrived, impoverished immigrants was aroused by Argus newspaper reports in April 1853. A number of prominent citizens convened a meeting in the Town Hall on 9 May and set up a provisional committee to enquire into conditions for immigrants. The report of the provisional committee was read to a public meeting on 17 May 1853 at the Mechanics' Institute, Collins Street (now the Athenaeum), leading to the formation of The Immigrants' Aid Society for 'the amelioration of the fearful distress' of the new arrivals.
The report suggested that information should be provided to immigrants upon arrival: verbally by an agent on the wharf and in written 'tracts' published by the Society. Temporary buildings were to be erected to provide free lodgings, luggage would be stored and loans or grants of money arranged. Assistance was to be given in securing employment, and medical advice and medicines were to be made available.
An office was set up on the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, on land then known as the Town Hall Reserve, and a store for luggage established on the corner of King and Flinders Streets, near the wharf. A fever tent and dispensary were set-up adjacent to Canvas Town and temporary accommodation was found for immigrants. By October 1853, 35 patients had been treated in a 'sick ward' and medicines prescribed for a further 221 people. In 1854, wooden buildings on St Kilda Road became the first Home established by the Society.
The initial purpose of The Immigrants' Aid Society was to provide aid only to new arrivals, until such time as they were able to provide for themselves. However, by 1861 it waived the rule that limited assistance to those having less than two years residence in Victoria. The work of the Society increased, and in 1862 a Hospital for Chronic Diseases was established as part of the Immigrants' Home. Later, the Society also incorporated a Blind Asylum and a Night Refuge for those requiring overnight accommodation on a casual basis. Increasingly the hospital's wards were occupied by patients with incurable illnesses and convalescing patients transferred from other hospitals. In 1866, a government grant of 400 pounds enabled the Society to replace its old and dilapidated dwellings with more substantial buildings on both sides of St Kilda Road. In 1870, the institution changed its name to the Immigrants' Aid Society's Home for Houseless and Destitute Persons. By 1871, additional buildings included a laundry, hospital, further dormitories and a mess hall. In 1882, the male inmates were transferred to the empty Industrial School site at Royal Park.
By the early twentieth century, the Immigrants' Aid Society had substantially altered and expanded the welfare services it was providing to the citizens of Victoria. By then it had little connection with immigrants and had become a benevolent asylum for the poor, elderly and convalescent transferred from other hospitals. In 1902, to reflect this change in function, the Society altered its name to Victorian Homes for the Aged and Infirm.
In 1914, a property was purchased at 64 Latrobe Street, to act as a Receiving Depot, with accommodation for 50 people, and additional space for an office and Boardroom. Both casual occupants and patients awaiting operations at or admissions to other hospitals were accepted. This depot was closed in 1943, and the building was demolished in 1954. The remaining operations, along with the female and child inmates, were transferred from St Kilda Road to Royal Park in 1914.
