The Royal Melbourne Hospital is preserving insights into our events and activities through oral history recordings with senior medical staff.

Key points

  • Lived memories provide an insight into events and activities that are not recorded in written records
  • The hospital is actively preserving some of these lived memories through oral history recordings with its senior medical staff
  • Listen to edited extracts of interviews with senior staff members from over the years
  • These staff members were leaders in their fields and part of major medical milestones

Lived memories provide an insight into events and activities that are not recorded in written records. The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) is actively preserving some of these lived memories through oral history recordings with its senior medical staff.

Interviews with staff active from the 1930s to the 1960s were captured in the mid-1990s during research for the hospital’s history book, The Ever Open Door. From 2014-21 the memories of those medical staff practising during the establishment and growth of various medical specialities from the 1960s onwards were also recorded.

Listen to edited recordings with some of these doctors as they recount their impressions and experiences. Contact the RMH Archives to listen to the full audio recordings, read the written transcripts or to find out who else has been interviewed. 

The RMH gratefully acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government and Public Record Office Victoria for making this project possible. 

John Andrews Senior Medical Staff 1970-1992
John Andrews, Senior Medical Staff 1970-1992.
Anne D'Arcy
Anne D'Arcy
Howard Eddey Senior Medical Staff 1947-1967
Howard Eddey, Senior Medical Staff 1947-1967.
Dr John Andrews - Nuclear Medicine Physician
Dr Anne D’Arcy - Emergency Physician
Professor Howard Eddey - Surgeon
Lady Joy Frew nee Dr Joy Bell
Lady Joy Frew, nee Dr Joy Bell.
Bryan Gandevia
Bryan Gandevia
William Hare Senior Medical Staff 1960-1988
William Hare, Senior Medical Staff 1960-1988.
Dr Joy Frew - Anaesthetist and Blood Bank Physician
Dr Bryan Gandevia - Respiratory Physician
Professor William Hare - Radiologist
John Hayward Senior Medical Staff 1946-1966
John Hayward, Senior Medical Staff 1946-1966.
Margaret Henderson Senior Medical Staff 1947-1975
Margaret Henderson, Senior Medical Staff 1947-1975.
Professor Richard Larkins
Professor Richard Larkins
Dr John Hayward - Thoracic Surgeon
Dr Margaret Henderson - General Physician, Respiratory Physician
Professor Richard Larkins - Endocrinologist
Richard Lovell Senior Medical Staff 1955-1983
Richard Lovell, Senior Medical Staff 1955-1983.
Ian Mackay Senior Medical Staff 1963-1987
Ian Mackay, Senior Medical Staff 1963-1987.
Benjamin Rank Senior Medical Staff 1946-1965
Benjamin Rank, Senior Medical Staff 1946-1965.
Professor Richard Lovell - Epidemiologist
Professor Ian Mackay - Immunologist
Sir Benjamin Rank - Plastic Surgeon
Dr Ron Rome
Dr Ron Rome
Dr Tom Steel
Profile photo of Dr Tom Steel, courtesy of Alfred Hospital Archives.
Douglas Stephens
Douglas Stephens
Dr Ron Rome - Obstetrical Surgeon
Dr Thomas Steel - General Physician, Respiratory Physician
Dr Douglas Stephens - Paediatric Urologist
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Address
The RMH Royal Park
Level 1 Building 1
34-54 Poplar Rd, Parkville, Victoria