Item MM 110222 Digital Photograph - Builders Working on Royal Melbourne Hospital Site, Parkville, circa late 1930s

Summary

Black and white photograph featuring a group of eleven men, including John Bray, who was a builder, working on construction of the new Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville around the late 1930s.

The new Parkville hospital replaced an earlier iteration of the hospital, known as the Melbourne Hospital, which been located at a different site, on the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston Streets in the city of Melbourne. The Melbourne Hospital had opened on 15 March 1848 but by the late nineteenth century was severely overcrowded. The hospital was subsequently re-built on the same site, and the new and enlarged building re-opened on 22 July 1913. Overcrowding remained an issue, however, and by the 1930s the Victorian Government had reserved about 10 acres of land in Parkville for a new hospital, to be known as the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Construction began in 1939 and the site was open in 1942. For its first two years the Royal Melbourne Hospital served as a military hospital.

This photograph was collected as part of Melbourne's Biggest Family Album in 2006.

Description of Content

Group of eleven men standing around a metal frame work on a building site.

Physical Description

Digital image file. A digital photograph was taken of the original black and white print.