A hospital under canvas was initially erected on Garden Island in 1829, until a suitable site was found in Perth. There were some temporary buildings used in the early 1930’s until a more significant Colonial Hospital building was opened in 1855. The names of the hospital have been changed over time, including Perth Public Hospital, until it was named Royal Perth Hospital in 1946. The Shenton Park campus was also known previously as the Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital and was used in the management of various infectious diseases outbreaks.
There have been a number of infectious diseases outbreaks over the years, including measles in 1860, smallpox in 1893, typhoid in 1890’s, diphtheria in 1908, influenza in 1918 and polio in 1937 and 1950’s. There have been other significant contributions to infectious diseases by researchers at RPH since then, including H. pylori and HIV in the 1980s and MRSA and VRE in more recent times. The RPH museum includes exhibits covering the history of the hospital, including information on key staff that have made contributions to infectious diseases management and research over the years.
RPH has in the past included state health, hospital and University of WA laboratories. Contributions to infectious disease outbreak management have come from Colonial Surgeons, Medical and Nursing staff, Scientific and Medical Microbiologists. Prof Neville Stanley was the Foundation Professor of Microbiology for the University of WA and HOD at RPH and Dr Richard Green the first medical qualified Microbiologist appointed in 1956. The stories of some of the early hospital and Microbiology staff, some of whom showed great bravery in dealing with significant risks to their own health, will be discussed as part of the talk.