Royal Perth Hospital Museum

The collection covers the history of two sites - the RPH site in Wellington Street Perth and the Shenton Park site, which was once a RPH annexe.

The Royal Perth Hospital was formerly known as the Colonial Hospital (1829 – 1894), the Perth Public Hospital (1894 – 1921) and the Perth Hospital (1921 – 1946).

The Shenton Park site was established in 1893 as an Infectious Diseases Hospital known as the Victoria Hospital. It underwent several name changes until its closure in 2014 but is probably best remembered as the Royal Perth (Rehabilitation) Hospital.

The collection is diverse and contains thousands of items including medical instruments and equipment, teaching aids, hospital records, photographs, uniforms, documents, furnishings, memorabilia, letters and audio-visual material.

Items are primarily received by transfer from within the hospital. We also acquire items through the generosity of donors. We prioritise items that relate to our key themes.

Royal Perth Hospital and the State Library of Western Australia are partnering to develop an oral history collection to capture and make available the memories of medical, nursing and ancillary staff, and the history of the hospital.