St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne

St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne is the major hospital in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.It is operated by the St Vincent's Health service, previously known as the Sisters of Charity Health Service, Melbourne. It is situated at the corner of Nicholson Street and Victoria Street.The hospital is a tertiary referral centre which offers a variety of medical, surgical and mental health specialities.HistorySt Vincent's Hospital was opened in 1893 as a Catholic hospital owned and operated by the Sisters of Charity. Initially conceived as a branch of the Sydney institution of the same name the hospital was intended to be a charitable institution, which was hoped would help bolster Melbourne's minimal health care. This idea was given avid support by Melbourne's Catholic Archbishop, Dr Thomas Carr, who welcomed the idea of a hospital to take care of the 'poor and sick and abandoned children... the young girls of poor parents and servants...' These ideals corresponded directly with prevalent Victorian ideas of benevolence, which were particularly popular with the middle classes. In these early days, the hospital was quite small, with room for less than 100 beds. The hospital soon built up ties with the working class suburb of Fitzroy (in which the hospital was located), which had been deliberately selected by the founding sisters of the Hospital, with many of the poorer residents taking advantage of the advent of a charitable hospital opening up on their doorstep.