We need some information about this department and its connections to the other administrative units of the hospital throught time.

The Royal Women's Hospital began as the Melbourne Lying-In Hospital and Infirmary for the Diseases peculiar to Women and Children in a terrace house in Albert Street East Melbourne in August 1856. In 1858 the hospital moved to its present Carlton site into premises designed by one of the founders, Dr Richard Tracy, to the latest standards. In the late 1850s it became the first Australian hospital to train nurses; in 1865 it became the first specialist teaching hospital as Tracy was appointed lecturer in obstetrics at the new Medical School in the University of Melbourne. It became the Women's Hospital in 1884, and 'Royal' in 1956.

The Melbourne Lying-In Hospital and Infirmary for the Diseases peculiar to Women and Children, the original predecessor of the Royal Women's Hospital, commenced operations in a terrace house in Albert Street East Melbourne in August 1856. It was founded by a group of Evangelical ladies, led by Mrs Frances Perry, wife of the Bishop of Melbourne, and two young doctors: an Englishman, Dr John Maund, and an Irishman, Dr Richard Tracy.