The Medical School of the University of Melbourne (1862) was the first in the southern dominions of the British Empire, and its founders were aware that a colonial profession would be even more dependent on books and journals than their metropolitan colleagues. By 1879 there were already almost a thousand volumes in the collection, as well as subscriptions to all the major medical journals.

The University of Melbourne's medical history collection therefore covers every stage in the development of the medical profession and associated disciplines over the last century and a half. The collection is also rich in older historical material acquired by scholars, university librarians and curators, as well as by medical bibliophiles and antiquarians. Between the collections of the University and the State Library of Victoria, there is a comprehensive collection of the history of medicine from antiquity to the scientific era for researchers working in Victoria.

The University collection also reflects the working interests of the faculty: text books and standard works in their successive editions, and collections acquired because of the particular interests of academic staff. Medical concern, for instance, with national fitness in time created rich holdings in eugenics, racial health and venereal disease.

The archive collections - held in the library, the Medical History Museum and the University of Melbourne Archives - comprise significant holdings of personal papers and artefacts of medical academics, practitioners and scientists.

This website is an introduction to both the University of Melbourne's and other holdings for the history of medicine in Victoria. As a guide to the range of material held within the university, it describes different holdings and locations, and provides links to other collections dealing with medical history.

Information about the interests, responsibilities and publications of University of Melbourne staff working in the history of medicine is detailed under personnel.

This website is also a tribute to the late Dr Walter Johnstone-Need, the benefactor of the Medical History Unit of the University of Melbourne.