Sydney Children's Hospital

The Sydney Children's Hospital had its origins in 1852 with the formation of the Society for Destitute Children, which established the Asylum for Destitute Children with the first building opened on 21 March 1858 in Paddington. After an appeal for funds in 1870, the Catherine Hayes Hospital opened. The hospital's primary intention was to care for children that suffered from illness, poverty and famine.

As the hospital grew the children's hospital became a wing of the larger general hospital. In 1915, during the First World War the hospital was converted by the NSW Government into a military hospital and then a repatriation hospital, and renamed the Fourth Australian Repatriation Hospital. In 1927 an association between the Coast Hospital and the Fourth Australian Repatriation Hospital at Randwick began. With the opening of the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in 1953, the hospital was renamed the Prince of Wales Hospital, with the attached children's hospital becoming known as the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital.

In 1964 the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital was founded as an independent hospital by Professor John Beveridge, who had the goal of creating a second Sydney children's hospital dedicated to caring for children. That same year the hospital became the teaching hospital for the University of New South Wales. In 1994 the hospital underwent a $46.5 million (AUD) redevelopment, greatly increasing the capabilities of the hospital.[2]

On Friday 12 June 1998, the Prince of Wales Children's Hospital officially became known as the Sydney Children's Hospital, when the then current New South Wales premier, Bob Carr and Dr. Andrew Refshauge officially opened the hospital at 11:00am.[3] In 2003 the hospital opened a community child health facility on the Randwick campus that provides services for children with development disabilities, mental health disorders and other behavioral issues. In 2010 the hospital was transferred from the administration of the South-East Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service to the newly formed 'Sydney Children's Hospital Network (Randwick and Westmead) incorporating the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children'.

The Gold Week Telethon is an annual telethon established in 2010 with proceeds benefiting the Sydney Children's Hospital.

• Prof Jennifer Byrne

• Children's Hospital at Westmead
• List of hospitals in Australia

• Sydney Children's Hospital website