Royal Alexandra Hospital For Children - Name and Relocation

Name and Relocation

The hospital was opened in 1880 as the Sydney Hospital for Sick Children by a group of concerned citizens, led by Lady Allen the wife of Sir George Wigram Allen, who were worried about the health of the younger members of society in New South Wales. It soon out-grew the small building in which it was housed at Glebe Point and had to move in 1906 to Camperdown, where it stayed for 89 years before relocating to its current location of Westmead in 1995 to better serve the growing populations of western Sydney. This relocation involved amalgamation with most of the paediatric services of nearby Westmead Hospital (apart from neonates) to form a new hospital with a new name; initially "The New Children's Hospital" and more recently "The Children's Hospital at Westmead". The official name of the hospital; the "Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children" is retained.