Austin Health history

The Austin Clinic was founded in 1919 with a staff of four physicians and surgeons: Doctor C. F. Lewis, Doctor Emery Rebman, Doctor C.C. Allen, and Doctor W.B. Grise.

By 1929, the physicians needed more space and moved into a new building specifically built for clinic practice.

By 1935, it was the largest cancer hospital in Australia.

Francis R. Weber in 1938 as the first Catholic Church serving the city’s African American community in response to poor treatment of Black Catholics at other local churches.

Opened in 1940 with only 20 beds, the hospital’s staff included resident physician Sister Celine Heitzman, M.D., one of the first Catholic nuns in the nation to practice medicine, and nurse Sister Anne Marie, said to be one of the only Black nuns in America at that time.

Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital opened on 13 March 1941 as the 115th Heidelberg Military Hospital.

In 1947, the hospital was handed over from the army to the Repatriation Commission and became the Repatriation General Hospital Heidelberg.

The 1949 groundbreaking of Holy Cross Hospital’s second location on East MLK Jr.

The original Holy Cross Hospital building on the grounds of Holy Cross Catholic Church, photographed at the end of its life in 1950.

In 1959, Austin Clinic significantly expanded its Austin base of operation by opening up another new clinic to meet the increasing demand for medical care in the community.

The Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, opened the new centre in September 1962.

Local architects Page, Southerland, and Page designed a five-story addition to the facility, a striking circular building housing a new nursing wing, which opened in 1965.

A standalone radiation therapy center containing Austin’s first Cobalt-60 radiotherapy device would open in a new building next door to the hospital in 1973.

Despite these improvements, the integration of other local medical facilities eventually took a toll on Holy Cross, and the opening of the 300-bed Seton Medical Center in 1975 drew away many of its patients.

In 1989, St Olaf Hospital and the Austin Clinic entered a joint venture and worked closely with one another throughout the years.

The empty hospital building, including its memorable circular wing, was eventually torn down in 1991 and replaced by Campbell Elementary School.

The newly-renamed Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital was transferred into the Victorian health system on 1 January 1995 and merged with Austin Hospital on 1 April 1995.

On May 23, 2011, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Health System rebranded their integrated system to be known as Mayo Clinic Health System.