Legacy of healthcare innovations and staff dedication on show. 

It is the quietest surgical theatre at RPA Hospital, where the staff stand still, and the machines don’t make a sound.   

Tucked at one end of a heritage-listed building, this display in the RPA Museum transports visitors to a moment in medical history and gives a glimpse into surgical practice from decades past.   

The museum is a showcase of healthcare advances and research breakthroughs that have transformed patient health since the hospital’s doors opened in 1882, and a celebration of the hospital and its people. 

This legacy continues today and extends beyond the museum’s walls to the hospital buildings, its foyer space and statues across the campus that illustrate its history as a health service built by and for the community.  

Duaah Al-Abody, a Medical Science student at the University of Sydney, has become transfixed since she began volunteering at the museum, researching how past surgeons pioneered medical technology advances and used them in their practice.  

“We’ve looked at a couple of instruments, and you can see how much more streamlined it’s become over the years and how it’s less invasive to patients,” she said.   

In July, the RPA Museum will turn 90 years old, coinciding with Sydney Innovation Week, a weeklong showcase of the people, ideas and innovations across the District. Guided and self-guided RPA heritage tours are available on Monday July 17.  

It will culminate in the Sydney Innovation and Research Symposium, where researchers will share ideas that might one day be displayed on the museum’s walls.   

RPA Hospital is world-renowned for its medical and healthcare innovations said Kiel Harvey, RPA Hospital General Manager.   

“It’s well-deserved recognition for our staff and their dedication to raising the bar to get the best outcomes for our patients.” 

Striving to improve patient care and outcomes through innovation has been central to RPA’s history, he continued. 

“That is our proud legacy, and it’s why the RPA Museum is such a unique feature of our hospital because it reflects the cutting-edge advances of the past and reminds us of what is possible in the future.”  

Scott Andrews, the District’s Acting Director of Heritage and Environment, says the museum is a place where staff can connect to the journey of the people who have come before them and a source of inspiration for future generations.   

For Duaah Al-Abody, her research into medical technologies of the past has shaped her view of what innovations could have a transformative impact on individualised healthcare and patient outcomes in the future.  

“I haven’t been at the museum for that long, but thinking about some of the archives and how interesting it is, how much things have changed even from the beginning of my degree to the end of my degree,” she said.  

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come in such a little span of time.” 

The RPA Museum is open to the public from 10am to 2pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays.