The leading advocate for the initial establishment of Epworth in Richmond was Methodist Minister Reverend William J Palamountain. Reverend Palamountain worked tirelessly over a five-year period, to gain the financing required to establish the hospital.

The property, then known as 'Yalcowinna', was purchased and became Epworth Hospital in Richmond.

The purchase and refurbishment was made possible by the generosity of donors Sir Aaron Danks, Fred Cato, Thomas Lockwood, George Sweet and Dr John Wilkinson.

Epworth continued to expand its Richmond hospital, which now covers several blocks from its original Erin Street base. A major redevelopment of Epworth Richmond has also been completed, seeing it become Australia's largest private hospital at one site.

The expansion at Epworth has continued into surrounding suburbs with the construction of Epworth Eastern at Box Hill. Hospitals have also been acquired to help establish multiple Epworth locations in other suburbs.

Epworth is now Victoria’s largest not-for-profit private hospital group with convenient locations across Melbourne and Geelong:

  • Epworth Brighton
  • Epworth Camberwell
  • Epworth Eastern
  • Epworth Freemasons (3 locations in East Melbourne)
  • Epworth Geelong
  • Epworth Hawthorn
  • Epworth Rehabilitation (Brighton, Camberwell, Richmond)
  • Epworth Richmond
  • Epworth Specialist Centre Lilydale

Epworth is a proud innovator in healthcare and some of our pioneering achievements include establishing the:

  • first above ground radiotherapy centre in Australia
  • first open heart surgery facility in a private hospital in Victoria
  • first private Emergency Department in Victoria accredited to accept time critical medical patients
  • first private hospital group in Australia to become a teaching hospital
  • first private hospital in Australia to establish an intensive care unit
  • first robotic assisted surgery in Australia

Epworth operates under its own Act of Parliament, The Epworth Foundation Act 1980 (Vic).

Methodist founder John Wesley's hometown of "Epworth" provided the name of our first hospital and our affiliation with the Uniting Church.