Department of Health
7 March 1921 – 24 July 1987
The first Commonwealth Department of Health, responsible for quarantine, public health and Commonwealth health laboratories and, from the 1940s, the national health benefits schemes for pharmaceuticals, hospitals and medical services.
How it came into existence
Created on 7 March 1921 by the Hughes government, built on the Commonwealth Quarantine Service of the Department of Trade and Customs, with J. H. L. Cumpston as its first Director-General. It also took over the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories from that department, and the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine came under its administration.
- Human, animal and plant quarantine
- Commonwealth Serum Laboratories
- Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine
Changes during its life
- Hospital and health services planning
- Community Health Program
- Health services on Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Custody and distribution of Commonwealth radium
- Testing of therapeutic substances
- ACT health services
- Health statistics
- Health services research
- Nursing homes
- Home nursing
- Assistance for people with disabilities
- General quarantine inspection at ports and airports
Human quarantine policy stayed with the health portfolio.
How it ended
Merged with the Department of Community Services on 24 July 1987 to form the Department of Community Services and Health.
- Health policy and programs
- Medicare
- Pharmaceutical benefits
- Public health and quarantine
Main functions
- Human, animal and plant quarantine
- Public health and disease control
- Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and other Commonwealth health laboratories
- Pharmaceutical benefits
- Hospital and medical benefits, Medibank and Medicare policy
- Nursing homes and home nursing subsidies
- Support for the National Health and Medical Research Council (from 1936)
Bodies in this portfolio (17)
- Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine 1910–1930
- Commonwealth Serum Laboratories 1916–1961
- National Museum of Australian Zoology 1924–1931
- Royal Commission on Health 1925
- Federal Health Council 1926–1936
- Commonwealth Radium Laboratory 1929–1935
- School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 1930–1980
- Australian Institute of Anatomy 1931–1984
- Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory 1935–1972
- Acoustic Research Laboratory 1942–1947
- Commonwealth Acoustic Laboratories 1947–1973
- Commonwealth Bureau of Dental Standards 1947–1973
- Commonwealth Radiation Laboratory 1972–1973
- Australian Dental Standards Laboratory 1973–1985
- Hospitals and Health Services Commission 1973–1978
- Capital Territory Health Commission 1975–1985
- Commonwealth Institute of Health 1980–1984
Lineage
Loading lineage…
Sources
Primary sources
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 13 April 1932 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 11 March 1983, as amended to 30 January 1987 (sets it out)
4 more Administrative Arrangements Orders set it out
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 16 November 1950 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 19 December 1972 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 22 December 1975 (sets it out)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 11 March 1983 (sets it out)