With the new Monash University in need of a 'Great Hall', an appeal to raise funds for its construction was launched in 1965. By the end of the year £235,000 had been raised ($470,000 in 2024).
Construction began on the hall began in 1968 and it was completed and opened in 1971 by our first Chancellor, Sir Robert Blackwood, after whom it is named.
The first graduation ceremony held at Robert Blackwood Hall took place in 1972, and since then it has been the venue for over 1,000 graduation ceremonies, as well as music performances, orientation events, book fairs, and other events.
Robert Blackwood Hall's architect, Sir Roy Grounds, also designed the National Gallery of Victoria, and Leonard French who created the hall's stained glass window also made the stained glass ceiling in the National Gallery of Victoria Great Hall.
