Richardson Hall

Richardson Hall is a supportive, inclusive and diverse home away from home for 196 residents. Richardson Hall has a vibrant community which comes together through sport, academic and social events.

Richardson Hall is a 'stairway-style' residence. There are four rooms on each floor, connected vertically by a stairway to similar floors above and below. These vertical 'stairway' communities don't have a kitchen (there's a shared kitchen for the whole building which you can walk to) but they have a small utilities room shared between two floors with a fridge and other basic facilities.

Check out the map showing the location of Richardson Hall.


196 residents 3 floors	7 washers 10 dryers	20 - 26 bathrooms	1 central commercial style kitchen

Inclusions
Safety and Security
More about Richardson Hall

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Your room

You'll have your own carpeted room with:

A single bed
Desk and chair
VOIP telephone and 1GB/sec internet access
Wardrobe and drawers
Online TV streaming (with access to 30 channels)
Heating
Desk fan
Smoke alarm, automatic sprinkler, and locks on every door and window
Clothes airer (drying rack)

Shared facilities

As well as your room, you will have access to the shared facilities of Richardson Hall including:

Common room
Study rooms/library
Games room
Music rehearsal room
Outdoor BBQ area
Veggie Gardens

As part of the campus, MRS is supported by the University's security services, with security assistance on hand 24/7 - but we also have dedicated ‘MRS’ services personnel on site each night at Clayton to assist all residents and to ensure safety and security. Here are some of the other ways we keep everyone safe:

MRS is part of the University Respect Now Always initiative and mobile app.
Only residents have access to their hall (via proxy card or security key access)
All rooms have their own lock for added privacy
All halls and rooms have smoke alarms and fire-safety equipment which are checked regularly
On-Campus Security personnel can escort you to your residence if you’re returning late at night - and security staff are based in or close to the residences
We run fire safety inductions and regular drills
Our Residential Support Teams are made up of senior Monash University staff and student leaders who live in each hall to support each resident. They are trained to understand the special needs of younger students living away from home for the first time.
Residential Support Team members have first-aid training, mental health first-aid training and all are required to have a Working With Children Check.

A safe environment requires cooperation from everyone in the residential community, which is why our Conditions of Residency includes a number of security initiatives and responsibilities.

Mascot and flag

Richardson Hall is the ‘home of the moose'. Our Mascot is Bob the moose and our Hall colours are maroon, blue and gold. Our theme song is sung to the tune of the Brisbane Lions AFL team (with gusto after a victory in MRS sporting competition).

Residential Support Team Officers

Our live-in Residential Support Team Officers (RSTO) offer guidance and support; they’re dedicated to making sure you're comfortable with all aspects of campus life and you're included in the fun.

Pricing and application

See pricing of accommodation.

If you'd like to live at Richardson Hall and be part of our community, please apply here.

Richardson Hall's history

Henry Handel Richardson (1870 - 1946) was born in Melbourne at 3 Blanche Terrace, believed to be now 171 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, and the elder daughter of Walter Lindesay Richardson, who died when she was only 9. Her early years were punctuated by constant moves due to the fluctuating fortunes of her father, and ranged from Brighton and Hawthorn to Chiltern, Queenscliff, Koroit and Maldon. Between the ages of 12 and 16 she attended Presbyterian Ladies' College, where it became clear that she was talented in both literature and music. After leaving college, she, her mother and sister rented houses in Richmond and in Kambrook Road near the Caulfield Racecourse before leaving in 1887 for Leipzig to further her musical education.

While in Leipzig, Henry Handel Richardson became engaged to J.G. Robertson, who was studying literature at the University. Through him, and the University library, she was able to indulge her passion for great literature, and read voraciously. After a long engagement (due to shortage of money), they married in December 1895, and lived in Germany until 1903 when Robertson was appointed Professor of German Literature at the University of London. Except for short holidays abroad, including one six-week visit to Australia in 1912, Henry Handel Richardson spent the rest of her life in England.

She was naturally shy and nervous, and consequently disliked being interviewed or having to make public appearances, a characteristic that was often mistaken for aloofness. Photographs usually made her look severe but she had a lively sense of humour and always enjoyed a good joke.

In the early years of her marriage she commenced work on her first, and possibly her finest novel, Maurice Guest, set in Leipzig and re-creating vividly the passions and drama of the student life she knew so well. By the time it was published in 1908, she had begun The Getting of Wisdom (her favourite amongst her book), based on her experiences at P.L.C. 1917-1929 saw the publication of the three separate volumes of her most famous work, known collectively as The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, an imaginative re-creation of her father's life. Only with its publication was Henry Handel Richardson's skill as novelist finally acknowledged.

A collection of her short stories and a fragment of what was to have been the continuation of the Mahony saga appeared in 1934 as The End of a Childhood; and five years later she completed her last novel, The Young Cosima, dealing with the involvement of Cosima Liszt with Hans von Bulow and Richard Wagner. Her unfinished biography, Myself When Young, published posthumously in 1948, completed her output. After her husband's death in 1933, Henry Handel Richardson became increasingly withdrawn, and with her secretary-companion, Olga Roncoroni, lived quietly on the south coast of England until her death in 1946. Her own and her husband's ashes were finally mingled and scattered over the waters of the English Channel.

The School of English, Communications and Performance Studies at Monash University has been at the forefront of studies into the life and work of Henry Handel Richardson, with Professor Cluve Probyn FAHA and Professor Bruce Steele leading the Monash Henry Handel Richardson Project (see link below).

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