125 stories for 125 years

The Williams family: three generations of Victorian pharmacists

Dr John Williams, who graduated from the college in 1946 before going onto study medicine at Melbourne University, comes from a long line of pharmacists. His brother Brian graduated in 1952 and their father, Gavin, also graduated from the college and operated a pharmacy in Armadale and later in Geelong, which Brian took over. Their grandfather, Cuthbert Williams, migrated to Australia in the early 1890s from the UK and worked with Henry Francis.

The three generations of Williams have seen a great deal of change and development in the practice, education and organisation of pharmacy across Australia in their lifetimes. Here, John reflects on his family’s long association with the profession:

‘My grandfather’s indenture papers state that he was apprenticed in Leicester England. He migrated to Melbourne in 1893 and was registered with the Pharmacy Board of Victoria that same year. He went to work for Henry Francis having arrived in Australia in the middle of the depression of the 1890s caused by the collapse of the land boom and the decline in gold production. He left Melbourne to ‘try his luck’ in the Western Australian goldfields, which were still productive. Cuthbert wrote to Henry Francis: I am now trying to purchase two horses … we have the cart and harness, (for the) purpose (of) carting water, a commodity in far better demand than drugs.”

Cuthbert returned to Victoria and was married in Melbourne in April 1895 but gave his address on his marriage certificate as Broken Hill. From 1897 he was in Adelaide having been engaged to take charge of Faulding’s Rundle Street business. After being there for some time he took over the languishing business of Smith & Osborne in North Adelaide. He became more involved in the profession whilst in Adelaide, and joined the Pharmacy Board there. He was a member of its Finance Committee and Pharmaceutics Revision Committee as well as its delegate to the 1903 Conference of Examiners. Cuthbert left Adelaide in 1906 and moved back to Melbourne to again work for Henry Francis where he remained until 1919. He then left Henry Francis and took over the pharmacy of J.C. Pickford in High Street, Armadale where he remained until his death in 1926

My father Gavin became apprenticed to my grandfather after returning home from WWI. His studies at the college were shortened to three years in recognition of his war service. Upon graduation he moved to Cobden in South West Victoria to open his first pharmacy which he ran from 1925 to 27. I was born in Cobden but the family soon moved to Armadale so that my father could take over my grandfather’s business when he had passed away.

My father had a great interest in veterinary pharmacy. He sold the Armadale pharmacy in the late 1930s to run an outlet for Ruddock & Company, the animal specialists, in a basement shop at the Flinders Street railway station (currently a hobbies shop). He then moved the family to Geelong where he bought Dickson’s Pharmacy in Ryrie Street Geelong in 1941 where he remained until his retirement. He had a great interest in photography – there was a photographic business incorporated in the pharmacy when he bought it that was run separately and eventually sold.

My father, like my grandfather, also became involved in the future of the profession through the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria and the Pharmacy Board of Victoria. He was Vice-President of the Society from 1956 to 57 but had to retire from this role due to ill health.

Following the family tradition I became apprenticed to my father in 1943, commencing the pharmacy course by correspondence and working at our pharmacy at Ryrie Street. I worked for my father for two years but in 1945, as the college required, my apprenticeship was formally transferred to C.C. Wallis, of C.Wallis and Son  on the corner of Toorak and Mathoura Roads, Toorak so that I could  attend lectures at the college. When I finished my studies, I was still under 21 and too young to be registered, so A.T.S. Sissons suggested that I stay at the college and complete my Fellowship. I worked as a demonstrator under the direction of Miriel Witt and E. E. Nye, both permanent staff members, but I spent most of my time with Norman ‘Snowy’ Coe stetting up labs and supervising pracs.

I chose to go on and study Medicine at Melbourne University and graduated in 1953. After graduation I was a resident at the Alfred for two years and did my surgical residency there from 1960-61. I then moved to Tasmania where I was a consultant surgeon at Launceston General until 1994. Upon retiring I moved to Hobart.

My brother Brian worked with my father upon graduation and was also much focused on veterinary pharmacy and agricultural supplies. He took over the Ryrie Street pharmacy when our father retired. He sold the business in the mid-1970s to open a new business selling agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

My family has certainly seen many sides of pharmacy, having worked across Victoria and South Australia in rural areas as well as in the city.’