Page 9 - Pharmacy History 03 Sept 1997

Egyptian Corn Cure, was a familiar sight in most of the larger pharmacies of the time.
In 1902, in Kalgoorlie, Alex married Henrietta Elliot (a hospital senior nurse) and they had two children. His business prospered and he moved it into larger premises in Hannan Street and in 1910 his brother- in-law, Edward Burton (known as Bert) Elliot, who had only registered as a pharmacist the previous year,
was installed as the manager of the Kalgoorlie business, whilst Alex moved to Perth where he purchased a pharmacy in Barrack Street in the heart of Perth.
In addition to the first chemist shop in Kalgoorlie, Alex invested in staking or grubbing gold prospectors and apparently this was also a successful enterprise which helped to finance
an expansion of his chemist business with a move to a larger property in Perth on the corner of Barrack and Wellington streets. This became well known as ‘Trouchet’s corner’. By now he was producing and selling
his Big T range of products all over the state. These included cough and cold syrups, hair restorer, tonics, balsams and the first commercial
‘anti smoking’ cure in Australia. This was a clear tasteless liquid and the effect of just one teaspoonful, taken in the morning, would last all day.
If a smoker tried to light a cigarette, cigar or pipe, it produced a constant desire to spit. Jordan’s Cough Elixir was another well known Trouchet speciality.
His travels to the United States had introduced Alex to soda fountains,
so in addition to the pharmaceutical dispensaries he created a soda fountain and ice cream parlour at his Perth shop. This brought in a new customer base with many children seeking out the pleasures of his products.
Whilst still reflecting on those
past times, it is also interesting to remember that in most households the bathroom medicine cabinet was crammed with a collection
of things in blue glass bottles, or little cardboard boxes. Names like
mercurochrome solution, iodine paint, Bates’ Salve or boracic acid, intermingled with Holloway’s Ointment and Pills, or Parrot Brand Eucalyptus Oil, and there was
always the castor oil and the Enos. Sometimes there would be quaint little ceramic pots or medicine bottles bearing a personal brand. Alex’s various brands of products featured prominently amongst those. Only
a few pharmacists could afford the prestige of having such containers for their nostrums, but those who did knew full well the benefits that this form of advertising brought to their businesses.
Alex Trouchet was one such man,
a man who typified the robust entrepreneurs of his day. He was
a man born before his time, his foresight and ambition and his flair for marketing and promotion saw him become the owner of the state’s largest pharmaceutical business. Alex also operated a second pharmacy in Barrack Street in Perth with an all female staff who concentrated their trade to the betterment of women’s ailments. A very modern concept for that period.
Although busy with all his pharmacies, which were now in the hands of good management, Alex had time to pursue his other interests.
Alex had trained as a pharmacist
in South Melbourne, and in the mid 1920s he became involved in supporting the transfer of good Western Australian cricketers to the South Melbourne Cricket Club,
so that they could compete in the national competition and hopefully graduate to the national team. In one season there were five West Australians in the South Melbourne team, and so they were nicknamed ‘the Swans’ after the Western Australian state emblem. This name was subsequently transferred to the South Melbourne football team and, of course, to Sydney when the team transferred there.
By the mid 1920s Alex Trouchet was one of Western Australia’s leading businessmen, and his good name
and reputation were of the utmost importance to him and so it was with that confidence that he promoted
the new electroculture invention, the rights to which he had purchased from Monsieur Justin Christofleau. This invention was designed to improve agricultural produce growth.
Alex Trouchet gave a personal guarantee with a ‘money back offer’, and being just prior to the great depression, this was to be the catalyst that sent Alex’s finances into decline, and subsequently forced him to sell all his assets to meet the debts. First the landholdings (with the exception of the Kojonup farm) and then the pharmacies were sold with nothing left in the kitty. The Trouchet
family went to work and live on the Kojonup farm in the latter stages of the decline of Alex’s fortunes in 1930.
After two years of farm life, in 1932 the cosmopolitan natured Alex (at age 62) returned to Kalgoorlie to make
a fresh start and he leased a shop in Hannan Street, but his health began to deteriorate. His friend and brother in law, Burt Elliot visited Alex and stayed to help him out. He took over the running of the pharmacy which grew and prospered with the support of Jim Allen, a young qualified pharmacist. Alex returned to Perth where he died in 1934 aged 64 years.
During my early years in Perth it was surprising to find our uncommon French name was well known in Perth. Many people related to me stories of their childhood enjoying ice creams and sodas at Trouchet’s corner, and hearing the tales that Alex was only too happy to tell.
His natural charm and courteous manner made him one of the most popular pharmacists in Perth and he always had a kindly word or a small gift of a sample perfume or soap for the children of the mothers who came from afar by tram and train
to have Mr Trouchet dispense their prescriptions.
My grandfather was a man of many talents, and was truly a remarkable man.
volume 5 no 36 FEBRUARY 2009
Pharmacy History Australia 9