Page 21 - Pharmacy History 37 Nov 2009

Lester Cashen OAM MPS PhC
An address to the National Australian Pharmacy Students Association (NAPSA) Congress 2009 Perth, Western Australia
By Geoff Miller BPharm FPS
Pharmacy, like medicine and the other health sciences has its great men and women, and this is part of the story of one of our home grown Aussie pharmacy heroes Lester Gerald Cashen, who was an inspirational pharmacist in more ways than one.
Lester Gerald Cashen
Scattered among the records of the many activities currently undertaken by NAPSA and the state student bodies you will come across the name Lester Cashen, known to all as Les. He was one of the post World War
II student leaders seeking better educational programs and conditions for pharmacy apprentices, based on their experiences with the prevailing course of study.
His name lives on today in the memorial fund established by the Pharmacy Alumni Association of the University of Sydney to support students from around Australia attending national and international student meetings.
This award is known as the Les Cashen Pharmacy Student Travel Fund, the aim of which is to fulfil his passion for fostering and encouraging interactions between pharmacy students world wide.
Another trophy which bears his name is awarded to the constituent organisation of NAPSA that displays the most spirit and enthusiasm during the week of congress.
There are many stories that abound about this man but we only have time to look at two of them, Les Cashen the pharmacist and the Very Reverend Father Lester Gerald Cashen AOM, administrator and parish priest.
Les Cashen,
pharmacist
At a time when Australia had become totally involved in World War II, young Les Cashen made the decision to study pharmacy at the University of Sydney as pharmacists were in short supply.
During the war years pharmacy was classed as a reserved occupation and a special ‘release’ was required before a pharmacist could enlist in the armed forces.
Even so, many pharmacists did volunteer for service and this eventually led to pharmacists being manpowered to ensure the home front was being provided for.
Some students also deferred their apprenticeships to enlist and sadly, quite a few students’ names appear on war memorials around the country.
In February 1942, Les Cashen was indentured to Dr Ronald Tottenham, a councilor of the Pharmaceutical Society of NSW and proprietor of a small pharmacy at Bondi. Les passed his final examination in December 1946 at his first attempt and was registered with the Pharmacy Board of NSW in January 1947. He maintained his registration for the rest of his life.
Australian pharmacy chronicler, Gregory Haines. gives us some insight into the state of pharmacy education and training in NSW during and immediately after the cessation of World War II in his book The grains and three’pennorths of pharmacy, which traces the history of pharmacy in NSW from 1788 to 1976.
In those early days pharmacy apprentices had little time to fraternise at university, having to return to the shop where they worked as soon as their lectures and practical classes were concluded.
Most of them suffered from a rigid master-servant relationship with employers, many of whom regarded the University with suspicion and discouraged them from taking
an interest in pharmaceutical organisations.
However, the immediate post-
war generations of students were given added maturity by the presence, in their midst, of returned servicemen who were studying under Commonwealth Repatriation training schemes. These men, older, experienced and often married, were highly motivated and were less likely to be intimidated by an overbearing employer.
In NSW the first documented pharmacy student society at the University of Sydney had been formed in the 1920s and it existed largely because of the support of academics. It was revived again in the early years of WWII and it began to stand on its own feet even though the number of students actively involved was necessarily small.
The students maintained each others’ enthusiasm and through their magazine Mortar they created
volume 5 no 37 NOVEMBER 2009
Pharmacy History Australia 21