Page 37 - Pharmacy History 37 Nov 2009

HC Dyte’s Pharmacy, Caulfield
David Lumsden
Henry Charles Dyte graduated as
a pharmaceutical chemist in 1902, number 1334 on the Victorian Register. He had four children, Colin who became a medical practitioner, daughters Rae and Dorothy,
both pharmacists and Alan who commenced his pharmacy career apprenticed to his father in 1938. Alan, aged 19 in 1940 enlisted in the RAAF, rose to the rank of Sergeant- Pilot and after training in Rhodesia was killed in action in Libya in 1942.
Henry was the son of a Victorian railways officer who, in 1902, was the resident station-master at Essendon. Henry soon became a pharmacy owner by purchasing the long- established pharmacy of J Barnes in Queensberry St North Melbourne. He left this pharmacy after only
two years and, in 1908, started a
new resident pharmacy in High St Northcote.
He became a well-known member
of the community and after nearly 30 years transferred to a recently built corner shop in Hawthorn Road, Caulfield. The new premises were chosen with the future of his family in mind. The shop area was, for that time, considered to be very large, the residence was spacious with three bedrooms and the building,
a landmark of the period included seven shops with residences and three lock-up shops.
HC Dyte’s Pharmacy opened on 21 February 1937 and in the first three days he dispensed eight prescriptions. Twelve months later he was averaging 15 prescriptions each weekday.
As for most pharmacies before 1950, the dispensary occupied approximately half the floor area. There was also a small optical room where Mr Dyte continued the optical practice he had commenced in Northcote. The proximity to Caulfield racecourse influenced
This pharmacy was opened in Japarit, Victoria in about 1890 by WT Browne. This is an historical relic from a reproduction of a photograph that hung in the office of FC Kent, Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria. (From Australasian Journal of Pharmacy Dec 31, 1956.)
volume 5 no 37 NOVEMBER 2009
Pharmacy History Australia 37
him to specialise in veterinary medicine, not unusual for a pharmacy of the
time, but Mr Dyte’s stock was exceptional. When the pharmacy was sold in 1959 there was a large stock of laxative horse-balls in various sizes and
a wide range of dog medicines. and many veterinary reference books such as the Chemist & Druggist series, The Chemist- Optician (1908) and Veterinary Counter Practice (1937) as well as the fascinating The Druggist’s General Receipt Book.
Henry died suddenly in 1942, less than three months after Alan’s death and the business was continued by his daughter Rae Diamond and her sister Dorothy Perry who passed her final
Theatre slide, Dyte’s Pharmacy
examination soon afterwards.
The pharmacy continued to operate from 1959 until the building was demolished in 1994. In spite of the relatively brief life of this family pharmacy, in its 57 years it was operated by only two families.