Page 20 - Pharmacy History 29 July 2006

Pedimenta of interest
PHARMACY HISTORY AUSTRALIA
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Pharmacy History Australia is distributed three times a year, in March, July and November. Items for inclusion must reach the editor by the closing date at the 30th of the month prior to the publication.
Contributions such as book reviews, original research articles, items of general interest and letters to the editor, should be addressed to:
Mr GC Miller
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NEDLANDS WA 6009 Phone/Fax (08) 9386 6078
email gcmiller@iinet.net.au Business correspondence for the Australian Academy of the History of Pharmacy should be sent to: The Australian Academy of the History of Pharmacy
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This fine building, erected in 1921 in the Northern Tasmanian city of Launceston, in John Street, was once the home of the Launceston United Friendly Society Dispensary.
In its heyday, this dispensary was believed to handle a quarter of the prescriptions in the town, because its membership list entitled 5,000 people to ‘free’ medicine, in a population of 20,000.1
There was also a great deal of animosity between the Launceston Chemists
and the Friendly Society Dispensary, which resulted in a court cases amongst other things, over the issue of the Society Dispensary trading with the general population as well as its members, as it was beyond their charter to do this. When the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme was introduced in Australia, membership of the Friendly Societies dwindled away, and eventually this site in John Street was sold and the Dispensary moved to more modest premises nearby. The stylised Lodge regalia frescoed on the front of the building and the large pestle & mortar on the pediment still remain to remind us of the glory days gone by.
Reference
1 Finch J. Pills, Potions & Politics, PSA Tasmanian Branch, 1991.
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20 ■ Pharmacy History Australia
volume 3 ■ no 30 ■ NOVEMBER 2006