Page 5 - Pharmacy History 29 July 2006

They found that Tawell was ‘qualified to act as an apothecary’ and they gave him a certificate of qualification to compound and dispense medicines. Tawell was quick to update his advertising message by saying that he ‘now held a certificate from a board of medical gentlemen of this colony instituted by command of His Excellency the Governor’.8
Being the astute businessman that
he was, Tawell made a large fortune from shipping, property and other investments.
However, despite his wealth, he never quite became the respectable man
he thought he deserved to be, even among the Society of Friends, or Quakers, he supported.
Whilst he could have been held up
as an example of a convict made good, his downfall came on one of his return visits to England when he was arrested and accused of poisoning a woman who had become his mistress. After a high profile trial he was found guilty and sentenced to pay the ultimate penalty by hanging.
John Tawell was unique in his age, not because he was a pharmaceutical incompetent, but because he had been given credentials. He had also demonstrated that independent pharmacy could thrive on a strictly commercial basis.9
Across Bass Strait private pharmacies were also being established, but
under the precise sway of the medical profession.
Just who opened the first pharmacy in Tasmania is a little unclear, but the majority of researchers seem
to agree that the first chemist shop in Tasmania was established in Launceston by a Michael Bates, who had arrived there in 1829 and is said to have opened his pharmacy about this time.10. He described himself
as a pharmacopolist, (one who sells medicines) and as a ‘Chemist & Druggist’. As was typical of the early colonial pharmacies, his advertising listed his stock of chemicals, galenicals and drugs, as well as veterinary medicines for horses, sheep and cattle.
When Bates died in February 1848, his former assistant, JG Towers, bought the business and five years later it was sold to HD Hatton and Horace Laws. This Pharmacy is still a prominent landmark in Launceston today.
William Cozens was another early Launceston pharmacist who in 1833 opened a fancy goods and sundries business, but before the year was out he had transformed it into a general warehouse for medicines and drugs. There are no records, at least up until 1846, that show that any of these practitioners had any formal training or examination as to their competency. John Wilkinson is usually credited with opening the first pharmacy in Hobart Town in 1832 although a photograph of the building shows the establishment
date as 1830. An explanation for this could be that Wilkinson bought an existing business in Hobart, as one of his early advertisement refers to a Mr F Browne, ‘Chemist and Druggist’, as the previous owner.11
Wilkinson’s arrival in Hobart Town predated the formation of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1841 and so he was not registered in England. He could have been an apprentice or an assistant,
or he may have been self taught, but we don’t know. The business was very successful and when John Wilkinson died in 1885 he left two pharmacies and several other properties. His son and grandson were both chemists and the business remained in the Wilkinson family until 1940, when it was sold.
As all doctors could sell medicines many practised from shop fronts in competition with the chemists and druggists and they also advertised their services.
In 1833, prominent surgeon
Dr William Crowther, was the proprietor of the Hobart Town Public Dispensary in Liverpool Street, about where The Hobart Friendly Society Dispensary Ltd is located today12
In 1837 an Act had been passed to regulate the practice of medicine in Van Diemen’s Land. Amendments were made in 1840 and 1842
and these laws allowed for the licensing of vendors of medicine
after an interview and scrutiny of qualifications by a Court of Medical Examiners, established under the Medical Act.
Continued on page 17
volume 3 ■ no 30 ■ NOVEMBER 2006
Pharmacy History Australia ■ 5
Tawell’s advertising message