Page 11 - Pharmacy History 29 Nov 2006

Red Cross pharmacies
By Geoff Miller
Why did some chemists in days gone by use the name “Red Cross Pharmacy” together with a symbolic cross?
Was this a precursor of chemist groups like AMCAL?
Can any reader help with more information about “Red Cross” Pharmacies? Any information or pictures, will be very helpful.
The earliest ‘Red Cross Pharmacy’ that we have discovered was opened in the West Australian provincial town of Geraldton in 1894 by Mr RW Greville who came from Victoria.1
Greville eventually sold the pharmacy to Mr Charles Conway, who retained the name as well as the range of household remedies labelled with
the Maltese cross. A very prominent advertisement on the exterior wall of the premises featured ‘Red Cross Eucalyptus Oil’. Displays of other products can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of this interior photo. (central photo)
The next pieces
in the puzzle come from
South Australia, and the first is a dispensary bottle from the ‘Red Cross Pharmacy’ established in Port Pirie by Mr JJ Netting in the mid 1890s.
The bottle bears the more common cross style, and the other details are boldly embossed in the glass.
The bottle itself was made in the USA by Whitall Tatum & Co, and the base has the W.T.Co brand, together with the patent date Sept 11th 1894.2
This magnificent pharmacy façade photographed around 1933 at Hamley Bridge in South Australia shows that the Maltese Cross and ‘Red Cross Pharmacy’ were still in use at that time. The proprietor, Mr BS Berry,
broke out it had become a small farming centre, and the pharmacy was combined with the general store.
was very keen on professional service
and in 1931 he had addressed a large
meeting of chemists in Sydney on
the role and responsibilities of the References pharmacist in matters of public health.
He later moved interstate and in 1939 he became President of the Pharmacy Board of New South Wales.3
Hamley Bridge in its heyday had been an important railway town as the break of gauge gave employment to over 150 men. But by the time WWII
1. Alan McWhinney. A History of Pharmacy in Western Australia. 1975. Pharmaceutical Council of W.A.
2. The Australian Bottle & Collectables Review Oct/Nov/Dec 2004. Whittlesea, Victoria.
3. Gregory Haines. The Grains and Threepenn’orths of Pharmacy”1976. Pharmaceutical Society of NSW.
4. Australasian Journal of Pharmacy, June 30 1939. pps 569-570.
volume 3 ■ no 25 ■ March 2005
Pharmacy History Australia ■ 11