125 stories for 125 years

Marie Daley

Marie Daley (nee Murphy) attended the college from 1939 to 1942. Born in December 1922, she grew up in Kew, attending secondary college in East Melbourne.

Matriculating just prior to turning 16, having done mathematics, chemistry, Latin and languages, she then embarked on her pharmacy apprenticeship at R.G. Francis Pharmacy in Howey Place, off Little Collins Street.

In her first year, classes were a half day and evening. The apprenticeship entailed a busy week, which included working Friday night and Saturday morning. Wages started at five shillings, rising to 30 shillings on completion. Much of the learning was hands on in the dispensary with the resident pharmacist. The owner, R.G.Francis, was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Australian Air Force.

In fourth year, students attended classes every morning. Marie thought she was lucky that her work placement was in the city, as many other students had to travel out to the suburbs. On numerous occasions she had to run through the city lanes to Rocke’s, Sigma or Felton’s (the warehouse suppliers) to pick up a prescription while the customer waited.

Being a keen student, Marie enjoyed the challenge of learning and she has many fond memories of her apprenticeship. Life long friendships were established at the college, with Edith Gamble (nee Martin), Adrienne Huddleston (nee Fisher), Nance Hartley (neeMooney), Marj McDonald (nee Bennett) and Pat Grant (also at R.G.Francis), and are still going strong. They had many a lark and Marie vividly remembers the disdaining look of a passing lecturer who caught her tossing two-up coins for a bit of fun, though they were not gambling!

The war brought American soldiers to Melbourne in their stylish uniforms, creating quite a bit of competition for the local Aussie soldiers in drab khaki. It was an exciting time with the Yanks in town, and although ‘brown-outs’ were frequent, Marie was still able to travel by tram into the city for work, classes and dances.

Marie recounts that some pharmacy items become scarce during this time. Penicillin was only available for US Army patients at the just-built Royal Melbourne Hospital, which had been commandeered by the Americans. The US Army had first use of the new hospital building and also took over the Australian Army barracks in St Kilda Road.

The wife of the dean of the college organised parcels and letters to be sent to pharmacists who enlisted for active duty. Marie wrote to an officer telling him local news and how her studies were going. A letter he sent back to her while he was stationed in Israel described in vivid detail the view looking down from the Mount of the Beatitudes to the Sea of Galilee, with surrounding wild flowers blooming in abundance. Recalling his letter, Marie travelled to the exact location in 1985 and was able to enjoy the beauty he had described.

Although Marie completed her pharmacy certificate at 20, she was not able to graduate before 21, so she stayed on at R.G. Francis for another year. She then came under the Manpower Program, which utilised women in traditionally male jobs while men were at war. Marie was assigned to various chemists’ shops throughout Melbourne and Victoria as a relief pharmacist, for short stints of a few weeks or months.

Marie explained that things were done differently in those days. Pills were hand made by mixing up the prescribed amount of drug, then adding the firming agent extract of Glycyrrhiz Liq. The mixture was rolled out onto a board coated with talcum powder to give the pills gloss when polished.

In 1947 Marie went to Queensland for three months on a working holiday and on her return she took a permanent position at Bennett’s Pharmacy in Balaclava. During this period she married Jack Daley, a returned prisoner of war, one of ‘Weary’ Dunlop’s 1000. As a prisoner of the Japanese,  Jack worked under Weary in rudimentary jungle hospitals as well as on the notorious Thailand–Burma Railway.

Times were often tough financially and Marie was always grateful for her pharmacy qualification, as she enjoyed the work and received equal pay. Marie did relieving work at a number of local pharmacies in the Mentone area, enabling her five children to attend local Catholic schools, which at that time did not receive government funding.

Marie thoroughly enjoyed her years as a pharmacy apprentice. She found the teachers to be good and the work interesting. In her final year, the dean taught her class chemistry and her assignment came back from him with the comment ‘a model of clarity and a pleasure to correct’.