125 Stories for 125 Years

Eric Scott

Sir Eric Scott was one of the founders and a long time president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, he was also a president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria.

Sir Eric was a former amateur heavyweight boxing champion of Victoria and a league footballer. His early working life was full of adventure and variety. He was at one time a jackeroo, pearl diver, cane cutter and a successful businessman, apart from his extensive work in pharmacy.

His interest in pharmacy dated from his first marriage, to a pharmacist’s daughter. He was apprenticed to R.J. Poulton of Bourke Street but did not sit for his exams after serving his apprenticeship. Instead he travelled, bought a hotel and took on other jobs. He did not resume professional studies until 1925, passing his final examination in September 1927 and becoming registered the following year. He grasped the essentials of pharmacy with astonishing speed and also showed an aptitude for politics.

In 1928 he took part in the founding of the Pharmacy Guild in Melbourne, which occurred at a mass meeting of pharmacists at the College (then situated in Swanston Street). This meeting was organised by Alexander McGibbony, who became the first Victorian Guild and National Guild president. After McGibbony retired in 1930, Sir Eric was elected Victorian Guild president, and later National Guild president, a position he held from 1947–1971. In 1948, Sir Eric led the Guild’s successful negotiations with the Chifley Government, which recognised the Guild as the sole negotiator for pharmacy under the new national health scheme.

Sir Eric also held the post of president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria from 1955–1960. The college was founded and conducted by the Society until it was administered by a number of higher education organisations in Victoria, culminating in the Monash amalgamation in 1992.

Many important milestones were reached during Sir Eric’s tenure as president. In 1958 the War Memorial Building Appeal was launched to build the new college in Parkville, which opened in 1960. He was personally responsible for obtaining a large financial loan from the Victorian Government for building the new college – the first time it had ever supported the college in such a substantial way. This loan was the basis on which the whole building project was able to go ahead. He commissioned the Sissons mural and ensured that the college was the most modern and best equipped school of pharmacy in Australia at the time. In 1984, one of the buildings at the Parkville campus was named ‘Scott’ in honour of his leadership and contribution to the college and the profession.

Many accolades were published in Australia and overseas on Sir Eric’s retirement in 1971, congratulating him on his significant contribution to the advancement of pharmacy education and pharmaceutical research through his work at the college. A dynamic leader and elder statesman, Sir Eric displayed a spirited and tenacious ability to negotiate through difficult circumstances. His tireless work for the Guild (both in Victoria and nationally) and for the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria distinguished him as an outstanding leader of pharmacy in Australia.