Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from January, 2013

Martin Ernst - a Pharmacist's Apprentice

It seems that although my focus is the work of Olga Ernst, divergent pathways appear that fascinate and compel me to investigate a little! Martin Ernst, Olga's uncle, also emigrated and for some time lived in Melbourne becoming apprenticed to his brother Theodor (Olga's father) as a chemist.  Although Renee at the Lutheran Archives alerted me to the fact that Theodor had a brother, I received confirmation from a descendant in South Australia.  Julius Theodor Ernst (known as Theodor) was one of a number of chemists, trained at the University of Liepzig, who entered the colony of Victoria in the decades after 1850. A member of the Prussian Reserve as a pharmacist he was proud of his profession.  The Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria was established in 1857 while twenty years later, in 1876, the Pharmacy and Poisons Act set professional standards. A Pharmacy Board was established in 1877, one of its tasks to establish a register of pharmacists.  Concern with the issue of differ