Historical Society - Chemists in Barraba

CHEMISTS IN BARRABA

 Richard Blackall Snr. was chemist in Barraba for many years.  His wife was Louisa Gertrude, nee Sinclair, and it appears they married in 1879.  From various records, the family - William, Louisa, John, Richard, Harry and Horace - were all born at Wallabadah so they probably arrived in Barraba in the 1890s.

The early chemist shop was apparently on the eastern side of Queen Street and the family lived on the opposite side of the street behind the row of shops.  Richard Blackall was the grandmaster of the Barraba Masonic Club in 1912/13.

When World War I began, several of the Blackall sons joined up and Richard and Louisa left Barraba to live in Sydney by 1916.  It seems that Harry Nicholson Blackall, 5th son, took over the old chemist shop in the main street when his father left and then built the new shop on the corner of Queen and Alice Streets, possibly around 1920.

Gordon Mallam opened a pharmacy in the old chemist shop that Harry had vacated, about 1929.  Don Coote came to relieve him in 1930 and then took over the business and so the building where the Back Packers are, was a chemist shop for many years.

Later Don Coote moved the business across the street to a small shop next to Clifton’s Garage.  The shop proved to be too small and so he converted two shops north of the Monterey Café (Peter and Con’s Bootmakers and George Booth’s Butcher’s Shop) to become the Chemist Shop today.  Incidentally, when the Coote family sold the chemist shop early in the 2000’s, the resulting renovations exposed the tiled wall of the old butcher’s shop.  The tiles are still there on the northern wall covered up by the new ‘fit out’.

Harry Nicholson Blackall ran the Chemist shop for many years until his passing on the 21st January 1949 at the age of 61 years.  The chemist shop was then sold to Ken Stanton who moved the shop up the street north into the next block.  The business closed after about ten years and the stock was sold to D.J. Coote and Son.  The Gillies family moved their clothing business into the shop.

The old Blackall shop, on the street corner, remained empty for quite a while before it became the town library for some years.  Later it was empty until a local bus proprietor and his family moved into the residence.  It is now a family home.