Visitors to Childers in recent months have smashed previous numbers for paid tours of the Old Pharmacy Museum.
Scott Stedman, local history buff and volunteer coordinator at the Old Pharmacy, said that while Covid-19 requirements restricted numbers into the premises, figures for December and January for paid tours to the pharmacy museum had skyrocketed.
“Comparable figures from the previous years showed a massive leap of more than 400 per cent,” he said.
“December 2019 and January 2020 saw just 28 and 29 paid tours respectively while December last year and January this year recorded 129 and 124 visitors taking the paid tour.
“Due to the confined space of the Old Pharmacy we can only cater to three people or a family group at any time so numbers actually coming into the building did fall by around 300 from the almost 2000 people recorded for the same months in 2019-20.
“However, the great outcome was an ability to convert many of those visitors into paying customers for the museum tour.”
Mr Stedman said the Old Pharmacy boasted one of the best collections of early pharmacy equipment in Australia and paid tours assisted in maintaining the quality of the exhibition.
“We have a very dedicated group of 15 volunteers who man the premises on roster and undertake roles in assisting to curate the collection.”
He said to date approximately 3000 items had been measured, photographed and recorded.
“The Old Pharmacy continues to accept new acquisitions from the public to add to its extensive range of pharmaceutical and dental items.
“Unfortunately space restrictions mean we need to be quite picky about what we can accept into the existing collection,” he said.
Mr Stedman said the Old Pharmacy was run under the auspices of the Isis District Historical Society which preserved and displayed a rich collection of heritage buildings and items at the Historical Complex in Taylor Street.
Society president Brian Bouchardt said the jump in visitor numbers at the Old Pharmacy had also been replicated a the Historical Complex.
“People are finding they have the time to explore the history of the Childers District and its been great to wecome tour groups as well as plenty of passing visitors.”
Mr Stedman said he was actively seeking interest from local artisans interested in displaying their work on a consignment basis at the Old Pharmacy.
Mr Stedman can be contacted on 0490 818 295.
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