The Young Historical Museum displays an Adana printing machine used in Oscar Taaffe’s pharmacy.
It was donated to the Museum by his wife, Janet, after she sold the business in 1973.
Adana printing machines were manufactured from 1922 to 1999 in Twickenham, England.
William Oscar Taaffe, known as Oscar, was born to William Taaffe and Hedwig Elizabeth Loftberg in Cootamundra in 1905.
The family moved to Sydney and he completed his leaving certificate at Sydney Technical College.
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He became an apprentice at his uncle Oscar Loftberg’s pharmacy in Sydney and passed the Pharmacy Board Final on 1 September 1924.
Taaffe was registered with the Pharmacy Board in 1926 and worked in Sydney, eventually owning a pharmacy at Guildford.
In 1935 he married Jean (Janet) Macarthur Burleigh at St John’s Church, Parramatta.
By January 1939, Taaffe was at Young having bought the pharmacy of James Lynch Gallagher.
Gallagher had rented the premises at 120 Burrowa Street from the family of Andrew Cunich and the arrangement continued with Taaffe.
The Taaffe’s built a brick home at 45 Wombat Street (now 43).
Both of Oscar and Janet’s children were born at Sacred Heart Hospital in Young, Diedre in 1941 and Stephen in 1945.
Oscar’s mother Hedwig, affectionately known as Aunt, also lived with them, doing much of the cooking for the family.
Besides being a pharmacist, Oscar was reputedly ‘Young’s keenest amateur photographer’.
He was a member of the Young Bowling Club and was interested in the amateur theatricals.
He ‘would always be found backstage at concerts, school and other wise, making up the various characters.’
Oscar transferred into the Lodge Burrangong St. John on 16 January 1952.
Oscar unexpectedly died at his home on Wednesday 12 October 1960.
John Hamblin, then at Armidale, was apparently the only registered pharmacist immediately available in NSW, to carry on the pharmacy until a permanent manager could be appointed.
The pharmacy continued to trade as Taaffe’s pharmacy through various managers, including John Hamblin, who offered to buy the business from Taaffe’s widow Janet in 1965.
Janet was not prepared to sell the business at the time, but promised Hamblin the first opportunity when she did decide to sell, which she did in 1972.
Hamblin and his wife Janet took over the business on 1 March 1973.
Janet Taaffe continued to live at 45 Wombat Street for many years before moving to Turramurra in Sydney where she died in 1985.
She is buried with Oscar in Young Cemetery.
The information for this article was sourced from John Hamblin, Pharmaceutical Chemist Owners at Young 1861-2020, 2024 and ‘Funeral of the Late Oscar Taaffe’, Young Witness, Wednesday October 19, 1960, p. 3.
Karen Schamberger – Young Historical Museum
