It’s a familiar sight in today’s pharmacies and supermarkets – but there were never plans for to become a major mover and shaker in the supplements industry. An English immigrant that arrived in Australia in 1923, Maurice Blackmore decided to go down the path of natural health due to his own ailments. Today Blackmores is a world leader in the dietary supplements business and is Australia’s largest natural healthcare company.
After studying naturopathy and undertaking a chiropractor course, Maurice began a sanatorium in Rockhampton in 1934. He then developed an interest in mineral therapy,” says son Marcus who took over as chairman of the company when his father retired in 1973. He absolutely believed that the future of all healing largely relies on minerals. He spent a lifetime studying minerals.”
Due to his belief in the health properties of herbs and minerals, Maurice developed a whole system of healthcare based on naturopathic principles. His views on natural health, preventive medicine, the environment and recycling were way ahead of his time and helped mould the industry to what it is today.
Maurice Blackmore.
Maurice was responsible for launching Australia’s first health food store in Brisbane in 1938 and also started up the first naturopathy college in the country. He started the naturopathy colleges because a lot of his patients said, ‘I’ve been to five doctors and you’ve cured me. I’m really interested in what you do, will you teach me?’,” reveals Marcus.
Blackmores Laboratories.
The first colleges in the 1950s were made up of mostly ex-patients. These ex-patients then opened a number of clinics around Queensland during the 50s and 60s which they called Blackmores. To buy his minerals, you had to attend his colleges. The minerals that he sold were called Celloids – which the company still sells today.
Over time he started treating people – he treated a pharmacist from Inverell and the pharmacist said, ‘I’d like to stock some of this product in my shop’ and my dad said, ‘Well, you can do that if you want to!’ So we started in the retail business,” says Marcus. Blackmores started supplying health food shops in the 60s to 70s. There was a concerted effort by the company to supply health food shops and then in turn pharmacies – which have become their biggest market.
Blackmores Vitamin A tablets.
In 1973, Marcus joined the board of directors. Having been brought up with the naturopathic health philosophy his whole life and having not done too well at science at University, Marcus decided to try his hand at helping out in the family business. Despite being fired by his father three times, Maurice sent Marcus a letter while he was at war from 1968 to 1970 asking him to return to the business.
It was something I always wanted to do but it’s not easy working for your father at times,” reveals Marcus. In hindsight it’s probably a good thing I got the sack. I went off and worked at Johnson & Johnson at one stage, I worked in a boat yard another time. I went out and got jobs elsewhere and some of the time I couldn’t get a job. So I knew what it was like to be unemployed.” The two had put aside any differences before Maurice passed away in 1977.
Marcus Blackmore hard at work.
The company has experienced many achievements since it first started selling products, but going public is not one of them for Marcus. You might expect me to say becoming a public company in 1985 – but I don’t see that as a highlight, I just saw that as a natural progression at the time for a growing company.” Instead, he counts a major highlight was the time when they fought and beat the Federal Government against a proposal to put in a new standard for vitamins that would probably have led to them being on prescription.
Other milestones for Blackmores includes developing the Asian business, being one of the first companies to introduce superannuation on the factory floor, profit sharing schemes, the building of a new factory at Warriewood three years ago, and changing packaging. Going to glass packaging was one of the biggest decisions I’ve made. We were a small company in those days. I just felt it was more quality. I went to the United States and went to the trade shows and nobody was in glass – they were in lookalike glass! It looked like glass in all the magazines I’d read and I thought, ‘Strewth, have I made the right decision?’ It’s now 30 or 40 years later, and I still think I made the right decision.”
Blackmores Mallow-Herb Beauty Soap
But it’s not always been smooth sailing. On the negative side – one of the worst times in our corporate life was the PAN crisis back in 2003 when the Government shut down the biggest supplier of vitamins in Australia at the time -PAN Pharmaceuticals,” says Marcus. The company was shut down over a drug which caused reaction, not complimentary medicine. They had no evidence that the complimentary medicines were causing any harm, but such is the prejudice against natural health products that the TGA at the time shut it down against the advice of an expert committee.”
Despite this set-back, the company continues to steadily grow - with last year seeing Australia record 3 per cent growth in sales and Asia posting a 25 to 30 per cent increase. Consumer demand is getting stronger and stronger. I think we’ve got a bright future provided we can run the business properly – and that’s always a challenge for every business,” Marcus concludes.
