Serving community and sharing knowledge

IN the 1950s, Clarendon Presbyterian Ladies College student Helen Eyres could often be seen riding her bike from the Mair Street campus to Sturt Street’s Ballarat College.

Then Helen Gear, she regularly visited the boys’ school to study chemistry and physics, with aspirations to become a pharmacist like her encouraging father, her uncle, and herbalist grandfather.

This family tradition and their local business, Gear’s Pharmacies always captured her interest.

“From a very early age, I went to the pharmacy with my father, and I just loved doing that. It was second nature to study pharmacy,” she said.

In 1966, Mrs Eyres graduated from the Victorian College of Pharmacy, picking up a position at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Travelling to London, she worked at the University College and Hammersmith hospitals.

At the end of 1969, Mrs Eyres was drawn back to Ballarat to be part of Gear’s Pharmacies. In 1972, she became a partner.

The brand was sold in the mid-90s, so Mrs Eyres returned to “rewarding” hospital pharmacy. At St John of God Hospital she trained as an oncology pharmacist, working on the cancer ward and preparing chemotherapy treatments.

Going back to retail pharmacy in 1999, she worked at UFS Dispensaries until retirement in 2015, mentoring students and “sharing knowledge.”

The next year, she became a life member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

Mrs Eyres enjoyed her working life and said pharmacy’s a “wonderful” career-path women should explore.

“I had an interest in the science, but I really liked working with people. In the pharmacy, you have great interactions with a lot of people across all walks of life,” she said.

Born and bred in Ballarat, Mrs Eyres grew up in a “community minded” home.

“Learning to contribute to community, during my school years I became a Queen’s Guide. Guiding had a very big influence on my life,” she said.

Since her Guides days, Mrs Eyres has had a strong “desire to be of service to the community” behind the scenes.

The Zonta Club of Ballarat is celebrating this attitude, having named her one of Ballarat’s Great Women for 2021.

Mrs Eyres has been a member of the Club for 20 years. She’s also part of the Rotary Inner Wheel Club of Wendouree, where she is a passionate raiser of funds for cord blood research.

“I’ve always enjoyed the hands-on work of Zonta’s service committee; the breast cushion project, supplying toiletry bags to Berry Street, and making birthing kits,” she said.

“I enjoy collaborating with other women… to advance the status of women.

“Embrace all opportunities to be of service to your community. It’s important to draw on your strengths and share your knowledge.”