Young pharmacist, William Owen Judge, began advertising ‘Mythol’, a tooth cleaning and refreshing product that ‘hardens the gums and destroys bacteria’ in July 1899.
On 9 March 1901, his trademark of the word ‘Mythol’ for a tooth powder was approved.
Three years later he registered Barnett and Judge Chemist/Dentist of Burrowa Street Young and WO Judge of Albury Street Murrumburrah, as the official addresses for the Mythol tooth powder.
By 1905, the product was also available at chemists in Sydney and Newcastle.
The Young Historical Museum now has two examples of the metal boxes that housed this product, one of which was recently donated by Barry Snelson.
William Judge was born in Canterbury, New Zealand, to William George Judge and his wife Julia Ann née Daley in 1869.
The family later migrated to Australia and William Owen qualified as a Pharmacist in April 1892.
By November 1893, he and Keith Leslie Barnett opened a pharmacy in Burrowa Street, where teeth were also extracted.
Despite Barnett moving to Queensland in 1897, the business continued to trade as Barnett and Judge.
In 1895, William married Lillian Annie Saunders at Young and they had four children.
By January 1902, William James Arthur was assisting Judge in his pharmacy at Young.
Judge then operated the pharmacy at Murrumburrah from 1906 until 1917, before returning to Young in 1918.
The next year, he and Lillian purchased the land and building on which Judge’s Pharmacy was situated (now 151 Boorowa Street).
A modern glass front was installed in 1924.
In 1926, Stan Tottenham began to work for Judge at the pharmacy and was employed there until 1940 when Tottenham began his war service.
Tottenham bought the pharmacy from Judge in 1945 when he returned from the war.
Judge had other interests outside of his pharmacy, including mining for gold on his property on Quartz Reef Hill from 1910.
He and his family also invested in land around Young.
His son Charles Saunders Judge, took up land at Tubbul as a Soldier Settler in 1921, calling it ‘Pentland’, but soon moved to Melbourne.
Judge and his wife Lillian ran the property until 1927 when it was sold to Charles Coddington.
Judge donated 100 pounds to the Burrangong District Hospital in 1915 to help them purchase a sterilizer.
He was also a member of Young Golf Club, the Young Town Cricket Club, the P and A Association and the Young School of Arts.
Lillian died at their home on Edwards Street in 1951, while William eventually moved to Sydney.
He died at age 93 at a rest home in Mosman, in 1962.
John Hamblin, Pharmaceutical Chemist Owners at Young 1861-2020 (2024) was the main source for this article.
Karen Schamberger - Young Historical Society