SA Chapter HALL OF FAME

Web: www.hamiltonlabs.com.au

In the late 1920s, Milton Blake, a young Adelaide chemist, experimented with the production of a sunburn cream in his bedroom at a North Adelaide boarding house. He had read that a substance that was a well-known treatment for burns also absorbed the burning ultra-violet rays of the sun.

With the aid of a kerosene room heater, saucepans for containers and a pair of old-fashioned hand scales, H.A. Milton, as he referred to himself in the early records of the company, attempted to incorporate this substance into a cream base. Many were the failures, but eventually he evolved a process and produced a sunburn preventative cream.  The formula was tested by Professor Kerr Grant at the University of Adelaide and was found to offer ultraviolet protection. This started the company, which was first registered in November 1932.  The initial batches were made in the kitchen of the family home in Grange Road , Hawthorn by Milton and his friends. In 1942, the business moved to the former St Paul ’s School buildings in Flinders Street , Adelaide .

Milton ’s son Richard, a Chemistry graduate from the University of Adelaide , joined the company in 1963 and, after Milton retired, took over as Managing Director in 1977.

Hamilton developed a strong business with generic medicines during the 1950s, but with the new era of patented drugs and antibiotics, the older generics were becoming less prescribed. So the company decided to develop the early Broad Spectrum sunscreens.

Hamilton ’s technical developments produced some of the early very high SPF sunscreens (the Quadblock range) early 1990s. The company became the first in Australia (and probably the world) to be granted approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia for a label claim for Hamilton Optimal Sunscreen to say it helps reduce immune suppression caused by sun or UV exposure and released the new product for the 2006/07 summer. Hamilton continues to fund research into better sunscreens at the University of Adelaide .

The company now includes research, formulation/development, manufacturing and marketing of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products.  These include a range of sunscreens for every purpose – a dry and itchy skin range, ear, nose and throat products, and other over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Hamilton ’s own national sales force calls on pharmacy and medical professionals throughout Australia with a network of distributors in approximately forty-five countries to grow its export sales.

Hamilton remains privately owned.  The third generation of the Blake family has senior managerial roles. In early July 2007, both sons, Michael, a science graduate, and Stewart, an engineer graduate assumed the positions of Joint Managing Directors with specific areas of responsibility, while Richard remains active as Chairman.

Following renovations in the early 1990s, Hamilton ’s heritage listed bluestone building in Flinders Street has a modern interior thereby reflecting the blend of modern science with traditional values.

Hamilton Labs were inducted into the FBA(SA) Hall of Fame in 2007.