Peter Reade: Elizabeth Fanning[105] in South Australia did enormous work in school tuckshops in Adelaide over a considerable time, about 20 years ago. Time after time, she explained that if they bought and sold healthy food, it would benefit children’s teeth.

Unfortunately there was only one of her and numerous industry reps who pressed the point that it was simpler and more profitable to have pre-packaged foods.

Now in the latest craze of food handling certificates, I can run a tuckshop provided everything is pre-packaged. But if I provide a sandwich I need a food handling certificate, and so does everyone else in the place, and I need a toilet within 20 feet and a basin within two feet, and a screen to prevent the dust getting in. Regulations for our safety have made it harder to provide good food in our tuckshops.

Mike Morgan: Tony Storey was heavily involved in recommendations for tuckshop reform in this state.

Pat Storey: Yes, he did a lot of work with some success.

Mike Morgan: Yes, he influenced tuckshop policy. When I arrived in Melbourne, I recall that was one of his major thrusts.

Henry Atkinson: It started with the Dental Hospital Annual Meeting in about 1957 when there was a huge feed of cream-cakes. We – I think it was the Superintendent Bill Smith, the Hospital Secretary and me - decided that at the next meeting there would be plain biscuits. That was fine but it only lasted for one meeting. The members wouldn’t stand it. Then it worked up to the tuck-shops.

Hector Orams: When I was in private practice, the Australian Dental Association had a program going in which various members occasionally gave a prepared lecture to local schools and kindergartens. You gave a lecture once a month in your own area.

Garry Pearson: It’s part of Dental Health Week, the first week of August. Apart from oral care, which is the lead story, nutrition remains one of the other main themes.

Dental Health Services Victoria has done an outstanding job on its Donate a Day Campaign which involves various dental health care professionals giving those same sorts of lectures to school groups and others. That’s been running in the last few years. So the tradition hasn’t been lost.

Witness to the History of Australian Medicine