Letter from A Knapp, President of the Western Australian Optical Association to HC Spencer Hon Sec Victorian Optical Association

Historical Significance: August Knapp, born 1873 in Manchester UK, was very active in Australian optometric politics. He migrated to Australia at the age of 8 and worked for Brisbane optometrists Flavelle Bros and Roberts. He followed a fellow optometrist at the Brisbane optometry firm to set up practice with him in Perth in 1897. Reportedly he was then one of only 3 optometrists in WA. He founded the Western Australian Optical Association in 1916 and was its president for many years. He was an active participant in the formation of the federal AOA but because of his firm views on several matters including education of optometrists and the need to restrain advertising by optometrists. He made it difficult for the State Associations to agree on a constitution for the Federal body. He walked out of the 10th national conference in 1930 and took the WA Optical Association with him. Some regarded the AOA at the time as having no purpose and unworkable. This letter is a response by him to an invitation to attend the National conference in 1934 and reiterates his stance on advertising. It is interesting that ethics was an important issue in these early years of the national association. A code of ethics was agreed on at the 1918 meeting. See Cat No 926, 928 and 974. The drive to establish optometry as a profession was very strong and restraint in advertising was seen as one of the marks of a profession.