Collection of three court judgements in appeals by seven persons refused registration for the practice of optometry by the Registration under Section 8 of the Victorian Optometrists Act of 1935
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Catalogue Number: 2707
Collection of three court judgements in appeals by seven persons refused registration for the practice of optometry by the Registration under Section 8 of the Victorian Optometrists Act of 1935
Category: Papers
Sub-Category: Optometry Registration Board papers
Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1937
Time Period: 1900 to 1939
Description Of Item: Three transcripts of judgements made in the County Court of Victoria in appeals by persons refused registration for the practice of optometry by the Opticians Registration Board under Section 8 of the Act, one dated February 16, 1937, one dated March 11 1937 and the third undated but seemingly from the same period. There were a total of seven appellants in the three cases. Four were chemists who had prior to the Registration Act of 1935 practised optometry as a 'sideline'. Two were opticians from South Australia who only occasionally practised in Victoria. All the appeals were dismissed but in one, the Judge found that the appellant Mr FW Every was entitled to submit himself to examination under Section 8(b) of the Act.
Historical Significance: This file holds the outcomes of the court appeals of seven applicants against the decision of the Registration Board not to register them. See Cat Nos. 888, 889, 895, 1311 and 1406 for related material. The practice of optometry was not regulated in the State of Victoria until the Opticians Registration Act was passed by the Victorian Parliament in December 1935. Before that date anyone could practise optometry regardless of their qualifications to do so. Some had obtained the Fellowship of the Victorian Optical Association (FVOA) that was first offered in 1913 and a few had obtained Fellowship of the Spectacle Makers Company in London or the Fellowship of the British Optical Association. A few had obtained training by correspondence from an American College of Optometry. Others had been mentored by their optometrical employer or private tutors and had acquired experience 'on the job'. Some chemists, watchmakers and jewellers practised optometry as a sideline, sometimes with little training. When the Registration Act was passed formal qualifications (FVOA, FSMC, FBOA etc) were recognised and under Section 8 of the Act optometrists who could show they had at least five years of continuous practice of optometry in Victoria were also registered. Section 8 read 'Any person who within six months after the commencement of this Act applies to be registered as a optician under this Act shall be entitled to be so registered if such person produces evidence satisfactory to the Board that immediately prior to the commencement of this Act such person had been continuously and bone fide engaged in Victoria for not less than five years in the practice of optometry either as a principal or as an employee of an optician or opticians or partly as such an employe and partly as a principal: Provided that any person who applies to be registered under this section shall be entitled to be so registered if such person-( a) produces evidence satisfactory to the Board that he has been bond fide engaged in Victoria for not less than three years in the practice of optometry as a principal or as an employe of an optician or opticians or partly as such an employe and partly as a principal; and (b) passes to the satisfaction of the Board a reasonable practical test of his competence to practise optometry.' In 1936 after the Act were 489 applications for registration of whom only 25% had formal qualifications. Of the 489 persons who applied only 286 were registered,
Condition: Good
Location: Archive office. Pamphlet and ephemera filing cabinet. Drawer 6
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