Our Story Since 1946 | Caringbah North Pharmacy

OUR STORY

The first chemist in Caringbah, and still here

In 1946, a young pharmacist named Gerry Coady rented a small shop in a quiet corner of the Sutherland Shire and opened Caringbah's very first pharmacy. Eight decades on, the door is still open.

1946

Year Opened

80 Years

Serving Caringbah

3 Generations of Pharmacists

Our Team

Independent. Locally based. The same people every time you walk in. That continuity is half of what makes good pharmacy care, and we're proud of it.

Prescribing pharmacist and Credentialled Diabetic Educator.

Jennifer Nelson

Pharmacist at Coady's since 1996, and owner since 2003 - most recently steering the move to 90C Cawarra Rd. Outside the pharmacy, you'll find her on the golf course at Woolooware, doting on her granddaughter Grace, or at home with her husband and three daughters.

Pharmacist-in-charge

Anne Zuber

Long term employee. Attended Caringbah Nth primary and Woolooware High (dux) before studying pharmacy. Mother to three boys. (Jack, Matthew and Tom) . Accomplished vaccinator as well.

Pharmacist-in-charge

Rick Rose

Born and bred in Caringbah, attending Caringbah High before studying pharmacy. Three years ago Rick and his wife Karen, sold their long term pharmacy in Panania. Now spends his time golfing, travelling overseas and enjoying his expanding family- three sons and two grandchildren.

Pharmacy Assistant

Alana Featherstone

Final year of Nursing - Wollongong University. Also works part time at Kareena hospital and is looking forward to becoming a registered nurse by 2028.

Pharmacy Assistant

Isabella Rios

Notre Dame law student, lives locally and attended Woolooware High 2020-2025. Previous employee of Hair Antics.

Dispensary Assistant

Alex Naseri

Accomplished florist who also spent 10 years flying with Virgin Airways. Currently studying certificate IV - Dispensary Technician. Recently moved to Nth Caringbah with her hubby Lionel and kids Eliana and Christian.

Dispensary Assistant

Karen Ares

Qualified pharmacist in the Philippines, recently trained as a dispensary assistant here in Australia, now working Monday and Thursdays.

Pharmacy Assistant

Eva Goode

Lives locally and studies at Cronulla High School.

Pharmacy Assistant.

Sophie Leek

Plans to study Veterinary Science, sitting her HSC this year at St Aloysious College Cronulla.

Our History

Chapter 1 A country boy heads to Sydney.

Gerald Roy Joseph Coady was born on 30th September 1914 in Canowindra, NSW - the ninth and youngest son of William and Mary Coady. Being the youngest, it was decided he would be sent to board at St Joseph's College in Hunter's Hill to complete his Leaving Certificate.

Gerry enjoyed his time at St Joey's - playing rugby, taking up rowing, and excelling at physics, chemistry and mathematics. After passing his Leaving Certificate, he enrolled in Pharmacy at Sydney University, becoming the first in the Coady family to attend university.

At the time, the Pharmacy course was an apprenticeship - students were indentured to a registered pharmacist and had to work when they weren't attending lectures. During his apprenticeship, Gerry worked at various pharmacies including Hurstville and Kings Cross. A very different life from Canowindra.

It was around this time that he met Pat Holohan, and during their courtship, World War II broke out. As a registered pharmacist, Gerry was exempt from active service. He successfully applied for a job in the NSW town of Wellington. In December 1942 their first son, Peter Joseph, was born, and by February 1946 Gerry had decided to start his own business. The growing suburb of Caringbah, in the Sutherland Shire, seemed like the right place.

Chapter 2 The doors open on 2 August 1946.

Although the rail link from Sutherland to Cronulla had opened in 1939, it was only after the war that the Sutherland Shire began its real boom. Many ex-servicemen settled in Caringbah - particularly North Caringbah - and school enrolments exploded. Gerry and Pat welcomed a daughter, Paula, to their growing family.

Coady's chemist opened on 2nd August 1946, in a small shop Gerry rented on the main strip. He also purchased the vacant block next door, intending to build larger premises one day. It was the first chemist in Caringbah, and one of only a handful in the entire Sutherland Shire at the time.

A Lambretta and a delivery service.

Gerry didn't own a car, so he bought a Lambretta motor scooter - and used it to offer something unusual for the time: home delivery. Nearly eighty years later, we still deliver across Caringbah every day. It's part of who we are.

The family kept growing. Over the next few years Gerry and Pat welcomed sons Matthew, Christopher and Bernard, and another daughter, Margaret - fourteen years younger than Peter.

Chapter 3 A double-storey shop, and a gift counter on the side.

As Caringbah grew, so did the business. Gerry trained many apprentices - including Judith Harrison, who finished pharmacy and went on to become a doctor.

In 1950, Gerry decided it was time to build his own shop on the vacant block next door. Designed by Ernest Salisbury-Baker, the new building was double-storey, with the upper floor available for rent. Its wide frontage left room for Dick Holohan - Pat's brother, who lived with a disability - to set up a gift shop and jewellers alongside the pharmacy. The giftware corner that visitors still know today traces directly back to that 1950 build.

Over the years, a colourful range of tenants occupied that first floor: the Cronulla-Sutherland Leagues Club, estate agents, an SP bookie, solicitors, and even a depot of the Commonwealth Drug Company - the pharmacy's main supplier at the time.

I remember how excited we all were as we carried boxes from the old shop to the new one and stocked the shelves.
— Colleen Passfield, former employee, on the 1950 move

Chapter 4 Pharmacist, family man, prize poultry breeder.

The business thrived. Apprentices were employed, completed their training, and moved on to start their own pharmacies. But Gerry's interests extended well beyond the dispensary.

Prize-winning poultry and ointments to match.

Gerry was a celebrated breeder of prize-winning poultry. He developed custom ointments for their care and treatment, wrote booklets on the "fancy" and different breeds of fowl, and was invited to judge for the Royal Agricultural Society. He appeared several times on Burke's Backyard. For his apprentices, making up his poultry ointments was a skill they certainly weren't taught at university.

He was, by all accounts, a serious pharmacist and a great prankster - a respected community leader, and a major contributor to the commercial development of the suburb. Coady's may have been the first pharmacy in Caringbah, but it certainly wasn't the last; that there's still one trading under the same name, on the same corner, after all this time is reason enough to celebrate.

Chapter 5 The next generation.

In 1963, Peter Coady received his Bachelor of Pharmacy and joined his father in the family business. Gerry had struggled with back problems for years, wearing a brace and, at times, requiring hospitalisation, and could now take occasional breaks knowing Peter was in charge.

In July 1975, Peter purchased the business from his father. Gerry continued his involvement with the world of prize poultry, acted as a relief pharmacist when needed, and remained a presence in the shop for many years.

The Coady family's chapter in Caringbah continued for nearly three decades more under Peter's hand, through changing pharmacy regulations, evolving medicines, the arrival of computerised dispensing, and a community that kept growing. Peter ran the pharmacy with the same standards his father had set.

Chapter 6 2003: the keys change hands, but not the spirit.

After forty years as a pharmacist, and in consultation with his parents, Peter Coady decided in 2003 that it was time to sell the business his father had started in 1946.

The buyer was Jennifer Nelson, a long-time pharmacist at Coady's who had always expressed an interest in taking it on if it ever became available. She kept the name. She kept the team. She kept the standards. Jennifer has been running Coady's Pharmacy ever since.

She kept the name. Same dedication and care — now in our eightieth year.
— On Jennifer Nelson's 2003 stewardship

Both Gerry and Pat eventually moved to Stella Maris Nursing Home at South Cronulla, run at the time by the Sisters of Mercy, many of whom they knew well. Pat passed away in April 2004; Gerry in October 2006, aged 92. Peter Coady passed away in October 2016, survived by his wife Carol and four children.

Their legacy, the corner pharmacy, the gift counter, the home delivery, the standards continue, three generations on.

Chapter 7 A new chapter at 90C Cawarra Rd

In 2026, the pharmacy moves into its next chapter as Caringbah North Pharmacy, same family-pharmacy values, same independent local team, with a refreshed name that reflects where we are and who we serve today.

You'll find us at 90C Cawarra Rd, the same friendly counter, the same advice, the same free home delivery Gerry started on his Lambretta in 1946. We've added vaccinations, eScripts, weekly medication packs, diabetes education and a few other modern services along the way. But the way we do things hasn't changed.

Drop in. We'd be glad to see you.