Skin cream recipe to go global

A SKIN cream first developed for the chaffed hands of a Clifton dairy farmer could soon become a global best-seller.

Former Allora pharmacist Elaine McCormick created the cream in 1980 after a distressed local came in with hands so raw they threatened his livelihood.

“His hands were so badly chaffed that after trying every product he could find, he honestly thought he would have to stop work,” the 73-year-old chemist said.

But her sorbolene-based product with its 'secret' combination of anti-fungal and healing agents worked its magic and his hands mended and the skin cream's reputation grew.

Today Mrs McCormick, who owned the Allora pharmacy until 1989, is in discussions with a major drug company about manufacturing the cream under licence.

“Most people try my cream after they have exhausted all options and 80 per cent come back to me saying it has helped heal their rashes, or eczema and psoriasis,” she said.

Now, more than 20 years since she developed the product in the back rooms of her Herbert Street pharmacy, demand for the cream continues to grow.

“I have never marketed or promoted the skin cream, but people keep buying it,” Mrs McCormick said.

She credits tourists with spreading the word of her product's attributes.

“I left the Darling Downs for Cloncurry where we had a lot of Australian and international travellers who bought the cream and thought it was great,” Mrs McCormick said.

“People now call from Melbourne to New Zealand and Mexico asking to buy more.”

The chemist, who is renowned in the outback for her Mrs Mac pharmacies, is now based in Karumba in Queensland's remote Gulf Country.

“While at uni I got my pilot's licence with the dream of working with the Flying Doctor - I never accomplished that, but perhaps this was the next best thing,” Mrs McCormick said.

Northerners who rely on her to service a region the size of Victoria would surely agree.

“I loved Allora and I did relief work briefly in Warwick and Killarney, but I think I was able to offer people more working in the outback.”