Photo: Supplied.
This year Clacher and Hook Optometrists is celebrating 70 years of providing eye care to the people of Wynnum, Manly and surrounds. Sally O’Brien and Emma Richardson, third-generation owners of Clacher and Hook Optometrists, are so proud to be celebrating our platinum anniversary this year. They can’t wait to share this milestone with their patients, staff and the Wynnum/Manly community. Here’s a bit of a history of the practice, written by Sally and Emma.
In 1952, our grandfather, Thomas Clacher established Thomas L. Clacher Optometrists in Bay Terrace, in a small shop upstairs of our current practice. He employed Mac Hook, our father, in 1975 as a new graduate optometrist having just graduated from Queensland Institute of Technology with a Diploma of Applied Science (Optometry). It was here Mac met Tom’s daughter, Wendy Hook (nee Clacher), who was the receptionist for her father, and they were married in 1979.
Tom opened up two other branches in the 1970s in conjunction with the Wynnum practice – one in Carina and the other Capalaba. The Carina practice was closed in the early ’90s, and it was after this in 1994 that Mac and Wendy bought the Wynnum and Capalaba practices from Tom. The Wynnum shop was relocated downstairs to the ground level of 120 Bay Terrace in 1995, where it still remains today. The Capalaba practice was closed shortly after. Mac and Wendy continued to work at the practice for the remainder of their working lives, Mac as the principal optometrist and Wendy as the practice manager. After 42 years as an optometrist at Clacher and Hook Optometrists, Mac retired in 2017, one year after his daughters, Sally and Emma, took over ownership of the practice. Sally has been working as an optometrist, initially alongside her father, since 2008 and continues to work as part of our amazing team of optometrists.
Through the years, the underlying philosophy of our family owned small business has remained – providing quality service, thorough eye examinations and personalised eye care to our patients. Celebrating our platinum anniversary not only reminds us of our extensive history in the Wynnum community, but of our continued passion and dedication to the provision of the best standard of eye care. We couldn’t be prouder!
