Biography

Carl Theodore EBERHARD (1863 - 1938) was born at Yandoit, Victoria, the son of Ernst Eberhard and Caterina, formerly Hauser. The family moved to Ballarat within a few years and Carl was brought up at 'Clunes'. After receiving a local education he became apprenticed to a Mr Lacy, a pharmacist of Bourke Street, Melbourne, and qualified in a few years as a pharmacist himself. He gained further experience when he was sent to Hobart to the firm of Messrs Weaver & Co., and then to the Launceston pharmacy of Messrs L. Fairthorne & Co.

By the time he was 29 years of age he purchased Landon Fairthorne's Charles Street premises.

He married Ada Jane Abbott. Born in 1868, she was the daughter of W. H. Abbott of Paterson Street. Her sister was Mary Ellen Abbottr Carl and Ada had two daughters. The interests of the Eberhards extended over a wide range of community and charitable organisations. Carl was the original treasurer of the Launceston Competitions Association and resigned as a committee member only a few years before his death. He was chairman of the Retail Traders' Association for many years and a member of the Executive of the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, retail section, for a long time.

The family attended St. Aidan's Church, where Carl was a Synod representative and a member of the Diocesan Board of Patronage, and where Ada maintained a local branch of the Girl Guides.

Carl was a Past Master of the Lodge of Perfect Unanimity, a member of the Executive of the Federal Pharmaceutical Service Guild of Australia and was president of the Northern Tasmanian Branch. He was an examiner for the Pharmaceutical Board and a member of the original Executive of the 50,000 League.

Both Carl and Ada took an active interest in the development of Broadland House School as a school for young ladies under the special protection of the Church of England; and Carl was one of the original Board of Management formed in 1928 to oversee the needs of the school.

Ada died on 22nd December, 1932, and Carl on 11th July, 1938, and in their memory two memorials were placed in St. Aidan's Church. These were a large carved altar chair, and a window featuring ‘St. Columba’. The inscription on both memorials reads:
“TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF CARL AND ADA EBERHARD WHO DIED 1932 AND 1938”

Source

"Engraved in Memory", GILL, Jenny, 1988