1870s: Holloway’s Snake Oil
July 31, 2019
By AHNZ
Early New Zealand state-sponsored monopoly medicine?
“Holloway’s healing ointment was available in New Zealand from at least the 1870s through to the 1920s. At the time it was a considered a great cure-all cream ….I guess like many things simply fell out of favour in due course for unknown reasons. “- HAR
Rival company Beechams took over the Thomas Holloway empire, according to his biographer.
The so-called ‘medicine’ didn’t actually work beyond what Vaseline does for us today and Holloway knew it.
“Aware of the uselessness of his own products, he believed the placebo effect was well worth the subterfuge.”¹
Profits from the massive medicinal empire funded lots of benevolent charitable causes. But this was off the back of millions hustled to an early grave by their blind faith in Holloway’s Snake Oil.
Some of these victims must have been our New Zealand ancestors.
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1 Ref. ‘The Mighty Healer’, Holloway (2016)
Image ref. Original image courtesy of Kelvin Young collection; HAR
Image ref. Underground Overground Archaeology Ltd; Facebook
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