Optometrist family dynasty Peters out

Katrina French used to joke that when she finally qualified as an optometrist, she would change her name to Peter Dick by deed poll so she could work in her family's business.

The Blenheim-raised 27-year-old is the first female and fifth generation of the Dick family to work at Visique Peter Dick Optometrists in Dunedin.

The long-serving optometry business started in 1915 when Peter George Dick (the eldest son of Peter Dick sen), who had qualified as an optician in London, took over his father's jewellery store, established in 1889, in Dunedin and added optometry to its services.

In 1930, Peter George Dick's eldest son, Peter Norman Dick, took over.

In 1962, Peter Norman Dick's eldest son, Peter Leslie Dick, joined him in the family business. The most recent Dick to join the business was Peter Stewart Dick in 1992.

After more than 100 years and four successive generations of Peter Dicks running the optometrists, Peter Leslie Dick's granddaughter - and Peter Stewart Dick's niece - Katrina French has joined the business.

Now she has her own office in the building, other people have light-heartedly suggested she should change her name to Peter Dick.

"A lot of people have been joking about it, but I haven't been tempted to do it,'' Dr French said.

Dr French is the first woman in the family - and the first one not called Peter - to graduate as an optometrist and join the family business.

She qualified as a doctor of optometry in Melbourne in 2016, after completing a bachelor of science degree at the University of Otago in 2012.

"It's something I grew up around.

"Ever since I was really little, when I would come on holidays to Dunedin and visit my grandparents, I thought it was a really good job.

"My dad, on the other side of the family, is an eye surgeon, so it was sort of a double whammy for me.''

Since graduating, she has been working as an optometrist in Alice Springs.

"Work-wise, it was really rewarding, but coming back and joining the family business in Dunedin is something I've been really looking forward to.''

Asked if the break from family tradition was "better or worse'', Mr Dick said it would be a novel change for some clients who had been treated by three generations called Peter Dick.

He said the change was simply a sign of the times, because when he studied optometry, it was a male-dominated profession.

Dr French said the majority of students studying optometry now were female.

Family business

1889: Peter Dick, jeweller
1915: Peter George Dick, optometrist
1930: Peter Norman Dick, optometrist
1962: Peter Leslie Dick, optometrist
1992: Peter Stewart Dick, optometrist
2019: Katrina French, optometrist

john.lewis@odt.co.nz