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Chemeq

Australian pharmaceutical company

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ5090362
Source-derived summary

Chemeq was a publicly listed company which was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 25 August 1998. Chemeq was founded by Dr Graham Melrose in 1989 after he developed a new type of antimicrobial polymer. This polymer can replace antibiotics in the control of disease in commercial animal populations. Its only commercial plant is located in the seaside town of Rockingham, Western Australia.

Chemeq was sued in the Supreme Court of Western Australia by investors claiming that the company had breached the terms of the investment contract. The court found against the company and ordered it to repay the $60 million it sought. Liquidators were called in when Chemeq's appeal against the decision was dismissed.

Its intellectual Property (patents, know how and trade secrets) has been folded into a subsidiary called Chemeq Technology Pty Ltd (CTPL). CTPL was launched on 15 March 2008 with the objective of developing commercial collaborations and to allow exploitation of the IP through exclusive licenses in a number of areas; including animal health, human health and industrial uses.

Investigation

The Administrators, KordaMentha, in a report dated 5 December 2007, indicated that investigations into potential offences under section 438D of the Corporations Act 2001 had identified four (4) areas where further investigation were warranted.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Chemeq” as australian pharmaceutical company. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Chemeq, Australian and pharmaceutical.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1998, 1989, 2008, 2007—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1989. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Chemeq, Australian and pharmaceutical providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Chemeq”, the useful work is to connect “australian pharmaceutical company” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5090362. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998, 1989, 2008 and 2007.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Chemeq”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Chemeq primary sources, Chemeq archive and Chemeq research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chemeq”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Chemeq” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.