The chance discovery of a mysterious "rattlesnake root" potion has exhumed the forgotten story of a spectacular pharmaceutical failure from a time less bygone than first thought.
Cairns historian Duncan Ray obtained an ancient-looking bottle of liquid bearing a Rattlesnake Root Cough Mixture label that promised "temporary relief of coughs and symptoms of chest colds".
It was concocted in Far North Queensland by Trinity Beach company Cast Pharmaceuticals, according to the worn label, but very little else was known.
