Incredible true story of retail legends the Myer family
A rags to riches rise through tragedy, war, and brushes with royalty and fame, the story of the Myer retail dynasty has all the trappings of a Great Gatsby/Hollywood blockbuster.
Property
Don't miss out on the headlines from Property. Followed categories will be added to My News.
How has this story not been made into a Hollywood blockbuster?
A well-to-do Melbourne schoolgirl in the 1920s and a penniless Jewish Russian immigrant – two divergent characters that would meet, fall in love and go on to become, what many would view as Australia’s first family.
Simcha Baevsky would change his name to Sidney Myer and go on to create a retail dynasty the likes of which Australia had never seen.
The extraordinary story of Sidney’s wife, Merlyn Baillieu Myer, has been captured in intimate detail thanks to the work of esteemed archivist Dr Stella Barber and writer Michael Shmith in the book Merlyn, The Life of Merlyn Baillieu Myer.
“In some regard, the Myer family were royalty in Melbourne,” says Dr Barber who admits that after 30 years or more working on the Myer archives, and creating four books on the subject, she knows more about the Myer family than she does of her own.
For historians, both amateur and professional, there is nothing more engrossing than a rich source of archival material, and Merlyn Myer left behind a treasure trove of letters, photographs, menus, swatches of fabrics, and even Myer dockets – indeed Merlyn made it her personal mission to make the very first purchase in every store Myer ever opened – and she kept the receipts in that marvellous time machine archive.
Merlyn and Sidney had four children, the youngest and last of the generation is Lady Marigold Southey, 94, who was kind enough to speak with News Corp.
She recalls an extraordinary life of privilege.
“We grew up knowing we were a rich family. We grew up in an atmosphere, in a home, where my parents and particularly my mother were always doing good in the community. It was just natural to see those things. Was it an influence in my life? Well, unknowingly it probably was,” says Lady Southey who has continued philanthropy throughout her own life. The Myer family were struck by the tragedy of the very early passing of Sidney Myer.
Again, the archive allows us insight into even this, the most private of remembrances.
Sidney died while walking to the Melbourne store. A passer-by later wrote a letter to Merlyn describing the passing.
“The end was so quiet, with no sign of struggle – his time had come,” says the letter writer.
Home for Merlyn and Sidney had been divided for many years, split between Melbourne and the United States.
She and Sidney crisscrossed the oceans, spending months at a time in each location but at the end of each journey was the return to the magnificent Toorak family home, Cranlana; a hectare of irreplaceable garden landscapes anchored by a magnificent home which can still be visited by the public to this day, it has an estimated value of $100 million.
Merlyn gave the mansion away in 1942 – but just for the war.
The scene of many a society event, Cranlana was to be the headquarters of the combined Allied Naval Forces and then used by the Fourth General Hospital.
Every moment of the move out, storage options and even motor car decisions are all noted and recorded in her journals and letters. The times were no less busy, as she wrote to her daughter Nielma who had settled in the Unites States.
“On Mother’s Day Eve, Saturday night, I had a great thrill as I dined in a private dinner party of eight with your famous Gen. MacArthur and his wife …. I sat opposite him at dinner and his face and whole physique absolutely inspired me – he was immaculate, quiet and dignified – and his features are just chiselled and the strength of character in his face is too wonderful.” Widowhood, at just 34, seems to have energised the woman that was Merlyn Myer.
Rather than retreat from the business and the management of the considerable fortune, Merlyn used her influence and resources to make a difference to her many beloved Australian charities.
Her work was recognised in 1948 at which point she appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and was elevated to Dame Merlyn.
“My brother Bails and I did go to London when she received her DBE at Buckingham Palace which was wonderful,” recalls Lady Southey.
“We were not present at the coronation.”
But thanks to the marvellous detail provided by Merlyn’s diaries and letters, we can partake in her first-hand account of exactly what it was like to be there, as Queen Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
“Oh, so many impressions of the might and majesty of England. For myself, perhaps I should not mention this, but my OBE seemed to grow bigger on my bosom,” wrote the elated Melburnian.
Despite the demands on her time, there is no doubt a constant priority in Merlyn’s remarkable life were the Myer stores. She was a presence that made an impression on the staff at every store she visited, many of whom it is revealed called her “Mrs Sid”.
Lady Marigold recalls the deep involvement the family has always had with the business.
“As late as in her seventies she (Merlyn) would travel overseas to the buying offices; the office in Milan, the office in London and she would throw parties for the staff. She was very thoughtful of other people and of their work and their contribution. And that’s how she got the name Mother of the Store.”
But far from shying away from the wealth and sundry benefits, the book Merlyn allows us into the rather grand lifestyle of someone for whom money was no object. Multiple properties, lunch at Maxims, shoes from Saks Fifth Avenue, maids, nannies, ball gowns and Bentleys – but in parallel a never-failing sense of giving back, whether a music bowl in the park or benefits for the staff.
She entertained a lot – Merlyn was a great hostess and loved entertaining and while she was doing that, she was raising money for her charities, says Dr Barber.
However, she also had the luxury of resting when it all got too much and is reported to have taken to her bed, sometimes for a week at a time, to rest and write letters.
Those marvellous letters
There are many biographies of the rich and famous to be found, they line bookstore shelves and make fine birthday presents for friends who lack interest in fiction.
This book, however, is such an intimate accounting of such a remarkable life, as to be almost the best of both worlds.
“I learned things about my mother that I had never known before,” says Lady Southey of the book just last month.
The Myer archive is a living entity as Lady Southey points out, it continues to this day; a rich, personal history of a woman, a family and oh yes, the store.
Dame Merlyn passed peacefully away at the age of 82 in September, 1982.
On her birthday in 1936, at the end of her diary entry made in her flowing handwriting is this quote, that was to be perhaps, prophetic:
“The past is a story told, The future may be writ in gold.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Incredible true story of retail legends the Myer family
Surprise twist in future of Surfers Paradise shopping centre
A once-glamorous Surfers Paradise shopping centre will be transformed into a new development which is set to become a tourist magnet. FIND OUT MORE
Young couple snap up new home for $50,000+ above price range
A couple bought an abode moments from their home on the same street at one auction out of more than 1150 that ran across Victoria. REPLAY AUCTIONS HERE.