Michael Sidney Myer links his grandfather’s story as a Russian Jewish immigrant and retail founder to Australia’s current migration debate.
Michael Sidney Myer, grandson of retailer Sidney Myer, has challenged anti-immigration rhetoric in Australia. In an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald, he recalls that his grandfather arrived in Melbourne from Russia with little money and little English, then opened a shop in Bendigo in 1900. Sidney Myer later built one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest department-store businesses.
The author connects his family history with today’s debate over migrants’ contribution to the country. He points to his grandfather’s projects during the Great Depression, including funding Yarra Boulevard and hosting a Christmas dinner for more than 11,000 unemployed people in Melbourne in 1930.
The column criticises migration-restriction statements by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and the Coalition’s promise of unprecedented cuts. Myer argues that such calls overlook immigrants’ contributions to business, science, medicine, the arts, agriculture and public life.
The National Museum of Australia and the Australian Dictionary of Biography confirm that Sidney Myer was a Russian Jewish immigrant who began as a travelling seller and opened a shop in Bendigo. Michael Myer ends by urging Australians not to let fear of foreigners shape politics. The piece is an opinion column, not an independent assessment of migration policy.