Who Started the Milk Bar? Martin Place, Sydney, 1932

Where the Australian milk bar came from, who ran them, and why they faded: a sourced history from 1932. Subscribe for more everyday Australia:    / @beyondthebitumen   We follow the story with archive photographs and the sources on screen: the 1932 opening in Sydney (Dictionary of Sydney), the American soda bar meeting the Greek milk shop, the migrant families who ran so many of them, and the pressures that wore the milk bar away from the 1960s and 70s: supermarkets, service stations, fast food, longer trading hours and rents. We also say where we could not confirm a number, and we finish at Bells Milk Bar in Broken Hill, which still has its original 1950s look. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:34 What a milk bar was 1:24 Martin Place, 1932 2:43 The peak years 3:46 The families behind the counter 5:01 What changed 6:12 What happened next 7:31 One that survived 8:34 Your turn What was your local milk bar called, and who ran it? Tell us in the comments. SOURCES (grade A = official, museum, library, university or the company's own record; B = reputable media) Dictionary of Sydney, "Black and White Milk Bar" (B): https://dictionaryofsydney.org/organi... Greek Herald, 4 Nov 2024 and 5 Aug 2024, Green Plaque, Mick Adams / Joachim Tavlaridis (B): https://greekherald.com.au/?p=153767 and https://greekherald.com.au/?p=140886 SBS Food, Yasmin Noone, 12 Sep 2023, "Aussie milk bar culture thanks to Greek migrants" (B): https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/a... Janiszewski and Alexakis, "The Australian milk bar: a refreshment retailing revolution", History of Retailing and Consumption 9(3), 2023, doi 10.1080/2373518X.2023.2295664 (A): https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publ... Janiszewski and Alexakis, "The food of fantasy: Greek cafes and milk bars", Symposium of Australian Gastronomy, 2019 (A): https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publ... Macquarie University, "Australia's Greek Cafes and Milk Bars: Shaken and Stirred" (A): https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/proj... Powerhouse Museum, Max Dupain, Patricia's Milk Bar (A): https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/... State Library of Queensland, "Being busy at State Library", 14 Mar 2019 (A): https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/being... Australian Geographic, Amanda Burdon, 15 May 2018 (B): https://www.australiangeographic.com.... Museums and Galleries NSW, "Selling an American Dream", 10 Sep 2014 (B): https://mgnsw.org.au/?p=4312 ABC Radio National Overnights, 1 Nov 2021 (B): https://www.abc.net.au/listen/program... Gourmet Traveller, Michael Harden, 27 Nov 2016, "Counter culture" (B): https://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/d... Saveur, Matthew Sedacca, 18 Jan 2018 (B): https://www.saveur.com/documenting-au... eMelbourne (University of Melbourne), John Young, "Milk Bars", 2008 (B): https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/E... The Conversation, Grimmer and Mortimer, 7 Aug 2019 (B): https://theconversation.com/more-than... ABC News, 21 Jul 2019 (B): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-2... ABC News, 2 Dec 2017 (B): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-0... ABC News, 20 Apr 2023, Bells Milk Bar (B): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-2... Broken Hill City Council, "Bell's Milk Bar and Museum" (A): https://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au/Com... 7-Eleven Australia, "Our history" (A, company's own record): https://7eleven.com.au/get-to-know-us... Figures marked "reported" in the video (4,000 milk bars by 1937; 5,000 customers on day one; 27,000 a week) come from the secondary sources above, and we could not trace the original count. #Australia #AustralianHistory #MilkBar