1932

Mick Adams fled Turkey due to an earthquake when he was only 14. He settled in Bondi and worked at a fish shop, determined to make something of himself. He anglicised his birth name, Joachim Tavlarides, to help himself assimilate in Australian society.

He bought a set of flats in Bondi and successfully owned and developed property at a time that not many Greek or Turkish people were migrating to Australia. Sydney’s population included only 420 Greeks, and Mick had to overcome great adversity and hostility from the wider society.

During a trip to America with his wife and daughter, he became inspired to establish a low-budget American-style milk bar back in Sydney. Customers would pay only ‘4d’ – 4 pence, or four pennies – for a milkshake or an American-style ‘soda pop’ (flavoured carbonated water, or softdrink). On 4 November 1932, he opened the doors to Australia’s first milk bar, The Black & White 4d Milk Bar, at 24 Martin Place in the Sydney CBD. He took the name from the Black & White Whiskey ads he’d seen in America and the idea of charging only ‘4d’ for a glass of dairy milk, which during the Great Depression was viewed as a tonic food. In the Black & White’s window, he installed a mechanical cow that excreted oil from its udders.

Grateful to at last feel part of a bigger world, Sydneysiders flocked to the Black and White, even though its only menu items remained four-penny milkshakes and sodas. During its first year, 27,000 customers graced its six small booth seats, happily chatting away under the ‘No table service’ sign.

Mick went on to open milk-bar chains throughout Australia and to influence introduction of the country’s more than 4000 registered milk bars. He was less known for his philanthropic activities, including donating all his milk-bar takings to charities, such as a children’s home, at least once a year.