Did you know that Surry Hills was once home to a world-famous boot-making workshop along Crown St that catered to clients like the Beatles, Kerry Packer, and royalty? Get to know Morris and Adam Perkal, brothers from Warsaw, Poland who survived the Holocaust in World War II and then went on to cobble their place in history.
Life During the Holocaust
In 1939, Morris and Adam Perkal, then in their teens, watched their mother and youngest brother burn when the Germans set fire to their synagogue in Warsaw. The brothers tried to escape the Nazis through Russia but had no money to cross the borders. Adam wanted to return home and find their father and other siblings whilst Morris said he will try to cross through the snow and frost to find a safe place for their family.
Morris came into a crowded Russian-Polish city and was told to go to the next town where there were no refugees. An old couple with no more children took Morris in, however, the Germans invaded Russia in 1941 and Morris thought he should get away as far as possible. He was able to reach central Russia and worked as a shoemaker until the war ended.
Meanwhile, to ensure that his family had money Adam smuggled items and people into the Warsaw ghetto and ended up getting arrested. He was detained in at least three concentration camps, including the Ebensee concentration camp in Austria, for the rest of the war.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
After the liberation by the Americans, Morris took a train to Italy because he came across friends who told him that Adam lived there. After more months of searching, Morris finally stepped off a plane in Sydney, where Adam was waiting for him.
After surviving the horrors of Hitler’s concentration camps, the Perkal brothers migrated to Australia after World War II to start their lives anew. Having been sent to separate concentration camps, each was unaware that the other had survived.
As fate would have it, they were reunited through an uncle living in Wollongong. Overcome with emotions at their reunion, the brothers decided to live next door to each other in Dover Heights. Since then, the two became inseparable.
The Perkal Brothers: United, Body and Sole
In the 1950s, Morris and Adam worked as shoemakers. After a few years, they decided to strike out on their own and open a shop along Hay St in Haymarket. Armed with grit, determination, and a strong work ethic, it wasn’t long before the “Perkal Brothers” became Sydney’s premier bespoke bootmakers.
The Perkal Brothers Bespoke Shop received its first high-profile order from a young Queen Elizabeth II who wanted a pair of golden slippers during her first Australian tour in the 1950s. They never met the Queen in person but they were provided her shoe size and specifications by the British Embassy. Morris and Adam also made shoes for the King of Tonga, who visited their shop, and Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Fiji’s first Prime Minister.
When the Beatles came to Australia in 1964, they asked the Perkal Brothers to make boots with Cuban heels. The brothers had to go to the hotel to avoid a riot to get the men’s measurements. The boots became popular as the Beatle Boot.
But it was the Australian tycoon Kerry Packer who became their best customer. At first, the brother had no idea who he was and nearly lost his patronage when they couldn’t deliver the polo boots he wanted the next day. Mr Packer offered to pay double for the boots, which kept the brothers and six laborers busy overnight.
Mr Packer went on to order more pairs of shoes from his favourite cobblers every year until his death in 2005. He’d use the shoes a least three times and give them back to the brothers, who donated the billionaire’s used shoes to the Salvation Army.
From Hay St, the brothers moved to Crown St in Surry Hills and worked side-by-side, six days a week, to create shoes for their high-profile clients.
The Perkal Brothers also made shoes for Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Mick Jagger, James Packer, Bob Hawke, Bob Carr, Stanley Wong, John Saunders, and several international polo teams.
Closing the Shop, Auctioning the Surry Hills Property
The Perkal brothers were maintained their closeness until the very end.
In 2012, Adam passed away at 92 years old. Though Morris said he would continue with the business alone, everyone knew that he was seriously grieving over Adam’s passing. Morris, 94, died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve, just 12 days after the burial of beloved brother.
A year later, the Perkal Brothers workshop in Surry Hills was emptied of the last of the boot leathers, machines, and the pairs of shoes that Adam and Morris had left behind.
Photo Credit: My Darling Darlinghurst
Marilyn Hauptmann, Adam’s daughter, said her father and Uncle Morris loved working side-by-side in this shop. In a sad footnote to the brothers’ passing, the family decided to give up the business, despite its history and sentimental value, as no one had the skills to take over the Perkal Brothers’ business.
The property, 386 Crown Street, went up for auction for the first time in nearly three decades. The property was sold to a private buyer for almost $1.7 million.