Opening of Mirka Café, 1954, gelatin silver photograph, courtesy of Heide Museum of Modern Art and William Mora Galleries

Jewish immigrants Mirka and Georges Mora arrived in Melbourne from Paris in 1951, bringing much of bohemian Europe with them. The artistic and learned pair brought ideas, food and chic style to a postwar Melbourne ready for new influences and energy. They opened Mirka Café in 1954, followed by Café Balzac in 1958 and Tolarno Restaurant and Galleries in 1965, where Georges consolidated his career as a dealer in contemporary art. The Moras’ restaurants were great meeting places for Melbourne’s bohemians, as were their home and studio in Grosvenor Chambers at the ‘Paris end’ of Collins Street.