The King of Monarch

Gideon Markham

Gideon Markham in his shop Source: Supplied by Danyal Syed / Amit Rehak

This week, we decided to go and visit Gideon Markham, the owner of one of Melbourne's most iconic coffee shop


Gideon Markham was born in Poland, survived the Holocaust as a child, and made Aliyha to Israel as a young boy. He then lived in the Kibbutz, later served as an officer in an elite unit in the IDF, came to Australia to study Architecture, and stayed here ever since. The focus of this fascinating interview is the change of identity, culture and language with moving from country to country, all the more when it is a miraculous survival story, rather than orderly migration.

For the last 30 years or so Gideon has been the owner of Monarch cake shop, an iconic cafe in Auckland street, St Kilda.

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