About Michael Hannah
Michael was born in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia, the middle child with three brothers and a sister.
He grew up on sugarcane and tobacco farms in Mareeba. The family moved to Sydney when he was ten, and he left school at 14 to support his
mother and siblings after his father left home.
Called up for national service at age 19, Michael served in South Vietnam with the 5th battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment from 1969 to 1970.
On his return he recalled fond memories of enjoying a pie and mushy peas on the day the HMAS Sydney berthed at Woolloomooloo Bay with the
battalion on board. After months of eating canned rations in Vietnam, Harry’s was a feast!
His first job out of the army was selling copier machines in Sydney, then he and a mate opened Australia’s first and only private car market, at the
then new, Flemington markets complex, charging people five dollars a car to display and sell their vehicle in a busy public market environment. Selling
the business, he became involved in the growing home video market and got a job as Victorian manager for Kerry Packer’s Star video.
After establishing a distribution network throughout Victoria, he left to open his own retail outlets in Melbourne and Tasmania.
As the industry grew he identified a market for comedy and to capitalise on this opportunity, Michael signed a deal with comedian Rodney Rude to
manage his EMI recording contract, produce records and videos, live performances manage his business affairs.
Rodney went on to record two number one hits, a stand up album released through EMI, followed by a 90 minute video distributed by Village
Roadshow. The album “I Hate That” achieved double platinum status and was followed up with second album “I Got More” also achieving Gold
Statues. The success of the first album led to an extensive national tour.
In 1987 Michael dropped in to Harry’s Café de Wheels for a customary pie with Alex Kuronya, the owner, who told him “I want to sell the business
because my wife has broken her leg and it is getting too much for me.” Seeing a great opportunity to preserve a small piece of Sydney’s history and
with fond memories of the old pie van, he did a deal with Alex in late 1987 and Michael took over the business on Australia Day 1988. He opened 10
retail outlets and built a bakery in Ultimo NSW (Hannah’s pies), to supply the stores.
During his time with the business he received a gold record for sales of the Album ‘Harrys Café de Wheels’ by Peter Blakely, also winning Australia’s
first national pie competition on the Lifestyle channel. Harry’s came in first and Hannah’s pies came second, they were of course the same pies!
Michael sold Harry’s and Hannah’s in 2018 and with a lifetime of diverse experience and entrepreneurship behind him, now lives on Queensland’s
Gold Coast and is compiling a range of books, this one being the first of three for this year.