Kopel (Ken) Harkowitz (Harcourt)

Story

From the Goldbergs to the Icebergs

By Tim Harcourt*

When I think of Sydney I do think of the icons Ð especially Bondi Beach. I think of Bondi for its great natural beauty, its hip cosmopolitan but casual feel but also because of its importance in my own family history.

Let me explain. Believe it or not, my grandfather, Ken Harcourt, an orthodox Jew from Lismore, born of Romanian and Polish refugee parents, was an original Bondi lifesaver 100 years ago at the beginning of the twentieth century. Ken, originally named Kopel Harkowitz, was the son of immigrants from Transylvania (which is sometimes considered Romania, sometimes Hungary Ð but if I am talking to Frank Lowy, it\’s definitely, Hungary) and Poland. Kopel\’s mother always wanted to him to be a Rabbi, but young Kopel wanted to be a true blue Aussie lifesaver at Bondi. He had trouble getting in the club as Kopel Harkowitz but when he fronted as Ken Harcourt, they said ‘no worries\’. When I asked my grandfather why he changed his name, he used to say ‘Well, I didn\’t really, I just went from the Goldberg\’s to the Ice Bergs’.

So that\’s why I am a Harcourt, and why Bondi Beach means so much to me. In fact, in my recently published book Beyond Our Shores Ð which is a collection of stories about Australia\’s trading links with the world Ð I deliberately chose the beach as its cover. I thought it symbolic that a son of Eastern European migrants from way beyond our shores wanted nothing more than to be a true blue Aussie lifesaver at Bondi. In fact, a major theme of the book has been how important Australia\’s immigration has been to our export performance and our national economic prosperity. Waves of English, Irish, Scottish, Greek, Jewish, Russian, Chinese, Lebanese, New Zealand and Indonesian migrants have all done their bit too grow Australia\’s links with the world. Many of them have become lifesavers too! This is so special to Sydney and nowhere is this so apparent than here at Bondi with its great mix of languages and cultures.

Sydney\’s strong cosmopolitan flavour also helps given that almost a half of all exporters are started by immigrant business people Ð think of Sydney\’s great overseas born entrepreneurs from Frank Lowy to Bing Lee. It is no wonder that the proportion of exporters going to China has doubled over the past two years, with India and the rest of Asia and the world not far behind.

Whilst it is true that we can all get overwhelmed by day to day life and think that maybe the grass could be greener somewhere else, when you stack up all the elements Ð economic, social and environmental Ð it seems that in Sydney, we\’ve got the best of both worlds. In short, the whole world regards Sydney as a nice place to visit and they would want to live here.

But Back to Bondi. Nowadays there\’s a new Harcourt at the beach Ð my 2 year old daughter Yun Shi who, like her great-grandfather, loves a paddle in the surf. Yun Shi was born in Guilin, China in 2004 and (my American born and now true blue Aussie) wife Jo and I adopted her in 2005. It just shows that whether its East European Jewish lifesaver in 1910 or a Chinese born nipper in 2007, the beach belongs to all Sydneysiders and is a great symbol of our city\’s links with the world.

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