Sunday History Photo / NSW

Harry ‘Tiger’ Edwards operated a pie cart at Woolloomooloo just before WWII, taking advantage of custom from the navy dockyards. He enlisted in 1938, was invalided out in 1942, then returned with his pie caravan in 1945. Famous for its pie and peas, Harry’s Cafe de Wheels was patronised by sailors and celebrities, prostitutes and late-night revellers. The original caravan is now in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.


While 1938 is claimed as the establishment date for Harry’s pie enterprise, an entry in The Digger’s Scrapbook website records that he operated his cart at Woolloomooloo for two years before enlisting in 1938. During Harry’s time in the Middle East, he was nicknamed “Tiger” due to his boxing prowess and the name stuck. Harry returned to Sydney, driving a taxi and a fruit truck, then operating a mobile canteen at sporting matches from an old ambulance. He set up the first Harry’s Cafe caravan outside the Garden Island Naval Dockyard in 1945. As well as pies, hot dogs were included on the menu to cater to the taste of visiting American sailors.


The caravan acquired the name Harry’s Cafe de Wheels to comply with regulations that required it to be moved at least 1 foot a day. However, it appears that the wheels were stolen, so for many years Harry’s Cafe de Wheels had no wheels at all, It was referred to as Harry the Axle's for most of the sixties throughout the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The pie cart became a Sydney landmark with a list of visiting celebrities that included Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, Marlene Dietrich, Kerry Packer, Elton John, Sir Richard Branson and even Colonel Sanders.



Harry "Tiger" Edwards opened the original caravan cafe, named simply Harry's, near the gates of the Woolloomooloo Naval Yard in 1938. He served with the AIF in World War II, during which time the cafe was not operational. The cart re-opened upon his return from the war in 1945.
Harry's specialises today in the same basic food that was popular back in the 1940s, such as pies and mushy peas. During the 1970s Harry's introduced hot dogs, mostly to appease the American sailors.
Harry Edwards retired in 1970 leaving an operator in charge of the van, then sold the business to Alex Kuronya, a Hungarian-born refugee from Austria, in 1975. In 1978, on the official 40th anniversary of the pie cart, Harry’s de Wheels cafe was formally commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as one of its ‘unsinkable’ ships, and was called: HMAS Harry’s! The ceremony was performed over a glass of champagne and a pie by Rear Admiral David Martin. Harry died in 1979.


Historical locations of Harry's Cafe de Wheels on Cowper Wharf road, Woolloomooloo. A:1938-39, 1945-81. B:1981-82. C:1983-84. D:1985-91. E:1991-present day. Note: Map shows current position of Cowper Wharf road. The 1981-82 location was on the footpath of Cowper Wharf road before the road was relocated further west in 1982.
Alex Kuronya donated the original caravan to the Powerhouse Museum in 1985, but continued to operate the business in Woolloomooloo until selling it to Michael Hannah on Australia Day 1988. The business now has franchises throughout Sydney and beyond, while the original site has National Trust classification.

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