Helena Rubinstein
The beginnings of a global success
Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965), the founder of a global cosmetics and beauty products empire, arrived in Australia at Melbourne in 1896 on the German steamship Prinz-Regent Luitpold. She was born in Krakow, in what was the northern province of Galicia (now part of Poland) in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She moved to Vienna, the capital of the Empire, and lived for about three years in that German-speaking city. While she was living in Vienna she 'Germanised' her Polish-Jewish given name of Chaja to Helena. She had three uncles already living in Australia. After arriving in Victoria she first went to Coleraine in the southwest of Victoria, to her uncle Louis Silberfeld, a shopkeeper there.
The former railway station at Coleraine, Victoria. Rubinstein arrived here by train to stay with her uncle.
She worked as a governess for families in Coleraine and in Toowoomba in Queensland. In Toowoomba she worked as a governess for the wealthy Metcalfe family at their large villa. The Metcalfe children knew that Rubinstein spoke German and called her "Fräulein". Later she worked as a waitress in restaurants and saloons in Swanston Street and the Block Arcade in Melbourne. In 1903 she laid the foundations for her global cosmetics empire in Melbourne - on the 27th February the Melbourne newspaper The Argus carried the first ever advertisement for 'Helena Rubinstein & Co.' in a daily newspaper, promoting "Valaze skin food".
The first advertisement in a newspaper for Helena Rubinstein's beauty products. The Argus (Melbourne), 27th February 1903.
Picture source: Advertising (1903, February 27). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 8. Retrieved August 5, 2026, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9808284>
Helena Rubinstein in 1926.
Photo source: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
When Rubinstein visited New Zealand in 1907 for business purposes, the newspaper New Zealand Times (1907, February 26, p.5) described her as "a Viennese beauty culturist with many laurels". She probably did not object to being associated with Vienna - the Sydney Morning Herald later described Vienna as follows: "At the turn of the 20th century, there was no more culturally splendid city in Europe than Vienna".
In 1908/1909 she established salons in London and Paris and in 1908 she moved with her family to the USA and built up her business there, eventually becoming one of the world's richest women.
♦ References:
Burke, Janine. (2007, January 27). Vienna 1900 and the Heroes of Modernism. Sydney Morning Herald. Accessible online here.
Trumble, Angus. (2023). Helena Rubinstein : The Australian Years. Collingwood (Victoria) : La Trobe University Press. pp.48, 50-51, 54-55, 65-66, 81, 83, 87, 247, 253-255.