Michaelis was born in St Kilda into a wealthy Jewish family who owned the successful leather tannery Michaelis, Hallenstein & Co. The family home was the historic mansion Linden on Acland Street, now a contemporary arts centre. He attended Wesley College and Cumloden School in St Kilda, until 1903 when his family took him to England to be educated at Harrow School.[2]
In 1908, Michaelis returned to Melbourne, where he began working for the family business, and in 1912 he returned to England to work in the company's London office. He was in England when World War I broke out, and he immediately enlisted in the British Army,[3] serving with the Honourable Artillery Company in the Middle East and in 1916 was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery in which he served in Ireland and Greece.[2]
In June 1950, Michaelis was elected Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He was knighted in the 1952 New Year Honours.[5] In October 1952, he was one of six members of the Victorian parliament who made affidavits to Liberal and Country Party leader Les Norman that they had been offered financial and political incentives by representatives of Thomas Hollway, a disaffected MP and former Premier of Victoria, who needed parliamentary support for a planned motion of no-confidence against the governing Country Party led by John McDonald. Michaelis stated that he had been approached by a man named Raymond Ellinson, who offered him the position of Agent-General, another term as Speaker, and immunity from opposition in the next election.[6] A Royal Commission was established to investigate the charges against Hollway, but it was postponed indefinitely on a legal technicality and never reconvened. In the subsequent state election in December 1952, Michaelis was defeated by the Labor Party candidate John Bourke, and retired from politics.
