The history of Jews in Australia traces the history of
Australian Jews
Australian Jews, or Jewish Australians, ( he, יהודים אוסטרלים, translit=yehudim ostralim) are Jews who are Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia. In the 2016 census, there were 21,175 Australians who identifi ...
from the British settlement of Australia commencing in 1788. Though Europeans had visited Australia before 1788, there is no evidence of any Jewish sailors among the crew. The first Jews known to have come to Australia came as convicts
transported
''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film.
Plot
In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...
to
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
in 1788 aboard the
First Fleet
The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
that established the first European settlement on the continent, on the site of present-day Sydney.
There were 97,335 Australians who identified themselves as Jewish in the 2011 census,
but the actual number is estimated to be 112,000. (An answer to the question on the census was optional.) The majority are
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
, many of them
Jewish refugee
This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews.
Timeline
The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees.
Assyrian captivity
...
s, including
Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...
s who arrived during and after World War II, and their descendants. Jews make up about 0.5% of the Australian population.
History
Major general histories of the Jews in Australia are
Hilary L. Rubinstein
Hilary L. Rubinstein (born 1946) is an Australian historian and author. She researches and writes on British naval history and modern Jewish history.
Biography
She graduated with a BA(Hons) in economics, history and politics at Keele Universi ...
and
William D. Rubinstein
William D. Rubinstein (born 12 August 1946) is a historian and author. His best-known work, ''Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution'', charts the rise of the ' super rich', a class he sees as expanding ex ...
, ''The Jews in Australia: A Thematic History'' (2 vols., 1991) and
Suzanne D. Rutland, ''Edge of the Diaspora: Two Centuries of Jewish Settlement in Australia'' (2001; first ed. 1988). Each of these academic historians has written more concise general histories also, with Hilary L. Rubinstein's ''Chosen: The Jews in Australia'' (1987) being the first overall history of Australian Jewry, and described by Rabbi Raymond Apple as skilfully and stylishly weaving together the strands of the story of a colourful minority group and its interaction with general society.
Rabbi John Simon Levi, co-author of ''Australian Genesis: Jewish Convicts and Settlers, 1788-1850'' (1974) has authored the magisterial biographical directory, ''These Are The Names: Jewish Lives in Australia, 1788-1860'' (2013). ''The Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal'' (started 1939) appears twice a year, published in Sydney and Melbourne respectively. There are also a number of published monographs on aspects of Australian Jewish history, for a guide to which (as well as to Australian Jewish literature) Serge Liberman, ''A Bibliography of Australasian Judaica, 1788-2008'' (2011) is a distinguished reference work.
Colonial era
Australian Jews never constituted more than 1% of the total colonial community.
Eight convicts
transported
''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film.
Plot
In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...
to
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
in 1788 aboard the
First Fleet
The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
have been identified as Jewish. There were probably more, but exact numbers are not possible as the transportation records did not indicate a convict's religion. Over a thousand more people of Jewish descent are estimated to have been sent to Australia as convicts during the next 60 years.
Most of them came from London, were of working-class background and were male. Only 7% of Jewish convicts were female, compared to 15% for non-Jewish convicts. The average age of the Jewish convicts was 25, but ranged as young as 8 to some elderly people.
[ Rutland, Suzanne, 2005, ''The Jews in Australia'', .] Esther Abrahams
Esther Abrahams (born c. 1767 or 1771 – died 26 August 1846) was a Londoner sent to Australia as a convict on the First Fleet. She was de facto wife of George Johnston, who was for six months acting Governor of New South Wales after leading t ...
(who arrived with the First Fleet, with her baby daughter Roseanna) and
Ikey Solomon
Isaac "Ikey" Solomon (1787? – 1850) was a British criminal who acted as a receiver of stolen property. His well-publicised crimes, escape from arrest, recapture and trial led to his transportation to the Australian penal colony of Van Diemen's ...
were among the convicts who were Jewish.
At first, the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
was the established religion in the colony, and during the early years of transportation all convicts were required to attend Anglican services on Sundays. This included Irish Catholics as well as Jews. Similarly, education in the new settlement was Anglican church-controlled until the 1840s.
The first move towards organisation in the community was the formation of a
Chevra Kadisha
The term ''Chevra kadisha'' (Modern Hebrew: חֶבְרָה קַדִּישָׁא) gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century. It is an organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of deceased Je ...
(a Jewish burial society) in Sydney in 1817.
In 1820,
William Cowper
William Cowper ( ; 26 November 1731 – 25 April 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th-century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scen ...
allotted land for the establishment of a
Jewish cemetery
A Jewish cemetery ( he, בית עלמין ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' ...
in the right-hand corner of the then-Christian cemetery. The Jewish section was created to enable the burial of one Joel Joseph. During the next ten years there was no great increase in membership of the society, and its services were not called for more than once a year. The actual allocation of land for a consecrated Jewish cemetery was not approved until 1832.
![York St Synagogue, Sydney](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/York_St_Synagogue%2C_Sydney.jpg)
The first Jewish services in the colony were conducted from 1820 in private homes by emancipist Joseph Marcus, one of the few convicts with Jewish knowledge.
An account of the period is:
:In 1827 and 1828 then the worldly condition of the Hebrews in the colony improved considerably, in consequence of the great influx of respectable merchants; and this, with other circumstances, has raised the Hebrews in the estimation of their fellow colonists. About this period Mr. P. J. Cohen having offered the use of his house for the purpose,
divine worship was performed for the first time in the colony according to the Hebrew form, and was continued regularly every
Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
and
holiday
A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...
. From some difference of opinion then existing among the members of this faith, divine service was also performed occasionally in a room hired by Messrs. A. Elias and James Simmons. In this condition everything in connection with their religion remained until the arrival of Rev. Aaron Levi, in the year 1830. He had been a
dayyan, and, duly accredited, he succeeded in instilling into the minds of the congregation a taste for the religion of their fathers. A
Sefer Torah
A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tora ...
croll of the Lawwas purchased by subscription, divine service was more regularly conducted, and from this time may be dated the establishment of the Jewish religion in Sydney. In 1832 they formed themselves into a proper congregation, and appointed
Joseph Barrow Montefiore
Joseph Barrow Montefiore (24 June 1803 – 8 September 1893), merchant and financier, was the youngest son of Eliezer Montefiore, merchant, of Barbados and London, and his wife, Judith (née Barrow).
Montefiore was born on 24 June 1803 in Londo ...
as the first president.
In 1832, the first
Jewish wedding
A Jewish wedding is a wedding ceremony that follows Jewish laws and traditions. While wedding ceremonies vary, common features of a Jewish wedding include a ''ketubah'' (marriage contract) which is signed by two witnesses, a ''chuppah'' or ''hu ...
in Australia was celebrated, the
contracting
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
parties being Moses Joseph and Rosetta Nathan. Three years later a Mr. Rose came from England and acted as the
chazzan
A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' ( he, חַזָּן , plural ; Yiddish ''khazn''; Ladino ''Hasan'') is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer
Prayer is an in ...
,
shochet, and
mohel
A ( he, מוֹהֵל , Ashkenazi pronunciation , plural: , arc, מוֹהֲלָא , "circumciser") is a Jew trained in the practice of , the "covenant of circumcision".
Etymology
The noun ( in Aramaic), meaning "circumciser", is derived fro ...
. He was succeeded by Jacob Isaacs.
![GreatSynagogue2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/GreatSynagogue2.JPG)
Over the following decades, the community's numbers increased, primarily as a result of Jewish immigration from the United Kingdom and Germany. ''
Kehillas'' (organized communities) began to be established in Sydney (1831) and
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
(1841). The condition of the Jewish community improved to such an extent that in 1844 the first
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
was formed in York Street, Sydney using rented space, which continued in use for more than thirty years.
The 1841 census shows that New South Wales Jewry accounted for 65.3% of the total Australian Jewish population, and 0.57% of the total Australian population.
In 1848, there were 200 Jews in Victoria, and they formed the Melbourne Jewish Philanthropic Society to provide assistance to those in need.
Although the Jewish community was primarily
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
, some
Sephardi Jews
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
also immigrated to Australia, and the community thrived during the mid-to-late 19th century. For some twenty years, there was a Sephardic congregation, and some Sephardi families occupied important communal positions. Gradually, however, the Sephardi population declined, and the congregation was disbanded in 1873.
[
The ]gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
of the 1850s attracted a wave of immigrants, and Jewish immigrants soon outnumbered native-born Jews. Initially, they settled in rural areas, but by the end of the 19th century the lack of Jewish communal connections and fear of assimilation led most Australian Jews in rural areas to relocate to the Jewish centres in cities. As a result, the rapidly growing community in Sydney needed larger facilities, and built the Great Synagogue, located on Elizabeth Street, opposite Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
, which was consecrated in 1878.[
]
When Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859, Jewish people began to settle in Brisbane, forming the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation
The Brisbane Synagogue is a heritage-listed synagogue at 98 Margaret Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Arthur Morry and built from 1885 to 1886 by Arthur Midson. It was added to the Queenslan ...
in 1865. The congregation used a number of venues as temporary places of worship, including a building in the grounds of Samuel Davis's home at North Quay (the house later known as Aubigny), while raising money through various land speculations to purchase a site and build a synagogue. They purchased land in Margaret Street for £200 and in 1885 called for designs, choosing the plans of Arthur Morry
Arthur Morry (4 January 1854 – 25 May 1938) was an English architect. In 1884 he emigrated to Australia where he became a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Early years
Morry was born in Moreton Say, Shropshire, England, to John ...
, an architect who worked for the Queensland Colonial Architect
The Queensland Government Architect is a position within the public service of Queensland, Australia with responsibility for the design of government buildings in Queensland. It was formerly known as the Queensland Colonial Architect. The position ...
. Arthur Midson, a prominent Brisbane building contractor, built the Synagogue for the sum of £6450. The Brisbane Synagogue was consecrated on 18 July 1886, its spiritual name being "Kehilla Kedosha Sha'ari Emuna" (The Holy Congregation of the Gates of Faith).
The Jewish press in Australia was pioneered in Melbourne. In 1895, Sydney's first Jewish newspaper, called the ''Hebrew Standard of Australasia'', was published, and is the forerunner of ''The Australian Jewish News
''The Australian Jewish News'' (''AJN'') is a newspaper published in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Since 2019 it has been a local partner of ''The Times of Israel''.
History
The ''AJN'' is descended from ''The Hebrew Standa ...
''.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, as Australia was unifying its colonies into a single independent country, a new wave of Jewish immigration began. Jewish refugees from Russia and Poland began arriving in the 1890s, fleeing pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
s in their native lands. This immigration wave led to a divide among urban Jewish communities. Most Jews in Sydney were from Western and Central Europe, and were largely secular. Meanwhile, Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in Melbourne, and were highly Orthodox. In addition, thousands of highly observant Jews immigrated from South Africa and settled in Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
.
Jews also began to assemble in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, then in the Port Phillip District
The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria.
In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...
(now Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
). The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
, native_name_lang =
, image = Melbourne synagogue.jpg
, image_upright = 1.2
, alt =
, caption = Melbourne Synagogue, pictured in 2006
, map_type = Australia Melbou ...
was formed in 1841, and the first synagogue building opened in 1847 at 472 Bourke Street, with a seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
of 100. Other synagogues were built in Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
(1845), Launceston (1846) and Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
(1850).
With the arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the 1850s, especially during the Victorian Gold Rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capita ...
, there was a need for a larger synagogue in Melbourne. Construction of a larger 600 seat synagogue at South Yarra commenced in March 1855. Other Jewish congregations were formed in Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
, Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
, and Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
(1853). The East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation split from the Bourke St congregation in 1857. The St Kilda Hebrew Congregation was formed in 1871, with the first services held in St Kilda Town Hall and the building of a permanent building in Charnwood Road, St Kilda, commencing in 1872. Since the 1850s, Melbourne has had the largest Jewish population in the country. A religious court (Beth Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
) was set up in Melbourne in 1866.
20th century
By 1901 it is estimated there were over 15,000 Jews in Australia. When Australia was founded as an independent country in 1901, some of the founders were Jewish. From the outset, Jews were treated as equal citizens with freedom to participate in economic and cultural life, and played an important role in their development. Antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, which was common in contemporary Europe, was very rare in Australia.[
Following World War I, another stream of Jewish immigrants came, and when the ]Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s took power in Germany in 1933, many German Jews
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
came to Australia. The Australian government was initially hesitant in permitting entry to the many Jews who wanted to come, but in 1938, it allotted 15,000 visas for "victims of oppression". Some 7,000 Jews were able to take up the visas before the outbreak of World War II put an end to the program.
In the aftermath of World War II Australia abandoned its previous Anglo-centric immigration policy and permitted immigration of large numbers of people from continental Europe. Large numbers of European Jews, survivors of the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, arrived in the country from displaced persons camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...
s, but there was an outbreak of antisemitism. For example, the Returned Services League
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
Mission
The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...
and other groups published cartoons to encourage the government and the immigration Minister Arthur A. Calwell to stem the flow of Jewish immigrants.[
Organisations during WWII tried to help children affected by the war by bringing them to Australia but were only able to after the war ended. During WWII transportation for civilians was limited, so no Jewish orphans could be brought over even though the Australian government increased their allowance quota for orphaned children. After the war, the pre-war anti-Jewish refugee sentiment influenced the government's choice not to fund any Jewish immigration, saying it was the Jewish community's responsibility to bring over the refugees. This made it so sponsors and organisations were the ones to help fund the Jewish refugee's journey and settlement into the Australia Jewish community.]
From 1938 to 1961 the Jewish population almost tripled in size from the 1933 population to 61,000 Jews living in Australia. Organisations during the war tried to bring over and place children affected by the war, but were only able to after the war ended. Two organisations assisting with the immigration, specifically of orphaned children were ''Save the Children’s Scheme'' and the ''Jewish Welfare Guardian Scheme,'' who brought over a total of 317 orphaned Jewish children from Europe in the years after the war. The girls brought over were placed into orphanages, while the boys were placed into hostels, where they lived with other holocaust survivors.
In 1940 there were 2,500 German and Austrian refugee internees including 1,750 Jewish refugees, known as the Dunera
HMT (Hired Military Transport) ''Dunera'' was a British passenger ship which, in 1940, became involved in a controversial transportation of thousands of "enemy aliens" to Australia. The British India Steam Navigation Company had operated a prev ...
internees, were all immediately sent to an internment camp in Hay Australia. A large number of the new immigrants were observant Jews, and day-school attendance rose steadily. A new Sephardic community also emerged in the post-war period. Previously, Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...
were generally not permitted to enter due to Australia's White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
. However, following the Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
in 1956, a number of Egyptian Jews
Egyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and youngest Jewish communities in the world. The historic core of the Jewish community in Egypt consisted mainly of Egyptian Arabic speaking Rabbanites and Karaites. Though Egypt had its own com ...
were allowed to enter. Over the following years, overtures from Jewish communities led the government to drop its previous stance on entry of Mizrahi Jews. By 1969, when Iraqi Jews
The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mos ...
were being persecuted, the government granted refugee status to Iraqi Jews who managed to reach Australia.
In Australia, in the wake of the outbreak of World War II, Jews escaping the Nazis who had German passports, such as two-year-old Eva Duldig
Eva Ruth de Jong-Duldig (nee Duldig; born 11 February 1938) is an Austrian-born Australian and Dutch former tennis player, and current author. From the ages of two to four, she was detained by Australia in an isolated internment camp, as an enemy ...
, who years later was a top tennis player for Australia, and her parents sculptor Karl Duldig
Karl (Karol) Duldig (29 December 1902 – 11 August 1986) was a Jewish modernist sculptor. and artist and inventor Slawa Duldig
Slawa Duldig née Horowitz (28 November 1901– 16 August 1975) was an inventor, artist, interior designer, and teacher. In 1928, as Slawa Horowitz, she created a design for an improved compact folding umbrella, which she patented in 1929. Slawa w ...
, were classified as enemy aliens
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...
upon their arrival due to their having arrived with German identity papers. Beginning the year prior to their arrival in Australia, a new Australian law had designated people "enemy aliens" if they were Germans, or were Australians who had been born in Germany. The Australian government therefore interned the three of them for two years in isolated Tatura Internment Camp 3 D, 180 kilometers north of Melbourne.[Miriam Cosic (29 April 2022)]
"Melbourne’s newest musical a multi-generational European family saga,"
Plus61J. They were held with nearly 300 other internees. The internment camp was located near Shepparton
Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...
, in the northern part of the state of Victoria
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
. There, armed soldiers manned watchtowers and scanned the camp that was bordered by a barbed wire fence with searchlights, and other armed soldiers patrolled the camp. Petitions to Australian politicians, stressing that they were Jewish refugees and therefore being unjustly imprisoned, had no effect. They remained in the internment camp until 1942, when her father enlisted in the Australian army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
.
In the 1970s, the Australian Jewish community was concerned by the rising intermarriage rate which impacted the numbers of Jews with bonds to the community. By the early 1980s, intermarriage again dropped to one of the lowest rates in the diaspora. The community was further bolstered by immigration from South Africa, and starting in 1989, from the former Soviet Union.[
Throughout the 20th century, many Jews served as elected officials. Among the positions held by a Jew were Mayor of Melbourne, Premier of ]South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Speaker of Parliament. Many Jewish elected officials simultaneously served as the heads of their ''kehillas''. However, the successful integration of Jews into Australian society led to a rise in assimilation. Intermarriage rates rose, synagogue attendance dropped, and many Jews stopped practicing Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
altogether. However, there were still many who chose to remain observant.[
]
Recent history
JewishCare is among Australia's largest and oldest Jewish aid organisations, started in 1935 as the Australian Jewish Welfare Society[ to assist with Jewish migration from ]Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. It is still engaged in assisting migrants and providing other welfare services.
The Jewish community's Jewish Museum of Australia
The Jewish Museum of Australia, not to be confused with the Sydney Jewish Museum, aims to "explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia". It is located in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne.
History
The Jewish Museum of Australia was estab ...
opened in Melbourne in 1982 and the Sydney Jewish Museum
The Sydney Jewish Museum is a history museum located in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst. It showcases exhibits relating to the Holocaust, the history and achievements of Jewish people in Australia, and issues of social justice, democracy and ...
opened in 1992 to commemorate the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, as well as to "challenge visitors' perceptions of democracy, morality, social justice and human rights". There was an increase in immigration from Australia to Israel in 2010, when 240 Australians moved to Israel, up from 165 in 2009.
On 27 November 2016, the Annual Report of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) on antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
in Australia, reported that in the 12-month period ending 30 September 2016 there was a 10% increase in antisemitic incidents in Australia involving threats or acts of violence over the previous year.
Public life
Jews have also figured prominently in Australian honours and include Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winner Bernard Katz
Sir Bernard Katz, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (; 26 March 1911 – 20 April 2003) was a German-born British people, British physician and biophysics, biophysicist, noted for his work on nerve physiology. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiol ...
.
Besides his diverse business interests in Sydney, Sir Saul Samuel
Sir Saul Samuel, 1st Baronet (2 November 182029 August 1900) was an Australian colonial merchant, member of parliament, pastoralist, and prominent Jew. Samuel achieved many breakthroughs for Jews in the colonial community of New South Wales in ...
was the first Jew to become a magistrate, to sit in a colonial Parliament and to become a minister of the Crown. In 1854 he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...
and subsequently was an elected member of the Legislative Assembly. He also served periods as Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
and Postmaster General. Vaiben Louis Solomon, Vaiben Solomon was Premier of South Australia for a week in 1899. Leo Port was Lord Mayor of Sydney between 1975 and 1978.
In 1931, Sir Isaac Isaacs was the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia, Governor-General, and was the first Jewish vice-regal representative in the British Empire. Sir Zelman Cowen also served as Governor-General, between 1977 and 1982. Linda Dessau has been Governor of Victoria since July 2015, the first woman and the first Jew to serve in the position. Sir John Monash, a distinguished Australian Lieutenant-General during World War I, led Australian troops both in Gallipoli and on the Western Front. The agent-generalship of New South Wales has been administered by two Jews: Sir Saul Samuel, one of the most prominent and successful Jews in Australian politics, and Sir Julian Salomons.
Several Jews have served as Chief Justices of various states. Sir Julian Salomons was Chief Justice of New South Wales for a fortnight in 1886; James Spigelman was the Chief Justice of NSW from 19 May 1998 to 31 May 2011. Mahla Pearlman was Chief Judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court from 1992 to 2003, and she was the first woman chief judge in any (State) jurisdiction in Australia. Jews are especially prominent in the legal profession; for example, in Melbourne alone, the Hon. Michael Rozenes sits as Chief Judge of the County Court of Victoria, Justice Redlich sits on the Court of Appeal, while Justices Raymond Finkelstein, Alan Goldberg (judge), Alan Goldberg, Mark Weinberg (judge), Mark Weinberg, Ronald Sackville and Ron Merkel have all sat in recent years on the Federal Court of Australia. James Edelman is a justice of the Federal Court, and is appointed to be a justice of the High Court of Australia.
David Bennett (barrister), David Bennett is a Sydney barrister. He was president of the Australian Bar Association from 1995 to 1996 and of the NSW Bar Association from 1995 to 1997. Bennett was president of the Association of Lawyer Arbitrators and Mediates in 1998 and President of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences from 1999 to 2001. He was Solicitor-General of Australia from 1998 to 2008. Bennett was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003. His wife, Annabelle Bennett is a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia.
Commerce
Among the Jews who have figured as business pioneers in Australia were Joseph Barrow Montefiore
Joseph Barrow Montefiore (24 June 1803 – 8 September 1893), merchant and financier, was the youngest son of Eliezer Montefiore, merchant, of Barbados and London, and his wife, Judith (née Barrow).
Montefiore was born on 24 June 1803 in Londo ...
(1803–1893) and his brother Jacob Barrow Montefiore (1801–1895), one of the founders of the colony of South Australia, as he was selected by the British government to act on the first South Australia Act 1834#South Australian Colonization Commission, board of commissioners, appointed in 1835 to conduct its affairs. Jacob's portrait hangs in the Art Gallery of South Australia, and his memory is perpetuated by Montefiore Hill, a wiktionary:vantage point, vantage point which overlooks the city of Adelaide, South Australia, Adelaide. Their nephew Jacob Levi Montefiore (1819–1885), whose mother was a first cousin of Sir Moses Montefiore, and J. B. Montefiore gave an impetus to the progress of New South Wales. Jacob owned one of the largest sheep-runs in the colony, and founded and for many years acted as director of the Bank of Australasia. The close connection of these two with the colony is further evidenced by the township of Wellington, New South Wales, Montefiore, New South Wales, which stands at the junction of the Bell River (New South Wales), Bell and Macquarie River (New South Wales), Macquarie Rivers in the Wellington valley. Joseph Montefiore was the first president of the first Jewish congregation formed in Sydney in 1832.
Vaiben Louis Solomon, V. L. Solomon of Adelaide is remembered for the useful work he achieved in exploring the vast northern territory of his colony, the interests of which he represented in Parliament. M. V. Lazarus of Bendigo, known as Bendigo Lazarus, also did much to open up new parts in the back country of Victoria. Nathaniel Levi, for many years urged the cultivation of Sugar beet, beetroot for the production of sugar and spirits owed its brief existence as an industry to Levi's own interest in raw material for his distilling company. In his labours on behalf of this industry he published in 1870 a work of 250 pages on the value and adaptability of the sugar-beet. In Western Australia, the townships of Karridale, Western Australia, Karridale and Boyanup, Western Australia, Boyanup owe their existence to the enterprise of M. C. Davies, a large lumber merchant.
Arts and culture
Barnett Levy founded an early theatre in Australia. He was refused a license by then governor Darling in 1828, though in the following year he was permitted to hold approved performances in his Sydney Hotel. A record of the event is found in an entry in "Sydney in 1848", a work published in that year: "In the late twenties His Excellency Sir R. Bourke granted Barnett Levy a license for dramatic performances, with a restriction that he should confine himself to the representation of such pieces only as had been licensed in England by the Lord Chamberlain." Levy was at that time the owner of the original Royal Hotel in George Street; and he fitted up the saloon of that establishment as a theatre, where the first representations of the legitimate drama in the colony were given. The encouragement that this undertaking received induced the enterprising proprietor to enlarge his sphere of activity. He built a theatre called the Theatre Royal, which was opened in 1833, at a cost which almost bankrupted him.
Isaac Nathan, who emigrated to Australia in 1841, wrote the first Australian opera, ''Don John of Austria (opera), Don John of Austria'' to a libretto by Jacob Levi Montefiore. It premiered on 3 May 1847 at the Royal Victoria Theatre, Sydney.
There have been Jewish contributions to Australian visual arts. Georges Mora, born Gunter Morawski in 1913 in Leipzig, Germany, of Jewish/Poles, Polish heritage, fled Germany to Paris in 1930, then to Melbourne in 1949. He established the Tolarno Gallery in Melbourne's bohemian St Kilda. This became a venue for exhibitions of Australian Modernism, Modernist avant garde art. His wife, Mirka Mora, became a prominent artist. Printmaker and projection artist Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack graduate and professor of the Bauhaus was deported to Australia as an "enemy alien" on the ship ''HMT Dunera'', spending time in internment camps in Hay, Orange and Tatura, before being sponsored for Australian citizenship by James Ralph Darling, (Sir) James Darling, headmaster of Geelong Church of England Grammar School. He was influential in the introduction of Bauhaus principles into visual art and design curricula in Australia. E. P. Fox and Abbey Alston have achieved distinction. Paintings by both these artists have been hung in the Melbourne National Gallery. In the Adelaide Gallery hangs a tribute to the memory of H. Abrahams for the services he rendered to the progress of art in Australia. Two Jews of Australian birth, S. Alexander and Joseph Jacobs, have attained some distinction as writers.
There has always been a thriving Australian Jewish Media, Australian Jewish media sector. From ''The Australian Jewish News
''The Australian Jewish News'' (''AJN'') is a newspaper published in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Since 2019 it has been a local partner of ''The Times of Israel''.
History
The ''AJN'' is descended from ''The Hebrew Standa ...
'', Australia's largest and longest running hard copy publication, to radio shows, online magazines, periodicals, and blogs, Jewish Australians have been dedicated contributors to media intended for internal communal consumption, as well as the wider Australian society.
In May 2004, art collector and dealer, Joseph Brown, donated his substantial collection of Australian art of the 20th century to the National Gallery of Victoria. It was the largest single gift of works of art ever made to a public gallery in Australia. Brown migrated from Poland in 1933. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (Order of Australia, AO) for his services to the arts.
Antisemitism
Since the days of European settlement in Australia, Jews have enjoyed formal equality before the law and have not been subject to Disabilities (Jewish), civil disabilities or other forms of state-sponsored anti-Semitism, antisemitism excluding them from full participation in public life. Jews have been active contributors in science, art, and literature, and in the government of the colonial and Commonwealth eras, with a number attaining prominent public offices, including several governors-general. Despite this tolerant ethos, Australia rejected a Jewish refugee Kimberley Plan, resettlement proposal, during World War II.
Post-war Jewish immigration came at a time when antisemitism was rife, with the Returned Services League
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
Mission
The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...
publishing cartoons to encourage the government and Immigration Minister Arthur A. Calwell to stem the flow of Jewish immigrants. Attacks on Jewish property and institutions increased with tensions in the Middle East, with corresponding increases in security precautions. In 1975, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO documents revealed that Palestinian terrorists planned to kill high-profile Jewish figures including the Israeli ambassador Michael Elizur and "Zionist spokesmen" Isi Leibler and Sam Lipski. Former prime minister Bob Hawke, "one of Israel's most vocal supporters", was also considered for attack.
The Jewish community in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
supports an "anti-defamation commission" (ADC) which makes monthly reports to police of offensive graffiti found in public toilets and elsewhere.
There have been numerous incidences of Universities and antisemitism, antisemitic activities on university campuses. For example, antisemitic material had been found on five university campuses in March 2017.
There are a number organisations that track antisemitic activity, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry that publish an annual report for all reported antisemitic activity, the Anti-Defamation Commission Melbourne and Anti-Defamation Unit in Sydney. The incidents include attacks on synagogues and various speeches with antisemitic content.
Synagogues and religious affiliation
Until the 1930s, all synagogues in Australia were at least nominally Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox, with most acknowledging leadership of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom. To this day the vast majority of synagogues in Australia are Orthodox. However, there is a wide range of Orthodox congregations, including Mizrachi (religious Zionism), Mizrachi, Chabad and Adass Israel congregations. There are also Sephardi congregations.
There had been short-lived efforts to establish Reform Judaism, Reform congregations as early as the 1890s. However, under the leadership of Ada Phillips, a sustained liberal congregation, Temple Beth Israel was established in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. Subsequently, another synagogue linked to the Reform Movement, Emanuel Synagogue (Sydney, New South Wales), Temple Emanuel, was established in Sydney in 1938. Following these two congregations, a number of other Liberal synagogues have been founded in other cities.[Rubinstein and Freeman, (Editors), "A Time to Keep: The story of Temple Beth Israel: 1930 to 2005" A Special publication of the Australian Jewish Historical Society, 2005.]
Since 1992 Conservative Judaism, Conservative (Masorti) services have been held as an alternative service usually in the Neuweg, the smaller second synagogue within Temple Emanuel, Woollahra, Sydney. In 1999, Kehilat Nitzan, Melbourne's first Conservative (Masorti) Congregation was established, with foundation president Prof John Rosenberg (academic), John Rosenberg. The congregation appointed its first rabbi, Ehud Bandel in 2006. In 2010 Beit Knesset Shalom became Brisbane's first Conservative (Masorti) synagogue.
In 2012, the first Humanistic Judaism, humanistic Jewish congregation, known as Kehilat Kolenu, was established in Melbourne with links to the cultural Jewish youth movement Habonim Dror. Later in 2012, a similar congregation was established in Sydney, known as Ayelet HaShachar. The services are loosely based on the Humanistic Jewish movement in the United States and the musical-prayer group Nava Tehila in Israel.
See also
*Australian Association for Jewish Studies
*Australian Jews
Australian Jews, or Jewish Australians, ( he, יהודים אוסטרלים, translit=yehudim ostralim) are Jews who are Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia. In the 2016 census, there were 21,175 Australians who identifi ...
*Australian Jewish Historical Society
*Jewish Museum of Australia
The Jewish Museum of Australia, not to be confused with the Sydney Jewish Museum, aims to "explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia". It is located in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne.
History
The Jewish Museum of Australia was estab ...
*List of Jewish members of the Australian parliament
*List of Oceanian Jews
*Melbourne Jewish Radio
*The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
*Religion in Australia
*Zionist Federation of Australia
References
External links
Jewish Encyclopedia entry on Australia
Culture Victoria – stories and historical images relating to Jewish Australian families
* [Creative Commons license, CC-By-SA] (Jews in Sydney)
{{Oceania topic, History of the Jews in
Jewish Australian history,
Antisemitism in Australia