History of the Jews in Australia
Encyclopedia
The history of the Jews in Australia dates back to 1788, when a number of Jews were among the convict
s brought to the country aboard the First Fleet
to establish the first European settlement on the continent, on the site of present-day Sydney
. Today, an estimated 120,000 Jews live in Australia
. The majority are Ashkenazi Jews
, many of them refugee
s and Holocaust survivors who arrived during and after World War II
. There is also a significant Sephardic Jewish population.
in 1788, 14 convicts and one "free" child, though the actual number is uncertain. In 1828, there were 100 Jews in Australia, and that number increased to just over 1,000 in 1841. As a result of the Victorian gold rush
, the number increased to 5,486 in 1861. In 1933, the combined Australian Jewish communities numbered 23,000, with most being from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds. Between 1933 and 1939, 8,000 Jews immigrated to the country; and between 1945 and 1955 another 27,000 immigrated, prominently Holocaust survivors of eastern Europe. The arriving post-War migrants were helped to settle by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
, the Australian Jewish Welfare Societies and Australian Jewish Welfare and Relief Society. A majority of the migrants settled in Melbourne, particularly in Carlton
, while others settled in Sydney in suburbs such as Kings Cross
, Bondi
and St. Ives
. In recent years, significant numbers of Jews have immigrated from South Africa, the former Soviet Union and some from Israel. There has also been a significant immigration of Indian Jews
, mostly from Bombay.
The Jewish population of Australia was 88,834 in the 2006 census. According to this census, the massivest communities were in Melbourne
(40,547) and Sydney (35,253) with smaller communities dispersed among the remaining capital cities and regional centres. The Jewish population has grown through migration from South Africa
, New Zealand
and the former Soviet Union
. Although 88,834 people identified themselves as Jews, the census did not include Australian Jews living overseas and those who preferred not to disclose their religion. One estimate put the Jewish population at 120,000. with 60,000 in Melbourne and 45,000 in Sydney.
A number of Jews are known to have came to Australia as convicts transported
aboard the First Fleet in 1788 to Botany Bay
. Over time these convicts became freed men, and were sufficiently attached to their religion to form a chevra kadisha
(burial society). In 1820, the Reverend Dr. Cowper allotted land for the establishment of a Jewish cemetery
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 account continues:
In the same year, the first Jewish wedding
in Australia was celebrated, the contracting
parties being Moses Joseph and Miss Nathan. Three years later a Mr. Rose came from England and acted as the chazzan
, shochet
, and mohel
. He was succeeded by Jacob Isaacs. The condition of the Jewish community improved to such an extent that in 1844 the first synagogue
was formed in York Street, Sydney using rented space, which continued in use for more than thirty years.
The Great Synagogue
, located on Elizabeth Street
, opposite Hyde Park
, was consecrated in 1878. In 1895, the first Jewish newspaper, called the Hebrew Standard of Australasia, was published in Sydney, and is the forerunner of the Australian Jewish News
. There is a massive community of Jews in the Sydney suburb of Bondi
.
, being the second oldest settlement in Australia, is most likely the second Jewish settlement in Australia. The oldest surviving synagogue is the Egyptian Revival Hobart Synagogue in Hobart
was consecrated on 4 July 1845. The largest numbers of Jews in Tasmania was recorded in 1848, when the census recorded 435 Jews in Tasmania.
Jews also began to assemble in Victoria
in the 1840s. The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
, Melbourne
, formed in 1841, and the first synagogue building opened in 1847, at 472 Bourke Street, with a seating capacity
of 100. With the arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the 1850s, the need for a larger synagogue was felt. Construction of a larger 600 seat synagogue at South Yarra commenced in March 1855. This was followed by St Kilda
, Geelong
, Bendigo
, and Ballarat
(1853). By the 1850s, during the time of the Victorian Gold Rush
, Melbourne had become the largest Jewish settlement in the country. The East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
split from the Bourke St congregation in 1857. A religious court (Beth Din
) was set up in Melbourne in 1866. 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 commencing in 1872.
Jews settled in South Australia from 1836, arriving in the ships at Holdfast Bay among the first free-settler colonists from England. A group of the male Jewish colonists met in Emanuel Solomon's Temple Tavern in Adelaide in 1848 to form the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation and raise funds to build a synagogue. The first synagogue was consecrated in Adelaide in 1850 followed by an attached larger synagogue consecrated in 1870. The city synagogue was the longest continuously used synagogue in the southern hemisphere until the congregation moved in 1990 to a larger synagogue built at Glenside. The need to move was due to an influx of South African Jewish families in the 1980's as well as the difficulty in finding family homes near the city synagogue. Portions of the original 1850 synagogue had also been listed as a heritage building which made adaptation to accommodate an influx of migrants difficult. The Jewish population has fluctuated with waves of migration, varying between 1,000 and 2,000 over the last century. Apart from the early settlement of Jews from England (many of whom were originally from Poland, Russia or other Ashkenazi communities), there were consecutive waves from Europe, Britain, Egypt, Russia, South Africa and more recently, Israel. The Jews who arrived from Egypt from 1947 to 1956 were mostly Sephardim and numbered many hundreds, and the Adelaide Jewish community continues to be unique in this regard. The wave of post-World-War-II Jewish migration from Europe led to a population peak; their children were also among the 'baby-boomer' peak but their grand-children left in large numbers for Melbourne or Sydney to seek marriage partners after completing their tertiary education. Of around 60-70 South African Jewish families who came in the 1980's, the majority moved after several years to large South African Jewish communities, mostly in Perth or Sydney. The Jews from the USSR in the 1990's came with little involvement in Jewish life. The Israeli migrants arriving in recent years have formed a Tarbut Society for Hebrew speakers to preserve their cultural identity. Four decades after a Jewish day-school was established by the congregation, the decline in enrolments resulted in the closure of Massada College (Adelaide) in 2011 and the return to synagogue cheder classes for education of the children of the community.
Somewhat later than the southern States, the Brisbane
(Queensland
) congregation took form. Services were held in the Masonic Hall for more than twenty years (1865–1886), after which a synagogue with a seating capacity
of 400 was built in Margaret Street. The youngest of the Australian communities is that of Perth
, Western Australia
. It was formed in 1892 as a result of the great influx of people into the western colony after the discovery of gold in the 1890s. The Jewish congregation grew rapidly, with the Brisbane Street synagogue being built and consecrated five years after the first minyan
.
Each of the colonies has witnessed the rise and decline of a congregation. In New South Wales there was at one time a flourishing community in Maitland
. A synagogue was built there in 1879; but owing to adverse circumstances most of the Jews left for other parts. The same fate befell the congregation of Toowoomba, Queensland
, where in 1879 the Jews built a beautiful house of worship on their own ground, and under such favourable conditions that within a few years the synagogue was entirely free from debt. It was used only on the High Holidays by the few living at Toowoomba. Rockhampton
, also in Queensland, has suffered similarly.
Perhaps the shortest career was that of the Coolgardie
community in Western Australia. In 1896 a number of Jews, attracted by the rich gold-fields, were in that city. They at once obtained a grant of land from the government, collected subscriptions, and forthwith proceeded to build a synagogue. Within three years, however, such a thinning-out had taken place that the remaining members were unable to pay the debt on the synagogue; and the building was sold by the creditors to a Masonic body and converted into a Masonic hall.
. It is still engaged in assisting migrants and other services.
Jews have been mayors of nearly all the capital cities of Australia, as well as of many smaller towns. Numerous Jews have sat in the State and Commonwealth parliaments; and, in proportion to the population, a large percentage have held ministerial portfolios. The first Jew appointed to the Colonial Parliament of New South Wales' Legislative Council in 1854 was prominent merchant, Sir Saul Samuel
, who subsequently became a member of the Legislative Assembly and Treasurer
and the first Jew to become a minister of the Crown.
Several Jews have served as State Governors and as Chief Justices of particular states. Sir Julian Salomons
was Chief Justice of New South Wales for a fortnight in 1886; the position of Chief Justice of NSW was held by James Spigelman
from 19 May 1998 until 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
, Mark Weinberg
and Ron Merkel have all sat in recent years on the Federal Court of Australia
.
In 1931, Sir Isaac Isaacs
was appointed the first Australian born 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. Sir John Monash
, a distinguished Australian Lieutenant-General during World War I
, leading 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.
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 Supreme Court.
Leo Port (1922-1978) was an electrical and mechanical engineer. He was elected to the Sydney City Council in 1969 representing the Civic Reform group. He served as Lord Mayor between 1975 and 1978. Port was an advocate of civic design, and was partly responsible for the pedestrianisation of Martin Place and Sydney Square. He revolutionized the system of public works and their contracts in Sydney.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1974.
, John Gandel
, Richard Pratt
, Peter Abeles
, the Smorgon family
, Marcus Besen, Frank Lowy
and Joseph Gutnick
. The latter, along with Sydney gangster Abe Saffron
and Rene Rivkin
occasionally through less scrupulous means.
The foremost among the Jews who have figured as business pioneers in Australia was Jacob Montefiore, a cousin of Sir Moses Montefiore
. South Australian history records him as one of the founders of the colony; and he was selected by the British government to act on the first board of commissioners, appointed in 1835 to conduct its affairs. His portrait hangs in its National Gallery, and his memory is perpetuated by Montefiore Hill. J. B. Montefiore's activity was not confined to South Australia. With his brother Joseph Montefiore he 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 brothers with the colony is further evidenced by the township of Montefiore, which stands at the junction of the Bell and Macquarie Rivers in the Wellington valley. Joseph Montefiore was the first president of the first Jewish congregation formed in Sydney in 1832.
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 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
and Boyanup
owe their existence to the enterprise of M. C. Davies, a large lumber merchant.
Isaac Nathan
, who emigrated to Australia in 1841, wrote the first Australian opera
, Don John of Austria
to a libretto by Jacob Levi Montefiore. It premiered on 3 May 1847 at the Royal Victoria Theatre in Sydney.
There have been Jewish contributions to Australian visual arts. Georges Mora
, born Gunter Morawski in 1913 in Leipzig, Germany of Jewish/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 Modernist
avant garde art. 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 (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 have attained to some distinction as writers, S. Alexander and Joseph Jacobs.
In May 2004, the art collector and dealer, Joseph Brown (artist)
, 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 (AO
) for his services to the arts.
or other forms of state-sponsored 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.
Australia was a safe haven for Jews throughout World War II. With the notable exception of the exclusionary policies of several "gentlemen's" clubs, there was no systemic or organised discrimination against Jews during this period.
Post-war Jewish immigration came at a time of antisemitism, with the Returned Services League and other groups publishing cartoons to encourage the government and the immigration Minister Arthur A. Calwell to stem the flow of immigrants. However, attacks on Jewish property and institutions increase with tensions in the Middle East, and security precautions have had to be increased. In 1975, ASIO
documents revealed that Palestinian terrorists planned to kill high profile Jewish figures including the Australian ambassador. People considered to be supporters of the Israeli position, such as former Prime Minister
Bob Hawke
, were also considered for attack.
Since the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States
, Jews in Australia have seen a rise in attacks on synagogues and violence against persons of Jewish descent. However, Australia has seen a significantly lower amount of anti-Semitic incidents than Western Europe and North America.
, 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
, Chabad
and Adass Israel congregations. There are also Sephardi congregations.
There had been short-lived efforts to establish 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
. Subsequently another synagogue linked to the United States Reform Movement
, Temple Emanuel, was established in Sydney
. Following these two congregations, a number of other Liberal synagogues have been founded in other cities.
Since 1992 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
. The congregation appointed its first rabbi, Ehud Bandel in 2006. In 2010 Beit Knesset Shalom became Brisbane's first Conservative (Masorti) synagogue.
The Jewish Museum of Australia
is located in Melbourne.
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
s brought to the country aboard the First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
to establish the first European settlement on the continent, on the site of present-day Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Today, an estimated 120,000 Jews live in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The majority are Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
, many of them refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s and Holocaust survivors who arrived during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. There is also a significant Sephardic Jewish population.
Demography
At least 15 Jews are known to have come to Australia as convicts on the First FleetFirst Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
in 1788, 14 convicts and one "free" child, though the actual number is uncertain. In 1828, there were 100 Jews in Australia, and that number increased to just over 1,000 in 1841. As a result of the Victorian gold rush
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
, the number increased to 5,486 in 1861. In 1933, the combined Australian Jewish communities numbered 23,000, with most being from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds. Between 1933 and 1939, 8,000 Jews immigrated to the country; and between 1945 and 1955 another 27,000 immigrated, prominently Holocaust survivors of eastern Europe. The arriving post-War migrants were helped to settle by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
, the Australian Jewish Welfare Societies and Australian Jewish Welfare and Relief Society. A majority of the migrants settled in Melbourne, particularly in Carlton
Carlton, Victoria
Carlton is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
, while others settled in Sydney in suburbs such as Kings Cross
Kings Cross, New South Wales
Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
, Bondi
Bondi Junction, New South Wales
Bondi Junction is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Junction is located 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Waverley....
and St. Ives
St. Ives, New South Wales
St Ives is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. St Ives is located 18 kilometres north of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council...
. In recent years, significant numbers of Jews have immigrated from South Africa, the former Soviet Union and some from Israel. There has also been a significant immigration of Indian Jews
Indian Jews
The history of the Jews in India reaches back to ancient times.Indian Jews are a religious minority of India. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in India in recorded history. The better-established ancient communities have assimilated a large number of local traditions through...
, mostly from Bombay.
The Jewish population of Australia was 88,834 in the 2006 census. According to this census, the massivest communities were in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
(40,547) and Sydney (35,253) with smaller communities dispersed among the remaining capital cities and regional centres. The Jewish population has grown through migration from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Although 88,834 people identified themselves as Jews, the census did not include Australian Jews living overseas and those who preferred not to disclose their religion. One estimate put the Jewish population at 120,000. with 60,000 in Melbourne and 45,000 in Sydney.
History
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
aboard the First Fleet in 1788 to Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
. Over time these convicts became freed men, and were sufficiently attached to their religion to form a chevra kadisha
Chevra Kadisha
A chevra kadisha is a loosely structured but generally closed organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of Jews are prepared for burial according to Halacha and are protected from desecration, willful or not, until burial...
(burial society). In 1820, the Reverend Dr. Cowper allotted land for the establishment of a Jewish cemetery
Bereavement in Judaism
Bereavement in Judaism is a combination of minhag and mitzvah derived from Judaism's classical Torah and rabbinic texts...
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 account continues:
- "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 worshipJewish servicesJewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
was performed for the first time in the colony according to the Hebrew form, and was continued regularly every SabbathShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and holidayJewish holidayJewish holidays are days observed by Jews as holy or secular commemorations of important events in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov or chag or ta'anit...
. 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 dayyanDayyánMirza Asadullah-i-Khuy , often referred to as Dayyán, was a Babi follower, a religion founded by the Báb in Persia in the mid 1850s. The Báb wrote numerous tablets of praise to Dayyán recognising his devotion to the new religion...
, and, duly accredited, he succeeded in instilling into the minds of the congregation a taste for the religion of their fathers. A Sefer TorahSefer TorahA Sefer Torah of Torah” or “Torah scroll”) is a handwritten copy of the Torah or Pentateuch, the holiest book within Judaism. It must meet extremely strict standards of production. The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish services...
[scroll of the Law] was 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 as the first president."
In the same year, the first Jewish wedding
Jewish wedding
A Jewish wedding is a wedding ceremony that follows Jewish law and traditions.While wedding ceremonies vary, common features of a Jewish wedding include a ketuba signed by two witnesses, a wedding canopy , a ring owned by the groom that is given to the bride under the canopy, and the breaking of a...
in Australia was celebrated, the contracting
Ketubah
A ketubah is a special type of Jewish prenuptial agreement. It is considered an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the bride.-History:...
parties being Moses Joseph and Miss Nathan. Three years later a Mr. Rose came from England and acted as the chazzan
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
, shochet
Shechita
Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...
, and mohel
Mohel
A mohel is a Jewish person trained in the practice of brit milah "covenant of circumcision."-Etymology of the Hebrew and Aramaic term:...
. He was succeeded by Jacob Isaacs. The condition of the Jewish community improved to such an extent that in 1844 the first synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
was formed in York Street, Sydney using rented space, which continued in use for more than thirty years.
The Great Synagogue
Great Synagogue (Sydney)
The Great Synagogue is a large synagogue in Sydney, Australia. It is located in Elizabeth Street opposite Hyde Park and extends back to Castlereagh Street.-Description and history:...
, located on Elizabeth Street
Elizabeth Street, Sydney
Elizabeth Street is a street in Sydney, Australia.-Description and history:Elizabeth Street runs south from Hunter Street, past Hyde Park and David Jones, Central station and through the inner city suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern, Waterloo and Zetland...
, opposite Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Sydney
Hyde Park is a large park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Hyde Park is on the eastern side of the Sydney central business district. It is the southernmost of a chain of parkland that extends north to the shore of Port Jackson . It is approximately rectangular in shape, being squared at the...
, was consecrated in 1878. In 1895, the first Jewish newspaper, called the Hebrew Standard of Australasia, was published in Sydney, and is the forerunner of the Australian Jewish News
Australian Jewish News
Australian Jewish News is a Jewish newspaper in Australia which has been continuously printed since 1895. The weekly publication has been, for the most recent years of its existence, the nation's only print news publication aimed specifically at a Jewish readership and, from the start, assumed the...
. There is a massive community of Jews in the Sydney suburb of Bondi
Bondi, New South Wales
Bondi is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bondi is located seven kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. The postcode is 2026.-Location:...
.
Jewish settlement outside New South Wales
TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, being the second oldest settlement in Australia, is most likely the second Jewish settlement in Australia. The oldest surviving synagogue is the Egyptian Revival Hobart Synagogue in Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
was consecrated on 4 July 1845. The largest numbers of Jews in Tasmania was recorded in 1848, when the census recorded 435 Jews in Tasmania.
Jews also began to assemble in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in the 1840s. The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
The Melbourne Hebrew Congregation , or Toorak Shule, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Melbourne, Australia. Formed in 1841, the congregation was originally located on Bourke Street before moving to Toorak Road, South Yarra in 1930.-History:The first Jews in Melbourne arrived around the time of...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, formed in 1841, and the first synagogue building opened in 1847, at 472 Bourke Street, with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 100. With the arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the 1850s, the need for a larger synagogue was felt. Construction of a larger 600 seat synagogue at South Yarra commenced in March 1855. This was followed by St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, Geelong
Geelong, Victoria
Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia, south-west of the state capital; Melbourne. It is the second most populated city in Victoria and the fifth most populated non-capital city in Australia...
, Bendigo
Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
, and Ballarat
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
(1853). By the 1850s, during the time of the Victorian Gold Rush
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
, Melbourne had become the largest Jewish settlement in the country. The East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation
The East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation , also known as East Melbourne Shule, East Melbourne Synagogue, Melbourne City Synagogue or City of Melbourne Synagogue is a historically significant Jewish congregation in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
split from the Bourke St congregation in 1857. A religious court (Beth Din
Beth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis 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...
) was set up in Melbourne in 1866. 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 commencing in 1872.
Jews settled in South Australia from 1836, arriving in the ships at Holdfast Bay among the first free-settler colonists from England. A group of the male Jewish colonists met in Emanuel Solomon's Temple Tavern in Adelaide in 1848 to form the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation and raise funds to build a synagogue. The first synagogue was consecrated in Adelaide in 1850 followed by an attached larger synagogue consecrated in 1870. The city synagogue was the longest continuously used synagogue in the southern hemisphere until the congregation moved in 1990 to a larger synagogue built at Glenside. The need to move was due to an influx of South African Jewish families in the 1980's as well as the difficulty in finding family homes near the city synagogue. Portions of the original 1850 synagogue had also been listed as a heritage building which made adaptation to accommodate an influx of migrants difficult. The Jewish population has fluctuated with waves of migration, varying between 1,000 and 2,000 over the last century. Apart from the early settlement of Jews from England (many of whom were originally from Poland, Russia or other Ashkenazi communities), there were consecutive waves from Europe, Britain, Egypt, Russia, South Africa and more recently, Israel. The Jews who arrived from Egypt from 1947 to 1956 were mostly Sephardim and numbered many hundreds, and the Adelaide Jewish community continues to be unique in this regard. The wave of post-World-War-II Jewish migration from Europe led to a population peak; their children were also among the 'baby-boomer' peak but their grand-children left in large numbers for Melbourne or Sydney to seek marriage partners after completing their tertiary education. Of around 60-70 South African Jewish families who came in the 1980's, the majority moved after several years to large South African Jewish communities, mostly in Perth or Sydney. The Jews from the USSR in the 1990's came with little involvement in Jewish life. The Israeli migrants arriving in recent years have formed a Tarbut Society for Hebrew speakers to preserve their cultural identity. Four decades after a Jewish day-school was established by the congregation, the decline in enrolments resulted in the closure of Massada College (Adelaide) in 2011 and the return to synagogue cheder classes for education of the children of the community.
Somewhat later than the southern States, the Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
) congregation took form. Services were held in the Masonic Hall for more than twenty years (1865–1886), after which a synagogue with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 400 was built in Margaret Street. The youngest of the Australian communities is that of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. It was formed in 1892 as a result of the great influx of people into the western colony after the discovery of gold in the 1890s. The Jewish congregation grew rapidly, with the Brisbane Street synagogue being built and consecrated five years after the first minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
.
Each of the colonies has witnessed the rise and decline of a congregation. In New South Wales there was at one time a flourishing community in Maitland
Maitland, New South Wales
Maitland is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle...
. A synagogue was built there in 1879; but owing to adverse circumstances most of the Jews left for other parts. The same fate befell the congregation of Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...
, where in 1879 the Jews built a beautiful house of worship on their own ground, and under such favourable conditions that within a few years the synagogue was entirely free from debt. It was used only on the High Holidays by the few living at Toowoomba. Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
, also in Queensland, has suffered similarly.
Perhaps the shortest career was that of the Coolgardie
Coolgardie, Western Australia
Coolgardie is a small town in the Australian state of Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 800 people....
community in Western Australia. In 1896 a number of Jews, attracted by the rich gold-fields, were in that city. They at once obtained a grant of land from the government, collected subscriptions, and forthwith proceeded to build a synagogue. Within three years, however, such a thinning-out had taken place that the remaining members were unable to pay the debt on the synagogue; and the building was sold by the creditors to a Masonic body and converted into a Masonic hall.
Recent history
JewishCare is among Australia's largest and oldest Jewish aid organisations, started in 1935 to assist with Jewish migration from Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. It is still engaged in assisting migrants and other services.
Public life
Saul Samuel
Sir Saul Samuel CMG, KCMG, CB was an Australian colonial merchant, member of parliament, pastoralist, and prominent Jew...
, who subsequently became a member of the Legislative Assembly and Treasurer
Treasurer of New South Wales
The Treasurer of New South Wales, known from 1856–1959 as the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales, is the minister in the Government of New South Wales responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising and is the head of the New South Wales Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in...
and the first Jew to become a minister of the Crown.
Several Jews have served as State Governors and as Chief Justices of particular states. Sir Julian Salomons
Julian Salomons
The Honourable Sir Julian Emanuel Salomons was a barrister, royal commissioner, solicitor-general, chief justice and member of parliament. He was the only chief justice in New South Wales to be appointed and resign before he was ever sworn into office...
was Chief Justice of New South Wales for a fortnight in 1886; the position of Chief Justice of NSW was held by James Spigelman
James Spigelman
James Jacob Spigelman AC QC is a former Australian judge. He served as Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 19 May 1998 until 31 May 2011.-Early years and education:...
from 19 May 1998 until 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
Michael Rozenes
Michael Rozenes AO QC is the Chief Judge of the County Court.- Early life :Rozenes was born in Sosnowiec, Poland and migrated with his family to Australia when he was three years old. Rozenes was educated at the North Caulfield State school and then at Brighton Grammar School...
sits as Chief Judge of the County Court of Victoria
County Court of Victoria
The County Court of Victoria was established in 1852 by the County Courts Act 1852. The court has jurisdiction in the State of Victoria, Australia...
, Justice Redlich
Redlich
Redlich is a surname of Austrian origin*Ed Redlich, is an American television producer.*Emil Redlich , was an Austrian neurologist.*Frederick Redlich , was an Austrian born American psychiatrist...
sits on the Court of Appeal, while Justices Raymond Finkelstein
Raymond Finkelstein
Raymond Finkelstein QC is an Australian lawyer and judge. From 1997 until 2011, he served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. His judgments were highly influential in commercial law, giving rise to new approaches in insolvency, competition law and class actions.-Early life and...
, Alan Goldberg
Alan Goldberg
Alan Goldberg is an American architect, best known for his gas station designs and his extensive participation in the field of hydrogen gas. He lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife. Goldberg graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in architecture in 1954...
, Mark Weinberg
Mark Weinberg
-Early life and education:Weinberg was born in South Africa and educated at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg. He received degrees in Commerce and Law and practised as a barrister...
and Ron Merkel have all sat in recent years on the Federal Court of Australia
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
.
In 1931, Sir Isaac Isaacs
Isaac Isaacs
Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs GCB GCMG KC was an Australian judge and politician, was the third Chief Justice of Australia, ninth Governor-General of Australia and the first born in Australia to occupy that post. He is the only person ever to have held both positions of Chief Justice of Australia and...
was appointed the first Australian born Governor-General
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
, and was the first Jewish vice-regal representative in the British Empire. Sir Zelman Cowen
Zelman Cowen
Sir Zelman Cowen, was the 19th Governor-General of Australia. He is currently the oldest living former Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...
also served as Governor-General, between 1977 and 1982. Sir John Monash
John Monash
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...
, a distinguished Australian Lieutenant-General during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, leading 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.
David Bennett
David Bennett (barrister)
David Michael John Bennett AC, QC is an Australian barrister and former Solicitor-General of Australia.-Early years:...
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 Supreme Court.
Leo Port (1922-1978) was an electrical and mechanical engineer. He was elected to the Sydney City Council in 1969 representing the Civic Reform group. He served as Lord Mayor between 1975 and 1978. Port was an advocate of civic design, and was partly responsible for the pedestrianisation of Martin Place and Sydney Square. He revolutionized the system of public works and their contracts in Sydney.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1974.
Commerce
Jews in Australia have been successful in business disproportionately to their percentage of the Australian population. Notable for their success in business are Sidney MyerSidney Myer
Sidney Baevski Myer was a Russian Australian businessman and philanthropist, best known for creating Myer, Australia's largest chain of department stores.-Early life:...
, John Gandel
John Gandel
John Gandel is an Australian businessman who made his fortune in the real estate industry. Gandel is ranked at #647 in Forbes's "The World's Richest People" list as of 2009. He ranked #6 on the BRW Rich 200 list in 2010...
, Richard Pratt
Richard Pratt
Richard Pratt may refer to:*Richard Pratt , MP for Ripon* Richard Henry Pratt , founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School* Richard L...
, Peter Abeles
Peter Abeles
Sir Peter Emil Herbert Abeles, AC was an Australian transportation magnate. A refugee from Hungary, he became one of the most powerful businessmen in Australia, and was knighted in 1972.-Life:...
, the Smorgon family
Smorgon family
The Smorgon family may refer to:*Graham Smorgon*David SmorgonThe family is famous for its establishment of Smorgon Steel....
, Marcus Besen, Frank Lowy
Frank Lowy
Frank Lowy, AC is an Australian-Israeli businessman. He is a co-founder of the Westfield Group, operator of over 100 shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Great Britain...
and Joseph Gutnick
Joseph Gutnick
Joseph Isaac Gutnick is an Australian businessman and mining industry entrepreneur. He is also an ordained rabbi and is well known for his philanthropy in the Jewish world.-Business holdings:Among Gutnick's business holdings:...
. The latter, along with Sydney gangster Abe Saffron
Abe Saffron
Abraham Gilbert "Abe" Saffron was an Australian nightclub owner and property developer who was reputed to have been one of the major figures in Australian organised crime in the latter half of the 20th century....
and Rene Rivkin
Rene Rivkin
Rene Rivkin was an Australian entrepreneur, investor, investment adviser, and stockbroker. He was a well-known stockbroker in Australia for many years until his death in 2005.-Early life:...
occasionally through less scrupulous means.
The foremost among the Jews who have figured as business pioneers in Australia was Jacob Montefiore, a cousin of Sir Moses Montefiore
Moses Montefiore
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, Kt was one of the most famous British Jews of the 19th century. Montefiore was a financier, banker, philanthropist and Sheriff of London...
. South Australian history records him as one of the founders of the colony; and he was selected by the British government to act on the first board of commissioners, appointed in 1835 to conduct its affairs. His portrait hangs in its National Gallery, and his memory is perpetuated by Montefiore Hill. J. B. Montefiore's activity was not confined to South Australia. With his brother Joseph Montefiore he 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 brothers with the colony is further evidenced by the township of Montefiore, which stands at the junction of the Bell and Macquarie Rivers in the Wellington valley. Joseph Montefiore was the first president of the first Jewish congregation formed in Sydney in 1832.
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 beetroot
Beetroot
The beetroot, also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet or informally simply as beet, is one of the many cultivated varieties of beets and arguably the most commonly encountered variety in North America, Central America and Britain.-Consumption:The usually deep-red roots of beetroot are...
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
Karridale, Western Australia
Karridale is a small township in the south-west of Western Australia. Its postcode is 6288 and is located just north of Augusta and south of Margaret River between Caves Road and Bussell Highway. A newer township was built a short distance north east of the original Old Karridale following fires...
and Boyanup
Boyanup, Western Australia
Boyanup is a town located on the South Western Highway in the South West agricultural region, 195 km south of Perth and 18 km south-east of Bunbury, Western Australia....
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. Having been 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 that fact is found in the following 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 action. He built a theatre called the Theatre Royal, which was opened in 1833, at a cost which almost bankrupted him.Isaac Nathan
Isaac Nathan
Isaac Nathan was an Anglo-Australian composer, musicologist, journalist and self-publicist, who ended an eventful career by becoming the "father of Australian music".-Early success:...
, who emigrated to Australia in 1841, wrote the first Australian opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Don John of Austria
Don John of Austria (opera)
Don John of Austria is a ballad opera in three acts by Isaac Nathan to a librettoby . It is the first opera to be written, composed and produced in Australia.Quote from the opera's title page:-Performance history:...
to a libretto by Jacob Levi Montefiore. It premiered on 3 May 1847 at the Royal Victoria Theatre in Sydney.
There have been Jewish contributions to Australian visual arts. Georges Mora
Georges Mora
Georges Mora was a German-born Australian entrepreneur, art dealer, patron, connoisseur and restaurateur.- Early life :Mora was born Gunter Morawski in 1913 in Leipzig, Germany of Jewish/Polish heritage. As a young medical student Mora became a member of a communist cell and fled Germany to Paris...
, born Gunter Morawski in 1913 in Leipzig, Germany of Jewish/Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
heritage, fled Germany to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1930, then to Melbourne in 1949. He established the Tolarno Gallery in Melbourne's bohemian St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
. This became a venue for exhibitions of Australian Modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
avant garde art. Printmaker and projection artist Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack
Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack
Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack was a German/Australian artist.His formative education was 1912-1914 at Debschitz art school in Munich, and 1922 at the Bauhaus-University Weimar where following Kurt Schwerdtfeger he further developed "Farblichtmusiken" , a light and colour modulator...
graduate and professor of the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
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 (Sir) James Darling
James Darling
James Jackson Darling James Jackson Darling James Jackson Darling (born December 29, 1974 in Denver, Colorado, is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college...
, 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 have attained to some distinction as writers, S. Alexander and Joseph Jacobs.
In May 2004, the art collector and dealer, Joseph Brown (artist)
Joseph Brown (artist)
Joseph Brown, AO, OBE was an Australian artist and art collector.Brown was born in Poland in 1918 and migrated to Australia in 1933 at the age of fifteen, settling in Melbourne. He trained initially as an artist but after returning from war service in 1945 became increasingly involved in the...
, 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 (AO
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
) for his services to the arts.
Antisemitism
Since the days of white settlement in Australia, Jews have enjoyed formal equality before the law and have not been subject to civil disabilitiesDisabilities (Jewish)
Disabilities were legal restrictions and limitations placed on Jews in the Middle Ages. They included provisions requiring Jews to wear specific and identifying clothing such as the Jewish hat and the yellow badge, restricting Jews to certain cities and towns or in certain parts of towns , and...
or other forms of state-sponsored antisemitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
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.
Australia was a safe haven for Jews throughout World War II. With the notable exception of the exclusionary policies of several "gentlemen's" clubs, there was no systemic or organised discrimination against Jews during this period.
Post-war Jewish immigration came at a time of antisemitism, with the Returned Services League and other groups publishing cartoons to encourage the government and the immigration Minister Arthur A. Calwell to stem the flow of immigrants. However, attacks on Jewish property and institutions increase with tensions in the Middle East, and security precautions have had to be increased. In 1975, ASIO
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
documents revealed that Palestinian terrorists planned to kill high profile Jewish figures including the Australian ambassador. People considered to be supporters of the Israeli position, such as former Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
, were also considered for attack.
Since the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Jews in Australia have seen a rise in attacks on synagogues and violence against persons of Jewish descent. However, Australia has seen a significantly lower amount of anti-Semitic incidents than Western Europe and North America.
Synagogues and religious affiliation
Until the 1930s, all synagogues in Australia were nominally OrthodoxOrthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
, 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
Mizrachi (Religious Zionism)
The Mizrachi is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929, is the youth movement associated with Mizrachi...
, Chabad
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
and Adass Israel congregations. There are also Sephardi congregations.
There had been short-lived efforts to establish Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
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
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. Subsequently another synagogue linked to the United States Reform Movement
Reform movement
A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes...
, Temple Emanuel, was established in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Following these two congregations, a number of other Liberal synagogues have been founded in other cities.
Since 1992 Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
(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
John Rosenberg
John Rosenberg is an American football coach, and a graduate of Harvard University. Rosenberg is known for his creativity and innovation in defensive strategy. He is credited by some as the creator of the zone blitz defense made popular by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has coached for thirty years,...
. The congregation appointed its first rabbi, Ehud Bandel in 2006. In 2010 Beit Knesset Shalom became Brisbane's first Conservative (Masorti) synagogue.
The Jewish Museum of Australia
Jewish Museum of Australia
The Jewish Museum of Australia is a community museum, which aims to explore and share the Jewish experience in Australia and benefit Australia's diverse society...
is located in Melbourne.
See also
- Australian JewsAustralian JewsAustralian Jews, or Jewish Australians, are Jews who are Australian citizens or resident aliens. The Jewish community in Australia is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their Australia-born descendants. There is, however, a minority from all...
- Religion in AustraliaReligion in AustraliaIn the 21st century, religion in Australia is demographically dominated by Christianity, with 64% of the population claiming at least nominal adherence to the Christian faith as of 2007, although less than a quarter of those attend church weekly. 18.7% of Australians declared "no-religion" on the...
- List of Oceanian Jews
- Melbourne Jewish RadioMelbourne Jewish RadioMelbourne Jewish Radio Inc. is an incorporated association which operates Lion FM - a community radio station in Melbourne, Australia. The association had a temporary community broadcasting licence issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority to broadcast in the FM band for an...
- Australian Jewish Historical SocietyAustralian Jewish Historical SocietyThe Australian Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1938 in Sydney. The first president was Percy J. Marks. At the first business meeting of the Society, the then president of the Royal Australian Historical Society K. R...
External links
- Jewish Encyclopaedia
- Sydney in 1848, by Joseph Fowles, Sydney 1848 (Facsimile reprint 1973, Published by Ure Smith in Association with The National Trust of Australia (NSW))
- Jewish Museum of Australia
- Australian Jewish Historical Society
- JewishAustralia.com - Australian Jewish web portal
- Articles on Australian Jewish history
- Jewish History Australia website
- Lion FM website
- Australian Jewish News website
- Culture Victoria – stories and historical images relating to Jewish Australian families