History of The Jews in Australia - History

History

A number of Jews are known to have come to Australia as convicts transported aboard the First Fleet in 1788 to Botany Bay. Among the first 1,500 prisoners to arrive in Australia were 15 Jews. By 1817, more Jews had arrived on the island. Over time these convicts became freed men, and were sufficiently attached to their religion to form an organized minyan and 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 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 and holiday. 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 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."

Over the following decades, the community's numbers swelled, primarily as a result of Jewish immigration from the United Kingdom and Germany. As a result, kehillas (organized communities) were established in Sydney (1831) and Melbourne (1841). In 1844, the first synagogue in Australia was built in Sydney. New synagogues were soon built in Hobart (1845), Launceston (1846), Melbourne (1847), and Adelaide (1850).

In 1832, the first Jewish wedding in Australia was celebrated, the contracting parties being Moses Joseph and Rosetta 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.

Although the Jewish community was primarily Ashkenazi, some Sephardi Jews 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 of the 1850s attracted a wave of Jewish immigration, and immigrants soon outnumbered native-born Jews. Initially, they settled in rural areas, but by the end of the 19th century, fear of assimilation had caused most Australian Jews to consolidate in the cities. As a result, the rapidly-growing community in Sydney required larger facilities, and built the Great Synagogue, located on Elizabeth Street, opposite Hyde Park, which 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.

Throughout the 19th century, many Jews served as elected officials. Among the positions held by a Jew were Mayor of Melbourne, Premier of South Australia, 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 altogether. However, there were still many who chose to remain observant.

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 pogroms 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.

When Australia was founded as an independent country in 1901, some of the founders were Jewish. Aside from Israel, Australia is the only country in the world whose founders included Jews. 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. Anti-semitism, which was common in contemporary Europe, was very rare in Australia.

Following World War I, another stream of Jewish immigrants came, and when the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, many German Jews moved to Australia. The Australian government was initially hesitant about accepting so many of them, but in 1938, it allotted 15,000 visas for "victims of oppression". Some 7,000 Jews took advantage of the visas before the outbreak of World War II.

In the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, large numbers of European Jews arrived in the country from displaced persons camps. An increasing number of Australian Jews became observant, and day-school attendance rose steadily. A new Sephardic community also began to emerge in the post-war period. Sephardi Jews had previously had trouble immigrating due to the Australian government's White Australia policy. However, in 1956, following the Suez Crisis, Australia allowed select Egyptian Jews to move. Throughout the following years, pressure from Jewish communities caused the government to drop its previous stance on Sephardic immigration. By 1969, when Iraqi Jews were being persecuted, the government granted refugee status to any Iraqi Jew who managed to reach Australia.

In the 1970s, the community's growth was briefly threatened by a rising intermarriage rate which caused an unprecedented decrease in the Jewish population. By the early 1980s, intermarriage again dropped to one of the lowest rates in the diaspora. The community was further bolstered by immigrants from South Africa, and starting in 1989, from the Soviet Union.