The Hobart Synagogue, in Hobart, Tasmania, is remarkable both for being the oldest synagogue building in Australia and for being a rare example of the Egyptian Revival style of synagogue architecture. The Egyptian Revival building was constructed in 1845. The trapezoidal shape of the windows and the columns with lotus capitals are characteristic of the Egyptian Revival style.
The synagogue is located in Argyle Street, Hobart, and the land on which it stands was originally part of the garden of former convict Judah Solomon. It has a seating capacity of 150 and features hard benches at the back of the building for the Jewish convicts who in the early days were marched in under armed guard.
It does not have a full-time resident rabbi, but services are occasionally conducted by the Chabad rabbi in Launceston who visits Hobart weekly to give a Torah class.
Currently the Hobart Synagogue is used by both Orthodox and Progressive groups.
Although several synagogues and churches were built in the Egyptian Revival style in the early nineteenth century, only a few are known to survive, they include the Downtown Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee, the First Presbyterian Church (Sag Harbor), New York. and the Old Synagogue at Canterbury, England.