Sonia Overhaul together with friends Dennis and Rachel Melzer came to Schramm’s Cottage in September to tell us something of the Jews who have made an impact on Australian life since the first arrivals on the First Fleet in 1788.
Sonia, using a computer presentation, outlined a chronological list of important people and sometimes infamous characters that formed part of the picture of the divergent band of arrivals in Australia.
There were thirteen jews aboard the vessels on the First Fleet. Esther Abrahams was a convict woman who formed a liaison with a naval officer Lieutenant George Johnson on the voyage out and later lived with him in Sydney, having 7 children and marrying after 25 years in the Colony.
Another character in the early years was Ikey Solomon, a pawnbroker and stolen goods receiver, who was rumoured to have been the model for the Charles Dicken’s character, Fagin, in Oliver Twist.
After Melbourne was founded in 18*35, many Jews took up shopkeeping and of the first 50 shops in the city, jews owned 20.
The 1850’s gold rush was an opportunity for many to make for the gold fields’ area. Few Jews actually became miners, preferring to open general stores and set themselves up as gold dealers. Paul Simon later set up the Gold Museum. He was a jeweller, and had a beautiful candlestick made from Ballarat gold.
As the Melbourne Jewish community grew, synagogues were built for worship - one in Queen Street, which later moved to the comer of Toorak Road and St Kilda Road and another in East Melbourne. The reformer Caroline Chisholm brought many girls to Australia from Britain to try to rectify the imbalance of the sexes. Many Jewish girls arrived as wives for the Jewish men already here.
In the 1880’s many jews from Poland and Russia arrived. Among the arrivals at this time was the family of Sir John Monash. John Monash was later, to become a war hero and was responsible for many important innovations in Victoria. Namely the setting up of S.E.C. and the coal mines which provided much needed power and also jobs in the community.
Sydney Myer, another Jew, has had a large impact in retailing in Australia. The Wynn family also, as early winemakers helped introduce a new industry in the country.
In the Second World War, detention camps were set up to detain supposed enemy aliens. Many Germans Jewish and non-Jewish, were held in the Itay and Tatura detention centres.
Jews also made their mark in fashion design - and in art. Louis Kahane is a well-known Jewish artist.
Australia has had two Jewish Governor-Generals. Sir Isaac Isaacs and recently Sir Zelman Cowen.
After a distinguished academic career in the University of Queensland, Sir Zelman became G.G. After the problems of the Sir John Kerr era, Sir Zelman Cowen helped to heal the breach at the time and became a much-loved figure in Australia.
Sonia described all these people with humour and a number of little anecdotes on aspects of Jewish life in Australia helped us to understand and appreciate the role Jewish people played in the settlement and development of Australia.
Rachel Melzer told us a little of the Jewish Museum in St Kilda arid a visit to the museum would be arranged in the near future.
Thank you Sonia, Dennis and Rachel.
Source: 2007-03 DTHS Newsletter
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