From Australia’s Jewish Past

Stefan Friedrich Smerd – world-renowned solar physicist Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past

Nahum Barnet – one of Melbourne’s most productive commercial architects Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past

Marion Phillips – Australian-born British Labour Party Politician and Member of Parliament Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past

David Samuel Benjamin – Merchant and Prominent Jewish and Non-Jewish Organisational ‘’Mensch’’ Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Philip Louis Frankel

Businessman, mason, chazan, sportsman, and loyal Jew Read more

Here we go again

Anti-Judaism was always driven by two agents, religion and politics. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Mark Rubin and Abraham Davis

Mark Rubin, a pearl dealer and pastoralist – Abraham Davis – shrewd businessman and perhaps “a ghost’’. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Lena Brasch – Actor and Artists Model – Part 1

Selina Venus Brasch was born in North Melbourne on 9 November 1874. She was the youngest child of Wolfe and Esther Brasch. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Ernest Samuel Marks CBE – sportsman, Sydney’s first Jewish Lord Mayor; wool buyer, politician, and community identity

Ernest was born on 7 May 1871 in West Maitland, New South Wales. Read more

From New Zealand’s Jewish past: Merchant, auctioneer, shipping agent and community leader

David Nathan, one of two Jews listed in the 1841 New Zealand Census, was born in London in 1816 and was the third son of Nathan Lion Nathan and his wife Sarah.  Read more

From New Zealand’s Jewish Past: Joel Samuel Polack – one of New Zealand’s first Jewish settlers

Our stories over the last three years have concentrated on amazing men and women who have contributed to the growth of Australia and its community.  This week takes us across the sea to New Zealand to learn about their early pioneers. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Lewis Wolfe Levy – widely respected businessman, politician and community stalwart

Lewis was born on 13 June 1815 in London, the son of Benjamin Wolfe Levy,  a merchant, and his wife Martha, who was also a Levy prior to their marriage. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Siba Coppelson – mother of two knights and a most remarkable woman

Siba was born in 1870 in England to Abraham Sloman and his wife, who had emigrated to England from Eastern Europe. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Joseph Sternberg  – one of the ‘great personalities’ of Bendigo

Joseph, the son of Alexander – a clothier – and Frederica was born on 3 April 1852 in London.   Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: The Hon. Edward Aaron Cohen

It would be interesting to know which was the most popular Jewish family name in Australia from convict times to today.  A number of stories have been written about ‘Cohens’ – many are related. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Ruby Sophia Rich-Shalit – feminist, pianist and an outstanding community identity

In continuing the celebration of International Women’s Day, this story is of one amazing Jewish woman whose efforts for all Australian women should be applauded. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Shlomo Weintraub – Samuel Wynn – Wine Merchant and active Zionist

Shlomo (Samuel), the son of Michael and Rivkah Weintraub, was born on 4 April 1891 in Ushimow near Lodz, Russia (Poland).  Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Joseph Jacobs – folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer

Joseph, the sixth surviving son of John and Sarah Jacobs, was born on 29 August 1854 in Sydney.  His father was a publican who had emigrated from London in 1837. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Percy Marks – Sydney’s four generations of jewellers fame

Percy was born on 6 July 1879 in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of London-born John Marks a jeweller, and his New Zealand-born wife Eliza Jane Levy. Read more

From Australia’s past: Moritz Michaelis – a true mensch in every sense of the word

Moritz was born on 8 November 1820 at Lügde Hanover Germany.  His father was a learned and enthusiastic Talmud scholar. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Arthur Leslie Benjamin – music was his life

Arthur was born on 18 September 1893 in Sydney and at the age of three, his family moved to Brisbane. Read more

Ancient synagogues were decorated with art. Why?

Ask the rabbi? Read more

Follow the app and discover Melbourne’s Jewish history

Enjoy ‘A Jewish Walk Through Marvellous Melbourne’ via a brand-new app launched by the Australian Jewish Historical Society-Vic. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Jacob Barrow Montefiore – Improving ship travel to the colonies

Jacob was the eldest son of Eliezer Levi Montefiore and Judith and nephew of Joseph and Jacob. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Joseph Barrow Montefiore – a trader, landowner and one of the earliest free settlers

Joseph was born in 1803 in London, the youngest son of Eliezer and Judith Levi Montefiore. Read more

From Australia’s Jewish Past: Judah Solomon –  Convict to Businessman

Judah arrived in Hobart in 1820 from England, together with his brother Joseph, as convicts for “receiving stolen goods”. Read more

A lesson from history

I have been reading about The Hundred Years’ War between France and England by Jonathan Sumption the well-known and controversial barrister, former member of the Supreme Court of Great Britain. Read more

Meet Dr Sue Silberberg

Dr Sue Silberberg has released a History Book entitled “A Networked Community – Jewish Melbourne in the Nineteenth Century”, an Academic Publication of her PhD Thesis at Melbourne University…she talks with Henry Greener. Read more

Medieval Jewish ritual bath beneath a church in Sicily

Israeli scholars have announced the discovery of a Hebrew inscription on the wall of a medieval Jewish ritual bath located deep underground beneath the Church of St. Philip the Apostle in Syracuse, Sicily. Read more