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The Down Under JewsBy Jerome RichardA Jewish community in Australia? Isn’t that a long way from...well...anywhere? Surely, these are the most far-flung of Diaspora Jews. Although Jews make up less than 1% of the total population Down Under, there are sizable congregations in Sydney and Melbourne. In fact, 16 of the original English settlers were Jewish. Of course, the original English settlers were convicts, so pride in these reluctant pioneers is muted.
The first level of the museum traces Australian-Jewish history from those early arrivals through the establishment of the first synagogue in 1837, and on to the present. The most historic building standing today is The Great Synagogue, consecrated in 1878 and still in use by the city’s orthodox congregation. With dates like those you soon appreciate that Australia is a country younger than the United States. Here is Esther Abraham, only 15 years old when she was transported with the first fleet of convicts which arrived in 1788. Sentenced for stealing two cards of lace, Abraham eventually married a Royal Marine who became Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales (including Sydney), making her the First Lady of New South Wales, one of the six states and two territories into which Australia is divided. Another of the original 16 is Abraham Polack, transported for the theft of a watch. Upon his release he became an innkeeper and the first president of the synagogue. A later transport brought Ikey Solomon, a fence and brothel keeper who is said to be the model for Dicken’s Fagin.
The 3-story museum is subdivided into 8 cantered levels ingeniously arranged around a stairwell shaped as a Star of David. The upper 7 levels are devoted to the history of the Holocaust. As you climb each short set of stairs you move from the harrowing days of Hitler’s rise to power and the first round-ups to the death camps and, finally, liberation. The concluding exhibit is a tribute to the righteous gentiles. Among the exhibits are old newspapers, documents, photographs, re-creations, recorded commentary by survivors (two of whom work at the museum as guides), and a particularly heart-breaking sculpture made from the shoes of children who were victims of the Nazis. The museum has also gathered pictures of concentration camp victims that are shown one by one on a video screen. It takes an hour for the entire set of photos to be displayed and a note states that it would take 25,000 hours to display the pictures of all 6 million victims. A library located at the museum houses over 1,000 volumes on Australian Jewish history and the Holocaust. This moving and enlightening museum should be part of any traveler’s visit to Australia. (With Sydney hosting the Olympic Games in 2000 there will be a lot of interest in Australia.) Allow at least two hours for a complete tour. If you go, remember that the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. You will be celebrating Passover in the fall. THE
SYDNEY JEWISH MUSEUM Admission: $6 Australian for adults; $4 for students and seniors; $3 for children. Open Sunday 11-5; Mon-Thur 10-4; Fri. 10-2. Closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays. photos by Jerome Richard. Jerome Richard is a food and travel writer based in Seattle. |
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After
World War II about 1,000 survivors of the Nazi camps came to Australia in part
because they wanted to get as far away from Germany as they could. All of their
stories, and more, are depicted in the Sydney Jewish Museum. A short bus or
taxi ride from the central business district, the museum opened in 1992 with
the dual aims of telling the story of the Jews in Australia and also serving as
a witness to the Holocaust.
Many
of the museum’s exhibits are multi-media, with pictures or artifacts enhanced
by sound and videos. Especially striking in the history section is a 3-dimensional
representation of Sydney’s main street as it was in 1848.