A Tour of Jewish History in Australia
www.jewishhistoryaustralia.net
The Jewish Narrative of History
PODCASTs
As broadcast on Lion FM
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Australia
and
Israel
To Right:
Cover of recent book by Chanan Reich.
The Elizabeth Cohen, which voyaged between Sydney and Port Macquarie 1834-1846
JEWS
and
BOATS 		Pix of Alexander Marks in consular regalia complete with sword
INTERNATIONAL
TRADE 		Staff of Cohen's Furniture Emporium early twentieth century
JEWS
in
COMMERCE 		Flyer for premiere of movie Chapel of Chic
SCHMATTES:
the
clothing
trade 		Churcher portrait of Rabbi John Levi
PORTRAITS
of
Notables
The proclaimed Australian flag 1903-1909 featuring six-pointed Federation Star
The Australian flag features a Union Jack, symbolic of our British connection, the five stars of the Southern Cross, and a large Federation Star. Above is the official flag of Australia 1903 to 1909 which features a six pointed Federation Star, in the outline shape of the Star of David. The six points denoted the six states that were united at Federation. With the acquisition of the first "Territory" the Federation Star became seven pointed, and has remained so since.

Australian Jewish History Jews have been an integral part of Australia’s history since the beginning of European settlement. In the First Fleet that landed in Sydney in 1788 there were at least 14 Jews, and Jews participated in the initialisation of the first settlement in Port Phillip, the establishment of Hobart, Melbourne, and Adelaide. And the story continues, with the numerically small Jewish population in the forefront of development of Australia,

The very first constable was a Jew, as was the printer of the original "Australian" newspaper (Sydney, 1836), and as was the composer of the first Australian opera. Jews have participated in the pioneering settlement of Australia, in public affairs, in the drafting of the Australian Constitution, in the professions, in the Arts, in commerce and trade, and in the development of industry and technology in Australia. Of especial high prominence are the two Victorians
Sir John Monash the leader of the Australian Forces in World War I Sir Isaac Isaacs the first Australian-born Governor General
In sum, Jews have participated fully and equally in the course of Australian history starting with the First Fleet of 1788.

Click on the timeline banner to see the detailed sweep of this history, or click on the links to particular topics.
Eureka flagJEWS of EUREKA Ita Buttrose signatureIta Buttrose and many other Australians have Jewish forebears pix of Monash from $50 note
MONASH 		Winter view of the gates of Auschwitz HOLOCAUST The Australian Jewish Community has the highest percentage of Holocaust survivors of any diaspora community.
Aboriginal flag Individual Jews, and since 1964 Jewish organizations, have been involved in the fight for aboriginal rights. Historic Sites My Jewish Carlton: the centre of Jewish Melbourne up to about 1960.


Alex Jezalenko high mark Grand final 1970 Czek stamp celebrating Peter Ginz

The Story of Peter Ginz 		Ozzie Jewish Artists montage of 3 images of Rimona Kedem Jewish Arty Types Newspaper Cuttings The expulsion of the Jews from the Islamic states that encircle Israel is discussed with detailed statistics at TheRoar.info podcast site.

Australian and New Zealand Jewish
Nobel Prize Winners
Front page of Australian Jewish News with headline EGYPT THROWS OUT JEWS
Portrait of Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
1867-1922

Joseph's Dreams
and
Reuben's Brethren

1905
In colonial Australia a detailed knowledge of the Torah (aka Old Testament) was held by all literate (and semi-literate) Australians. Hence in this colourful and popular poem the biblical saga of Jacob-Isaac and Joseph is expressed in terms of the Outback by the nationalist writer hero Henry Hertzberg Lawson who proclaims "My best friend was a Yid". [Click to read poem - new window]. Sketch of Yossi Birstein by Yosi Bergner Acclaimed as Australia's most talented Yiddish poet, Yossel Birstein (1920-2003) grew up in Poland, with Yiddish as his mother tongue, coming to Australia when still a teenager. At age 24, he learnt his family had been lost in the Holocaust, and "his poetry rises to the task of commemorating them, and people of his hometown Biala-Podolsk as well - in unsentimental yet heartrending lyrical verses" Birstein's collected poems, translated into both English and Hebrew, are now online at http://www.yosselbirstein.org/ [ Link opens in a new window. ].
Portrait of Jack Moses
Jack Moses
1861-1945

Nine Miles
From Gundagai

Jack Moses was a bush balladeer who recited poetry at agricultural shows and the like. One of his favourite authors was Henry Lawson, who in the poem Joseph’s Dreams says of him ‘my best friend was a Yid’. His own most well known poem is the classic "Nine Miles from Gundagai" [Click to read poem and biography of Moses in a new window]. Moses was buried in the Anglican section of South Head Cemetery, Sydney. Saul Mendelsohn was another outstanding Jewish bush balladeer. In the 1880's he penned Brisbane Ladies , with opening verse 
Farewell and adieu to you, Brisbane ladies
Farewell and adieu, you maids of Toowong
We've sold all our cattle and we have to get a movin'
But we hope we shall see you again before long
with a debt to the British sea song Spanish Ladies about British sailors returning to England from Spain.
Another member of the same family, the musicologist Oscar Mendelsohn, researched the origins of Walzing Matilda with lyrics by Banjo Paterson, to establish that the original arrangement was by Harry Nathan, a grandson of Isaac Nathan (the "Father of Australian Music") See Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?
Lion FM logo Radio spectrum at FM 96.1 was acquired in January 2010 for a Jewish FM Radio Station called Lion FM which commenced broadcasting in Melbourne July 11, 2010, after 4 weeks of test transmission. This article discusses the 60 year history of Jewish radio in Australia, which to date has included segments in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish on Australian "community" and "ethnic" radio stations. These "Jewish" broadcasts have been of 15 or 30 minutes duration, broadcast weekly or rarely bi-weekly, whereas Lion FM aims to broadcast 24/6.

Lion FM became live on the internet on September 1, 2010 while various programs have since become available online on the internet as podcasts, notably:
  Program   Podcasting URL   Notes
  The Luv Shack www.theluvshack.net   Jewish dating program
 for 25-35 year olds
 Mornings with Lion  Mornings with Lion  Weekday Morning Show
 Weekdays 8-9 am
  The World and Us   www.theroar.info   The Jewish narrative:
  contemporary history.
  Neshima Mizrahi
  נשמה מזרחית
  Sephardic Soul 		The only Sephardic cultural program on Australian radio.
In Hebrew		 התוכנית היחידה באוסטרליה הנותנת במה למוזיקה ים תיכונית מזרחית והתרבות הספרדית
 Hosted by Lea Katanov
 Artytypes

 hosted by Nita Jaye 		 www.artytypes.com.au Interviews and profiles of people in the Arts. Weekly short story.

JBC = Jewish Broadcasting Community, established around March 2011, aims promote Jewish Broadcasting, both radio and TV, in both Sydney and Melbourne.
Lion FM Anenna View from transmission room
View over Docklands from the tower

Amit Rehak then station co-manager
Amit selects twiddles Lion FM transmission.

Transmitting aerial is with other aerials on this tower atop a 54 storey building in the Melbourne CBD.
The History of Jewish Radio in Australia
An overview of a story that starts in 1949. How multicultural Australia agencies first fostered then choked Jewish radio.
... and in the World
Since circa 1997 Jewish Radio Stations have emerged throughout the Jewish diaspora, as detailed in www.TheHistoryOfNow.net/JewishRadioNow.htm with brief station histories and website links.
The ongoing story of how/why Lion FM lost its community radio license in June 2011 www.TheHistoryOfNow.net/LionFMNow.htm is presented with links to relevant docs. Lion FM continues for the moment by broadcasting its regular programs on the internet at www.LionFM.org with a glimmer of hope of radio broadcasting recommencing early 2012,
This striking stained glass design is by Nita Jaye. Nita was born to Middle East refugees -- her parents from Iraq were two of the one million Jews dispossessed and expelled from Arab lands 1945 -1953. The 3000 year old Jewish community of Iraq had survived despite "dhimmi" status following the Arabian invasion circa 800 AD. But Nita's parents - and all Iraqi Jews - had faced increasing discrimination subsequent to the fascist inspired Arabian Nationalism that arose in 1930. Nita's mother as a school student was the top student in Classical Arabic in Iraq and won a scholarship for University Study at the American University of Beirut. ( Her family had hid their Jewishness very well by adopting an Arabic sounding name.)

More about Nita Jaye and other Australian Jewish artists is here.
From late 1964 to early 1966 the official Jewish Student group at the Australian National Univeristy established and ran a children's club, the Nulla Nullas, on the aboriginal village adjacent to the Wallaga Lake in southern New South Wales. One striking aspect of this club was it carried out charitable activities in the broader community. Another aspect was the establishment of some life-long links between some Wallaga Lake village residents and members of Australian Jewry.

Click on the image above or here to view a detailed account of the Nulla Nulla Club for aboriginal children at Wallaga Lake. Nulla Nulla Club.


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After the German invasion of Lithuania those Jews who survived the actions of Lithuanian "patriots" ahead of the arrival of the German Army, and had not been murdered by the NAZI "Eizengruppen" in the first days of occupation, were confined to ghettos.
The day by day story of events in the Kovno ghetto were meticulouly recorded by the Jewish leaders of the Kovno Ghetto. These records, hidden before the "liquidation" of the Ghetto, were found post-war, so that a detailed history of life and death in the Kovno Ghetto exists.
After a brief period during which schools were established in the Ghetto, all such activity was banned. As an act of resistance, in fact a school continued to operate, in hidden places in the Ghetto, the so-called Underground School of the Kovno Ghetto.
As part of the Nazi thorough-going genocide, the birth of Jewish children was banned, and pregnant women if discovered were aborted. Nevertheless a few children were born in the ghetto, and by the courageous actions of one Ghetto resident, who travelled outside the ghetto seeking willing foster-parents, these children were saved.
This story has an Australian connection: One of these "illegal" babies born in the Kovno Ghetto smuggled outside who was the daughter of the lead teacher in the underground school - - now lives in Australia.
But even more amazing, this baby who survived and came to Australia was the daughter of the courageous woman, who with bleached hair, and not wearing the Star who found willing foster parents outside the ghetto, and organised the baby smuggling. Her father was the school teacher shown in the image to the left of the Underground School in the Kovno Ghetto.
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The Sephardim in Australia

Strictly speaking the Sephardim were the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, who fled elsewhere in the Mediterranean, and to to Northern Europe - notably Holland. However the term is often used more broadly to include the Mizrahi -- Jews who lived in the Middle East from the time of the Jewish Kindgdoms, n lands that between 600CE and 1450 CE were conquered by Muslim invaders and became Muslim states or caliphates. Mizrahi also lived in the Central Asian countries that had became Muslim as a consequence of the drive eastward of Ghenghis Khan.

In The Sephardi Presence in Australia [ downloadable as a PDF] Ron Raab gives a brief but comphrehensive account, drawing especially on the book by Aaron Aaron The Sephardim in Australia and New Zealand.
PODCASTS OF MIDDLE EAST HISTORY
at http://TheRoar.info


Use your commuting time, and other times, listening to our podcasts that present the real facts about Jews in the Middle East.
These presentations are free of spin and unpolluted by the forgeries and partial truths that constitute the fabricated "Palestinian Narrative" according to which Jesus was a Palestinian and the million Jews living in the Middle East outside Israel in 1948 just don't rate a mention.

The narrators, both genuine children of holocaust survivors, with actual experience in Israel, present the material with a light touch. Morry, who has served in the IDF, choses the music given to provide breaks in the material. Visitors of real expertise and actual experience are interviews to broaden and enrich the discussion.

Learn the real facts of the emergence of Israel, of the millenia of Jewish existence both within Israel and the lands thereabout, about the creration of Israel, learn of the "forgotten refugees" -- the Jews expelled form Arab Lands.
Simply click on
http://TheRoar.info
Other world landscape drawn by 14 year old Peter ginz at Terezin 1941
Lunar Landscape drawn by the 14 year old Jewish-Czeck boy Peter Ginz at the Terezin Concentration Camp.A copy of Peter Ginz's painting was carried by the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon on the fatal flight of the Columbia.

See link for more details.