History of the Jews in Tasmania
Jewish populations have existing in most of the history of settled Tasmania, Australia. The current total population of Jews in Tasmania is 376. Most live in the capital city of Hobart.[1]
History[edit]
The first Jews in Tasmania, were convicts, mostly from East London.[2]Two Jews named Judah and Joseph Solomon, were two brothers sentenced for death, because they promoted crime in England in 1819. Eventually, their sentences got commuted, and were deported to Tasmania on March 1, 1820. They eventually opened a general store which would sell imported goods.
After the brothers were given freedom from their servitude, they moved North to Launceston, and built a house on Argyle and Liverpool streets and used it as a synagouge before the construction of the Hobart Synagogue.[3] One Jew named Emanuel Levy was granted land in 1820, and soon Jewish settlement in Tasmania increased heavily. By 1854, the population of Jews in Tasmania reached 435 people, of which 259 were free (not in prison).[4] This is important because Australia was founded as a penal colony. Soon the population began to decline, due to emigration to England and New Zealand, and by 1891, the population had fallen to 81.[2][4]
Despite the number increasing to 154 in 1945, the number fell again to 98 in 1971.[4] However, by the early 2000s the number had risen to 180.[4] Increasingly, Tasmania has been the choice for many Australians when choosing a place in Australia to live. The same is said about Australia's Jewish population. Due to low prices in Tasmania, as compared to larger Australian cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Canberra, many Jews have decided to settle in Tasmania.[5][6] Other reasons include the beautiful nature in Tasmania.
Problems[edit]
Despite the increasing Jewish population inside Tasmania, there are not many Jewish services available to the local residents. There are no local stores selling kosher food. Due to local fishery laws, the local Jews could not legally import canned Schmaltz Herrings until recently.[1] There is only two synagogues in Tasmania, The Jewish Community Center of Tasmania, and the Hobart Synagogue. This causes numerous members of the community to have to walk long distances to be able to pray, and perform other Jewish services.[7] However, the Chabad Synagogue in Launceston has a rabbi, Yochanan, who lives there with his wife Rachel and son.[8]
Proposals for a Jewish State[edit]
Part of Southern Tasmania, was considered as a proposal for a Jewish State. Critchley Parker, a young journalist visited the Tasmanian nature and officially proposed it to be a home for the Jewish State. He met up with Dr. Isaac Steinburg who stated he could fit 50,000 Jewish refugees, in a part of Tasmania, known as Kimberly. After hiking the land for a long while, Parker and his associates began to believe that Kimberly could be an adequate place to house at least some of Europe's Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. Eventually, Parker began to show signs of fatigue from exploring and eventually died in 1944[9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Judaism in Tasmania | Hobart Synagogue - Australia's Oldest Synagogue".
- ^ a b "The Companion to Tasmanian History - Jewish Faith". utas.edu.au.
- ^ "The Jewish past of Tasmania". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. July 13, 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Tasmania". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
- ^ Kaltmann, Nomi. "Why does Australia's smallest state have the fastest growing Jewish community? - The Jewish Independent". thejewishindependent.com.au.
- ^ "'You feel more of an obligation to assert your identity': How the Jews of Tasmania are slowly growing their community". The Canadian Jewish News. March 21, 2023.
- ^ "David isn't the only Jew in Tasmania, although sometimes it feels that way". SBS News.
- ^ "About". Chabad of Tasmania.
- ^ "One man's tragic mission to establish a Jewish homeland in the wilds of Tasmania". December 5, 2020 – via www.abc.net.au.