Australian Jewish History

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There are 45,000 Jews in Melbourne and 35,000 in Sydney. There are Jews in other parts of Australia as well.

The first Jews to arrive in Australia, among the original convicts sent by The United Kingdom, arrived in 1788. Regular, organized worship started in The 1820's. No Jewish community was formed at first because the first Jewish convicts were illiterate in both English and Hebrew. In 1817, a Chevrah Kaddish was formed in Sydney. By The 1800's there was an established Jewish community made up of many free settlers as well as convicts. The first synagogue was established in Hobart, Tasmania in July, 1845. It is still in use today. More Jews arrived in Australia during The Australian Gold Rush as well as to escape the pogroms of Eastern Europe. In The Late 1930's, many Jews escaped to Australia from Germany and Austria. After World War II, many Holocaust survivors were admitted and today Australia has the largest number of Holocaust survivors of any Jewish community in The World. 

[AussieJTFer]

Sydney Jews are by enlarge more liberal and not as Zionist as Melbourne Jews. More of the self-hating ones are up there and they aren't as concentrated in one or two areas like they are here in Melbourne.