AJHS-Vol.12-Part.01A-199311-1-72
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JOURNAL OF THE THE JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE AUSTRALIAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY - VICTORIA INC. The Australian Jewish Historical Society was founded in Sydney in August 1938. The Victorian Branch of the Society was founded in August 1954. Branches also exist in Canberra and in Western Australia. The Journal of the Australian Jewish Historical Society has been published since 1939. From 1988, production of the Journal is being shared by the Victorian and New South Wales sections. The Victorian-based issues of the Journal are edited and published by an Editorial Committee, whose members are: Professor William D. Rubinstein, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., FAHA, FASSA, F.R.Hist.S. (Editor). Dr. Paul R. Bartrop, B.A.(Hons), M.A., Dip.Ed., Ph.D. Mrs. Beverley Davis (Dip. Archives & Records) (Honorary Secretary). Dr. Howard A. Freeman, B.D.Sc., L.D.S. (ex-officio as President of the Victorian Committee). Rabbi Dr. John S. Levi, A.M ., D.D., M.A.H.L., M.A., Dip.Ed. Dr. Serge Liberman M.B., B.S. Dr. Hilary L. Rubinstein, B.A.(Hons), M.S., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S. A complete list of the Society's office-bearers is printed inside the back cover. The Editor welcomes suggestions for articles and manuscripts by authors dealing with any aspect of the history of the Jewish people in Australia. The Journal is national in coverage and deals with the whole sweep of Australian Jewish history from 1788 to the contemporary period. Manuscripts submitted for consideration for publication in the Journal should be typed, double-spaced, on one side of a page, and may be accompanied by illus trations. References should be in the form of endnotes rather than footnotes. No payment can be offered for any contribution. Communications regarding publication should be sent either to the Editor, Pro fessor W. D. Rubinstein, School of Social Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria 3217, orto the Honorary Secretary, Mrs. Beverley Davis, P.O. Box 255, Camberwell 3124, from whom information about membership in the Society and its other activities and resources may also be obtained. The Australian Jewish Historical Society - Victoria Inc., gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution towards the publication costs of this Journal by the Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs, Melbourne, Australia, and its Publication Advisory Committee: Isi J. Leibler, AO, CBE, D.Litt. (Chairman), and Professor Louis Waller, AO. Cover: Standing alongside Rabbis Brodie and Abrahams, Rev. Jacob Dang/ow leads prayers at the unveiling and consecration of the memorial to the Victorian Jews who fell in World War One, Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton (14 December 1924), the site of regular VA/EX ceremonies. (See article by Walter Jona.) (Courtesy Sol Rose & Walter Jona) THE JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY November 1993 Vol. XII Part 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1. Editor's Introduction 1 2. Naomi Cream Isaac Leo Lyon: The First Free Jewish Migrant to Australia? . 3 3. Muriel Hart Chesler Links in the Chain: The Colonial Experience of an Anglo-Jewish Family . 16 4. Graham Pont The Rediscovery of Isaac Nathan: or 'Merry Freaks in Troub'lous Times' 42 5. Peter Love 'The Kingdom of Shylock': A Case Study of Australian Labor Anti-Semitism . 54 6. Eliyahu Honig Some Notes on the 'Palestinian' Immigrants in Melbourne, 1990-1930 63 7. Eliyahu Honig A Zionist Visitor to Australia 69 8. Linda Joseph The Impact of Liberal Pioneer in Australia: Rabbi Jerome Mark . 71 9. John Dally Ultra-Nationalism and Literature in Australia 81 10. Hilary L. Rubinstein Sir James Barrett (1862-1945): Australian Philo-Semite . 91 11. W.D. Rubinstein The Attitude of the Australian Jewish Community and of Non-Jewish Opinion Leaders to the Rise of Nazi Germany and Nazi Anti-Semitism in 1933 . 101 12. Malcolm J. Turnbull The Carlton United Hebrew Congregation: A Short History . 115 13. Miriam Kuna North Carlton: My Nation State 131 14. Rodney Gouttman A Spy Within: Security, Zionism and the South Australian Jewish Community 143 15. Paul R. Bartrop Incompatible With Security: Emeny Alien lntemess from Singapore in Australia, 1940- 45 . 149 16. Walter Jona The VAJEX Story - Achievements in War and Peace...... ....... ...... 170 17. Lou Jedwab The Kadimah Youth Organisation in Melbourne: Reminiscences 1942- 53 179 18. Philip Mendes The Australian Union of Students Middle East Debates, 1974-75 188 19. Norman Rothfield How to Work for Peace and Come Out Smiling: Reminiscences 211 20. W. D. Rubinstein Jews in the 1991 Federal Census; The Welfare Society's Survey, The Jews of Melbourne: A Community Profile . 235 21. Lorraine Freeman (comp.) 100 Years Ago . 239 Book Reviews 1. Paul R. Bartrop: Leon Gettler, An Unpromised Land; Margaret Bevege, Behind Barbed Wire . 250 2. Lionel E. Fredman: Peter Denton, From Cabbie to Chairman: Larry Adler and the Story of F.A.I. 256 3. W. D. Rubinstein: Joseph Aron and Judy Arndt, The Enduring Remnant; David Cesarani, Justice Delayed; Shalom Coleman, Life is a Corridor; Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew, Harry Seidler; Philip Mendes, The New Left, the Jews, and the Vietnam War; Brian Murphy, The Other Australia; Evelyn Rothfield, The Future is Past . 257 4. Louis Waller: Leonie Starr, Julius Stone... 267 5. Short notices . 270 Other Material 1. Obituary: Walter Lippmann 271 2. Correspondence: Paul A. Morawetz . 272 3. Report to Members . 273 4. New Members . 275 5. Contributors . 276 Opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Society. Editor's Introduction EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION ollowing discussion with the Sydney Committee, we have agreed that this issue will begin Volume XII of the Journal. We have begun a new Volume to Ffacilitate the binding and indexing to Volume XI, which has itself grown to unprecedented length in record time. The extraordinary amount of material in our Journal reflects the fact that the last issue produced by the Victorian Committee, in November 1992, was a special one consisting of Rabbi Porush's memoirs and did not contain any other material. Its size reflects as well the continuing surge of interest in Australian Jewish history, as well as, we believe, the fact that the attractiveness and regular production schedule of the Journal in its present format spurs historians on to greater efforts. Volume XII No. 1 begins with three articles of considerable interest to the study of Jews in colonial Australia. Naomi Cream's very important article rewrites the his tory books, suggesting that the previously unknown Isaac Leo Lyon was the first free Jewish migrant to these shores. Muriel Hart Chesler spells out the early history of the Hart family, demonstrating the importance of viewing the British Empire as a unit of Jewish history. The author's father was born in Melbourne, while Rabbi Dr. John Levi, a member of our Editorial Committee, is, it would seem, descended from Rabbi Aaron Hart, who figures prominently in her article. Graham Pont, the Sydney musicologist, provides much new information on the life of Isaac Nathan, the 'father of Australian music', based upon intensive research in England and Australia towards a new biography he is writing. Peter Love, the well-known Labor historian, examines the anti-Semitic phase of the career of Frank Anstey, the Victorian politician. Labor anti-Semitism was a real but unpleasant facet of the Australian Left early in this century, targeting Jewish (and non-Jewish) 'finance capital'. Two articles by Eliyahu Honig focus on early Zionism and Palestinian migrants here, while Linda Joseph looks at a previously neglected pioneer rabbi of Liberal Judaism in Melbourne. The difficult years of the 1930s are surveyed in three articles. John Dally examines an important literary movement of the time with anti-Semitic overtones, while Hilary L. Rubinstein considers the other side of the coin, a notable Australian philo-Semite. The editor (W.D. Rubinstein) examines the attitudes of both the Australian and Jewish press to the earliest Nazi anti-Semitism. Jewish Carlton, today viewed with so much nostalgia, has received surprisingly little coverage by historians. This is rectified in two articles as Malcolm J. Turnbull examines the history of the largest synagogue in the area, and Miriam Kuna recalls what living in Jewish Carlton was actually like. Two articles deal with the period of World War Two. Rodney Gouttman's article shows how the federal government regarded the Zionist Revisionist movement as a potential security threat, while Paul R. Bartrop recounts the previously untold story of wartime alien internees from Singapore. Walter Jona adds a third article with a military theme, examining the important history of the Victorian Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, the major Jewish veterans' body. Three contributions concern the post-war Jewish Left, which has lately been the subject of much historical analysis. Two, by Lou Jedwab and Norman Rothfield, are autobiographical, while the article by Philip Mendes examines the outlook of 2 Editor's Introduction Jewish students during the 1970s. It should be unnecessary to add that this Journal is open to contributors situated at every point on the Jewish spectrum - as the articles of, among others, Eliyahu Honig and Walter Jona show - and that the Journal has no official viewpoint on any controversial event. (Norman Rothfield's article was written before the signing of the recent treaty between Israel and the PLO.) Finally, the editor briefly analyses the number of Jews in the most recent census and the important recent survey of Melbourne Jewish life released by the Welfare Society, while Lorraine Freeman concludes this issue with her popular feature, '100 Years Ago'. This volume also contains reviews of fifteen recent books, an obituary of Walter Lippmann, and other material.