Jews of the Outback: Jewish Settlement in Broken Hill Abstract

Jews of the Outback: Jewish Settlement in Broken Hill Katherine Mannix, B.Th. (CIS) Candidate, Master of Arts (Research) School of Arts, Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies University of Sydney, 31 December 2016 Declaration I declare that the following thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree in any university and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Katherine Mannix, B.Th. (CIS) ii Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge three special women: Margaret Price, Broken Hill Historical Society historian and a former ‘Dryens’ girl’, whose singular recognition of the importance of the Jews of Broken Hill initiated this study; Emerita Professor Suzanne D. Rutland, who is as generous as she is expert in Australian Jewish history, and Dr Rachil K. Schper (1917-2008) doctor, Holocaust survivor, and neighbour, who exemplified the wit and wisdom of Judaism and shared it, at just the right time. iii Katherine Mannix MA (research) candidate, Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Sydney Jews of the Outback: Jewish Settlement in Broken Hill Abstract In the late nineteenth century, Jews from the Russian Empire immigrated to the new world in great numbers. A small but significant community was established in the silver rush town of Broken Hill. Broken Hill – a European city in the middle of the desert – suited the Jews who came there. Within five years of its discovery in 1883, Broken Hill was producing more silver, lead and zinc (and royalties for government) than any other mine in the world. The massive boomerang shaped ore body produced a fortune for Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP), caused the deaths of hundreds of miners, kick started the Australian union movement and produced a society that is as proud and cohesive today as it was in the beginning. The Jews who came to Broken Hill contributed substantially to the development of this society. In return, Broken Hill provided the Jews with something rare in history: a home that was free and safe. This thesis describes the Jewish community and their contribution to Broken Hill, which, at the turn of the century, was the third largest centre in New South Wales (after Sydney and Newcastle). The study surveys Jewish ethnic origins, the ‘waves’ of immigration, occupational profiles, the building of the Synagogue (which still stands and is now the home of the Broken Hill Historical Society), business successes, involvement in politics and wider society, and the eventual movement beyond Broken Hill to the capital cities. Finally ‘Jews of the Outback: Jewish Settlement in Broken Hill’ will attempt to characterise Jewish contribution to one of Australia’s most important colonial cities and the impact of Australia on Jewish traditional lifestyles. iv Jews of the Outback: Jewish Settlement in Broken Hill CONTENTS Declaration…………………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….iii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….iv Contents………………………………………………………………………....……v Introduction………………………………………………………………………..…..1 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………11 Earliest Arrivals: (1870-1890) Chapter 1: Jews in the Barrier Ranges, 1870s-1890…………………………... 23 Chapter 2: The Barrier Ranges as ‘habitat’ for Jews…………………………… 38 The Ukrainians: a Litvak Story (Jews from 1890s-1920s) Chapter 3: The Ukrainian Crisis……………………………………………………46 Chapter 4: The Shul – Orthodoxy comes to Broken Hill…………………………66 The Broken Hill Community (1890s-1940s) Chapter 5: Moving up………………………………………………………………..83 Chapter 6: Big Shots…………………………………………………………………95 Chapter 7: Philanthropy, education and religious ministry …………………… 115 Chapter 8: Decline of the Community…………………………………………… 144 The Edge of the Diaspora ‘at the edge of Sundown’ Chapter 9: Comparison with Jews in other mining communities…………..….161 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………… 173 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………..……..183 Sample Questionnaire…………………………..……………………………..…..194 v Introduction On 21 January 2015, the city of Broken Hill in New South Wales became the only Australian city to be listed by the National Heritage Council. Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said that Broken Hill exemplified ‘the ethos of Australia’: ‘From Pro Hart to Priscilla to Perilya, it’s a town that covers art and culture and mining and industry and the outback of Australia.’1 There was awareness that there had been a Jewish community in Broken Hill, and that the synagogue there was one of only three purpose built synagogues in rural New South Wales.2 There was a broad understanding of the nature of the highly orthodox, Eastern European community. What was unknown was the extent to which the Jewish community contributed to Broken Hill, and therefore ‘the ethos of Australia’ recognized by the National Heritage Council. To this day there is a place in Broken Hill informally known as ‘Mt Zion’; locations are described to the visitor as ‘opposite where Griffs’ used to be’ or ‘across the road from Dryen’s’; the corner of the main street, Argent St, and Oxide St is still known as ‘Krantz’s Corner’, after the original Krantz Bros. store there. The Jews may have gone, but Broken Hill’s streetscape carries many reminders of their presence. 1 Andrew Robertson, ‘Broken Hill is Nation’s First Heritage City’, The Barrier Daily Truth, 21 January 2015, 1. 2 The others are Maitland, (1879-1901) and Newcastle, (1927 -). For a detailed discussion of the Maitland Jewish community, see Janis Wilton, Maitland Jewish Cemetery: A Monument to Dreams and Deeds (Maitland: Maitland Regional Art Gallery, 2010). Less has been written on the Newcastle Jewish coMMunity. 1 The Jews of Broken Hill have not been adequately recognized. Indeed, Sharing the Lode: The Broken Hill Migrant Story,3 a project specifically written to celebrate migration to Broken Hill by the NSW Migration Heritage Centre, fails to mention Jews at all.4 A central question in any study such as this is to identify factors that contribute to the survival of a Jewish community in a small town setting. In the case of Broken Hill, an unexpected finding was the Jewish contribution to the survival of Broken Hill itself, and importantly, the recognition of that contribution by those who live there today. By contrast, Sharing the Lode: The Broken Hill Migrant Story represents the typical treatment of Jews by non-Jewish authority: when Jews have been very successful, the majority appropriates their successes by absorbing them into the mainstream, rendering their Jewishness invisible. Harry Seidler is always described as an ‘Austrian-born Australian architect’, never a Jewish architect. There is a temptation for Jews to assimilate in order to be accepted, but the Jews of Broken Hill enjoyed full acceptance from the beginning and did not need to convert or deny their Jewish background as happened in the Germanic states in the nineteenth century and even in Britain. This thesis explores the story of these Jews: who they were, where they came from and why. It seeks to describe the particularly vibrant community, and to explain how the community lasted for fifty years in a place with no natural water, manifold climate and health challenges and at a time of 3 Sharing the Lode: The Broken Hill Migrant Story. Broken Hill: Migrant MuseuM, in association with Broken Hill Migrant Heritage CoMMittee Inc, 2006. Exhibition catalog. 4 The work Mentions Afghans, Italians, Maltese, Croatians, Filipinos, Norwegians, Lebanese, Greeks and Yugoslavians, but no ‘Russians’ and no Jews. 2 extreme industrial unrest. As the first proper study into this question, much of what follows is descriptive. However, certain historical questions emerged relating to Jews’ motivations for emigration, the variability of Jewish life in the nineteenth century depending on location and the role of Jews in the longevity of Broken Hill, the longest continuously operating mining city in the world. The question, ‘Who were the Jews of Broken Hill?’ may appear simple, but upon examination reveals it is not straightforward at all. The follow up question, ‘Why did they come?’ unveiled further layers of complexity, with substantial differences of opinion amongst scholars; received family stories that were true, half true and sometimes deliberately false. Perhaps most frustrating was the lack of primary sources from the Jews of Broken Hill themselves, leaving their historian with a difficult and sensitive task of analysis from general Jewish literature, secular contemporaneous reportage, family histories and informed speculation. First, the existing literature is reviewed. Chapter One: ‘Jews in the Barrier Ranges 1870s to 1890’, looks at the Jewish population of far western New South Wales prior to the arrival of the ‘Russians’ who founded the congregation. These earliest Jews were British or Australian born, and came as part of the general movement to open up pastoral lands of the far west. Identifying Jews, never an easy task, was attempted via examination of electoral rolls, publicans’ lists, Sands 3 Directories, Broken Hill/Silverton records and Beverley Davis Burial Data. Next came the so-called ‘Germans’, who were really from Prussia and therefore likely to be of Polish background. These Jews were middle-class Bavarians and Prussians seeking economic opportunities in opals and other minerals. National Archives and State Records were important

Load more