Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Convicts and Early Settlement
- 2 Waves of Migration
- 3 A Place in Australian Society
- 4 The Watershed Years
- 5 Diverse Voices
- 6 Israel and Zionism
- 7 Transformation or Disappearance?
- 8 Jewish Women
- 9 The Broader Community
- 10 Recent Immigrants
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Synagogues
- Appendix 2 Parliamentarians
- Appendix 3 Hostels, 1945–1960
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - A Place in Australian Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Convicts and Early Settlement
- 2 Waves of Migration
- 3 A Place in Australian Society
- 4 The Watershed Years
- 5 Diverse Voices
- 6 Israel and Zionism
- 7 Transformation or Disappearance?
- 8 Jewish Women
- 9 The Broader Community
- 10 Recent Immigrants
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Synagogues
- Appendix 2 Parliamentarians
- Appendix 3 Hostels, 1945–1960
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
By the end of the nineteenth century, Jews had become a well-established minority with identifiable settlement and occupational patterns, making them more visible than their 0.5 per cent of the total population may have predicated. Although there was some anti-Jewish prejudice, most enjoyed success in economic, political and social life. Observers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, remarked on the high proportion of Jews active in public life. An article published in 1922, entitled ‘One Hundred Years of Judaism in Australia’, claimed:
‘Every country has the sort of Jews it deserves.’ Berthold Auerbach made this epigram about his own race and if there is any truth in it, New South Wales has deserved exceedingly well. In every branch of our activities since the earliest times, members of the Jewish community have taken a large and distinguished part.
They were a very acculturated group, who spoke English and were so well integrated that ‘their outward manner was hardly distinguishable from them [non-Jewish Australians]’.
Patterns of settlement
Australian-born Jews made up 58.4 per cent of all Jews by the end of the nineteenth century and, combined with a further 17.8 per cent born in Britain, made a total of 76.2 per cent. Of the remainder, 5.7 per cent were born in Germany and Austria, 12.2 per cent in Eastern Europe, with others coming mainly from southern and western Europe.
By 1900, most Jews lived in urban centres, largely in Melbourne and Sydney.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Jews in Australia , pp. 36 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005