Perth’s Carmel School sweeps essay field
This year the Australian Jewish Historical Society (NSW) conducted an essay competition which used a theme focused on Jewish servicemen and women from the First World War.
Over open to year 10 students across Australia, Perth’s Carmel Schools provided four of the five winners.
The topic was selected for the following reasons:
2015 marked 100 years since Gallipoli
1916 had the largest number of Jewish casualties in World War1
1750 Jewish Australians served in World War I
Twenty-nine students from various Jewish Day Schools submitted essays which were judged by an independent panel.
The winners are:
NAME | HISTORICAL FIGURE | SCHOOL |
Jason Fasser | Eliezer Margolin | CARMEL SCHOOL |
TM Joffe | Eliezer Margolin | CARMEL SCHOOL |
Brandon Kaye | Leonard Keysor | EMANUEL SCHOOL |
Jaden Schaffer | Eliezer Margolin | CARMEL SCHOOL |
Kaylene Schutz
|
Jewish Religious Representation:
Rabbi David Freedman |
CARMEL SCHOOL |
Rabbi David Freeman was appointed as a chaplain in the Australian Imperial Force and he served briefly on Gallipoli and in Egypt and France. He was also the Rabbi of the Perth Hebrew Congregation.
Leonard Keysor was a British-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross. Keysor emigrated to Australia shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force in August 1914. He was awarded the Victoria Cross at Lone Pine [Gallipoli] in August 1915. Following the end of the war, Keysor resided in Sydney from 1918 until February 1919 when he returned to England. In 1927 Keysor re-enacted his exploits at Gallipoli in the film For Valour. He died in 1951 and was eventually buried with full military honours in Israel.