New book records Shepparton’s lost Jewish farming community

Physiotherapist Devorah Zmood has launched her first book, “Shepparton Jewish Agricultural Settlement Migrant Stories”, documenting the history of the Jewish agricultural settlement at Orrvale, near Shepparton.

The book was launched with the Australian Jewish Historical Society Victoria at the Lamm Jewish Library of Australia, where many of those attending were former members of the Shepparton Jewish community or their descendants.

The book covers the 60 years in which the Jewish agricultural settlement at Orrvale was active, from the early 20th century until the 1960s. Orrvale is a small town in the City of Greater Shepparton and currently has a population of 438.

Zmood said the book had not been planned and that she had never set out to become an author but was encouraged to record the community’s history by people at the Lamm Jewish Library of Australia.

“They sat me down and said, ‘You’ve got too much material for an exhibition. Put it in a book”, she said.

At the launch, Zmood shared memories, anecdotes and photographs from the once close-knit community.

Zmood grew up in Shepparton, attended Shepparton High School and left the town at the age of 17. She said she wanted to preserve the stories of a community that had largely disappeared.

“This was the only Jewish agricultural settlement that existed in Australia,” she said.

Zmood told JWire that her interest in preserving the community’s history was partly sparked when her husband donated a Sefer Torah to the Broken Hill Synagogue Museum.

“I just felt this need to somehow memorialise the existence of that community,” she said.

She said the project was also shaped by personal loss.

“What boosted me along the way was that I’d just lost my younger brother, who had been an orchardist,” she said.

The book records the role early Jewish immigrants played in developing Shepparton’s fruit-growing industry.

“Irrigation had just been brought in, and the government wanted to develop industry and make it a food bowl,” Zmood said.

Zmood thanked those who assisted with the project, including her husband, Ronald Zmood, who edited and formatted the book, and the Shepparton Heritage Centre, which provided research assistance.

The book includes six first-hand accounts of the Jewish settlement, written by people from the community. These accounts make up about a third of the book.

Zmood said the book was intended to preserve and share the stories of those who built new lives in regional Victoria.

“It’s a personal story to celebrate the people who started their journeys here as migrants,” she said.

Many of the immigrants had come from cities, and Zmood said adapting to the primitive conditions at Orrvale would have been difficult.

“There was no electricity, and the toilet was down the back. I was in disbelief to think of the conditions,” she said.

But Shepparton, she said, “was where our families got the opportunity to feel safe and earn a living”.

Zmood’s daughter, Glen Eira City councillor Simone Zmood, also spoke at the launch and said she was “very proud of my mum today, and every day”.

Cr Zmood thanked the Lamm Jewish Library of Australia, the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society and the Australian Jewish Historical Society for their work in preserving community history.

“It is so important to capture Jewish history, photos, artefacts, records, stories and memories, especially for those smaller communities in regional areas of Australia that have shrunk or disappeared over the years,” she said.

Zmood told JWire she had used articles by David Feiglin from Australian Jewish Historical Society journals as part of her research.

The Shepparton Heritage Centre will host a free event for “Shepparton Jewish Agricultural Settlement Migrant Stories” this Sunday, May 17, at 1.30pm. Visitors will also be able to view the Jewish community exhibition at the centre.