Queensland Jewish community celebrates 160 years with “less oy, more joy”

The Queensland Jewish community is celebrating 160 years of Jewish life in Queensland, marking the milestone with events highlighting resilience, contribution and unity with the theme “less oy, more joy”.

While Jewish settlement in Queensland dates back to the colony’s separation from New South Wales in 1859, it was in 1865 that several Jewish families held their first communal meeting in Brisbane, establishing what became the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation and later the historic Margaret Street Synagogue.

Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies (QJBD) President Jason Steinberg said the milestone reflected a long record of contribution across the state.
“In commerce, medicine, law, education, philanthropy, tourism, retail, civic and cultural life of Queensland, Jews have been active in cities and towns across the state from FNQ to Coolangatta and out west to Mt Isa,” he said.

 

“The importance of marking the community’s 160th anniversary this year is made all the more important given the hate Jewish Queenslanders have been subjected to since the Hamas terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023,” Steinberg said.
“This milestone is a welcome reminder to celebrate the amazing contribution Jews have made to Queensland. That’s why our tag line for this anniversary is less oy, more joy. This is our moment to celebrate that legacy joyfully, proudly and together.”

At a recent celebration in Brisbane, Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) President Daniel Aghion praised Queensland Jewry as “a miracle of integration” and a model for the nation. He commended the leadership of the QJBD and long-serving community figures, including Pamela Huppert, Dr Michael Briner and David Paratz AM.

Reflecting on his visits to smaller Jewish communities across Australia, Aghion said Queensland’s Jewish community was “small but so integrated into its broader community that the general Queenslander community was vocal in its backing.”

He noted that many non-Jewish attendees at a Queensland Holocaust Museum event spoke with admiration and friendship towards Jewish Queenslanders. Aghion added, “Your 160 years has worked a miracle of integration and a model I have not seen elsewhere in Australia.”

The anniversary also shines a light on generations of Queensland Jews who have shaped the state, including Henry Spiro (Mayor of Toowoomba, 1870 and 1873), Miriam Hertzberg (co-founder of the Lady Lamington Hospital, now the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital), Sir Matthew Nathan (Queensland Governor, 1920–25), Sir Zelman Cowen (University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor and later Governor-General) and Dr Errol Solomon Meyers (founder of UQ’s medical school).

It also honours Holocaust survivors and philanthropists Paul Kamsler, Reuben Pelerman OAM, Joe Saragossi AO and Richard Werner, along with conductor Rudi Pekárek, cricketer Roy Levy, paralympian Ramon (Ray) Epstein OAM and soccer coach Miron Bleiberg.

 

A highlight of the anniversary year is the release of They Found Paradise: Retracing the Jewish History of Australia’s Gold Coast by Shaina Rother, published by the QJBD with support from the Reuben Pelerman Benevolent Foundation and sponsorship from Gerald Moses. The book documents how Jewish families fleeing antisemitism in Europe during the 1930s helped shape the Gold Coast’s growth from fishing villages into a thriving modern city.

The anniversary celebrations conclude this Sunday, November 16, with JFEST, a free public festival of Jewish food, music and culture at Brisbane’s Alexandria Park in the RNA Showgrounds. Running from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm, JFEST invites the broader community to join in celebrating Queensland’s Jewish heritage.

For more information, see the Jfest Facebook page.