The Angel of Kings Cross: The Life and Times of Dr Fanny Reading
A book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
As time passes, the name Fanny Reading and her impact on our community [especially NSW] is sadly diminishing. If Judaism had saints, this woman would definitely be a candidate for canonization and yet if one were to approach any member of the NSW Jewish community under the age of 60 today and ask if they had heard of Fanny Reading and if the answer was yes to ask what her achievements were, I suspect there would many blank looks.
Often, when I pick up a book that began life as a thesis, they are usually a bit of a slog. Dr Anne Sarzin’s book is a fascinating read about a fascinating woman of the twentieth century. As Professor Andrew Marcus notes, “Few leaders are endowed with the vision and the ability to transform their society” and as (the late) Stella Cornelius [herself a trailblazer in a number of fields] noted, “when one has known the life and work of Dr Fanny Reading one never again doubts the power of the individual in creating peaceful change”.
Fanny Reading was a few weeks shy of her ninetieth birthday when she died in December 1974. She had an impact both on the Jewish community as well as the wider community. Sarzin lists her different impacts on the NSW Jewish community, even though her years until she graduated from medicine were spent in Victoria (besides the first two of her life as she was born in Russia). She was an inspiration in not only founding the National Council of Jewish Women in NSW but also the catalyst for making it a national organization, and today, their headquarters in Woollahra is known as the Fanny Reading House. It was out of NCJW and her commitment to medicine that she became one of the founders of Wolper Hospital (it was the successor to the defunct Jewish Hospital) which emerged after World War II. She was also one of the original voices which led to the establishment of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.
As I read the section about Dr Fanny and her activism and her care in the Kings Cross area, I also thought about another Jewish doctor who walked in her footsteps in the Kings Cross area- the late Ray Seidler. They both cared for those whom society so often forgets. Less than one-quarter of the book focuses on her impact on Kings Cross. Not only did she practice medicine there but lived on-site [a practice quite common back then] for the area was less than savoury.
She travelled internationally and, in 1925, was a delegate to the International Zionist Congress in Vienna, where she met the founder [Henrietta Szold] of Hadassah/WIZO in Vienna and NYC. She also travelled to Palestine, where she saw Hadassah Hospital and other healthcare facilities. She was a lifelong Zionist, and because of this, NCJW always has raised money for projects in Israel.
She was one of the early female graduates (1922) of Melbourne University’s School of Medicine. Part of the expectation was that female graduates would focus on women and children. She was a voice for those women in her locality and served at This led to her becoming a strong advocate for family planning.
There is a fair amount of space dedicated (as it should be) to the libel case. In 1947, Smith’s Weekly accused Australian Jewry of sending funds collected for the Jewish rescue organization, Youth Aliyah to aid the campaign against the British in Palestine. In the Supreme Court in 1949, Dr Reading appeared as a plaintiff on behalf of Youth Aliyah. She lost on a technicality.
At first glance, the title given to this book would seem counterintuitive for not much (if measured in pages) is devoted to Kings Cross. That would be a misreading of this book for out of her incredible experiences and impact there it would also impact the Jewish world in which she was so much a part of.
For a number of years, I taught Studies of Religion to students across NSW. One topic they had to study was either a person or a trend in Judaism. I am aware of only one school (not Jewish) ever studying the life and impact of Dr Fanny Reading. Perhaps it is time for some of the Jewish schools to at least offer a study of her as an option.
This is a book that raises Dr Fanny Reading to a level with other great Australian Jews, including John Monash, Isaac Isaacs and Zelman Cowen. We have to thank Anne Sarzin for doing so!
This book will be formally launched at the Sydney Jewish Museum on October 5 at 6:45 pm.
The Angel of Kings Cross: The Life and Times of Dr Fanny Reading
Author: Anne Sarzin
Published by Australian Scholarly Publishing 2023
Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen is associated with Notre Dame Australia’s School of Medicine and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital. Previously he was associated with UNSWMedicine; University of Ballarat (now Federation University); and St. Louis University. He served as CEO of the Sydney Jewish Museum for 5 years.
It is so good to see a book about Dr Fanny, as some of us knew her. I wish we had this when in 1998, my daughter had to choose a woman of worth to study for her Batmitzvah at Kehillat Masada. Of course, I suggested Dr Fanny and she depended on my limited knowledge for her presentation.