Marks, Marcelle

Personal Papers Archives

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Authority Biography/Administrative History

Marcelle Marks was a prominent member of the Australian Jewish Historical Society in the 1980s. She began the 'Jews on the Land' research project at the invitation of Beth Hatefutsoth and the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Louise Rosenberg of the Australian Jewish Historical Society in Sydney. She was assisted by Beverley Davis of the Victorian branch of the AJHS, and the results of the research were included in the 1983 exhibition, 'The Jewish Agricultural Experience in the Diaspora', held at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora.  Her research spanned Jewish farmers across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia, between the 1850s and the early 2000s. Her research covered early pioneer farmers of the late nineteenth century, covering the lives of Jewish convicts and settlers.  Marks also discussed wartime migration and the influx of Jewish refugees in the early twentieth century, including the Australian Jewish Welfare Society, which sponsored Jewish refugees fleeing Europe, and the Big Brother Movement, which operated the Glen Innes Training Farm and assisted with refugee resettlement in Australia. Similar refugee training farms included Melbourne's Jewish Land Settlement Trust at Narre Warren and Berwick, Mooringa in Cowra, NSW, and Chelsea Park Farm in Baulkham Hills, Sydney. Significant research pertained to farming in Shepparton, where over 60 Jewish families lived and worked 'on the land' between the 1930s and 1960s. Her research culminated in the article  'Jews on the Land: Mutual Farms and Mooringa' article, published in the Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal in 2019; however, her research spans significantly farther than what is covered in the article.

The papers relate to the "Jews on the Land". It contains  research done by Marcelle Marks many years ago for a project designed by Beth Hatesfutsot. Marcelle did so much work and kept the interviews and photos 

ProvenanceMARKS, Marcelle (MARKSM)
Dates(s)1830 to 2019
Scope & ContentJews on the land reseach papers. Hardcopy correspondence, photographs and digitised discs
Related RecordsAB281 Item 2.227 Item Box Number 15 Item Number 105 - Personal Papers and Correspondence - Louise Rosenberg Item Box Number 1 Item Number 1 - Personal Papers of MATSDORF, Wolf Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 24, 2 (2019) Jews of the Land: Mutual Farms and 'Mooringa' by Marcelle Marks Pages 335-362
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