Hebrew, Israelite, Jew. A history of then Jews in Western Australia

Journal article

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In Journal Issue

Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 11, 2 (1991)

Author(s) Hilary Rubinstein AbstractBook Review: When the Dutch navigator, Willem de Vlamingh, sailed to the coast of Western Australia in 1696-97 (1669 according to a printing error in the book under review) he brought with him at least one Jewish crewman, who was perhaps the first Jew to set foot in Western Australia. But Jews may have been aboard Dutch exploratory vessels which entered Western Australian coastal waters earlier in the seventeenth century: a pewter spoon bearing a Magen David was recovered from a ship wrecked in 1656. The first Jews who arrived in the Swan River Colony were the English merchant brothers, Lionel and William Samson, who landed in 1829 as the precursors of a Jewish community which is reputedly the most isolated in the Diaspora. In this handsomely produced and lavishly illustrated book, the product of extensive research by distinguished Perth educationalist, Dr David Mossenson, assisted (particularly in the gathering of oral testimony and bibliographical material) by Louise Hoffman, we have a history worthy of its subject.
Year1991
Pages355-357