Rich history of Jewish media to come alive online

A joint venture between the National Library of Australia (NLA), the National Library of Israel (NLI) and the Australian Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) will see 180 years of Australian Jewish newspapers digitised and released for public consumption.

The new initiative will provide open free digital access to over 200,000 pages from Jewish communities across the continent.

The new digital collection will be openly accessible and fully searchable from anywhere in the world through Trove, Australia’s free online research portal and the Historical Jewish Press Project (JPress).

NLA Director-General Dr Marie-Louise Ayres said the project continues the work being done by the National Library to connect culturally and linguistically diverse communities with their history.

“The National Library’s unparalleled digitisation capabilities will once again unlock important sources for researchers and enable generations to connect with the treasured voices, stories and opinions of the people from their collective past.”

The history of Jewish press in Australia goes back to 1842, when, despite the very small Jewish population, a local edition of the London-based Voice of Jacob (what would later become The Jewish Chronicle) was published in Sydney.

As the local communities grew and established themselves in the twentieth century, the number of publications and their variety grew immensely. Most of the publications were in English, but there were also some in Yiddish and Hebrew.

AJHS President Peter Philippsohn OAM said the digital archive would help to shine a light on a part of Australia that has largely been overseen.

“Jewish people have been in Australia since 1788 and, while prominent members of our community such as Sir John Monash are well known, the history of those who came before him remains largely unknown,” he said.

“From a Jewish community standpoint, these newspapers represent a rich source of contemporary history and to have access to the information for historians, genealogists and interested members of the public is immense.”

This joint initiative would not have been made possible without financial assistance from philanthropic supporters, including Eitan Neishlos and Lee Levi.

Mr Neishlos is a well-known figure for his contributions and tireless efforts on behalf of the Jewish community. He recently made contributions that were instrumental to the unveiling of a new exhibition at the ‘Unity’, an exhibition which launched on November 4 dedicated to the life and legacy of the late Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel Prize peacemaker Yitzhak Rabin.

Mr Neishlos was also recently appointed to Chairman of Courage to Care, a social advocacy organisation designed by the Jewish community to create awareness of the dangers of prejudice, racism and discrimination while educating to challenge negative attitudes and behaviours.

With permission from the Australian Jewish News and their publisher, Polaris Media, all issues of the Australian Jewish News will be digitised, as will all other Australian Jewish newspapers published up to the copyright date of 1954.