Jewish Lord Mayor: E.S. Marks
From July 1, 1930, to December 31, 1930, E.S. (Ernest Samuel) Marks (1871-1947) was Sydney's first Jewish Lord Mayor.
Alderman Marks was a member of the City of Sydney council for 27 years, an M.L.A. for North Sydney from October 8, 1927, to September 8, 1930, and made a C.B.E. in 1940. Connected with the wool trade for 40 years, E.S. Marks was a principal of the wool export firm of Joseph Marks and Co.
During his term as Lord Mayor of Sydney, as he was a bachelor, his sister, Miss Hilda Marks, assumed the role of Lady Mayoress. Already one of Sydney's leading hostesses, several years earlier Miss Marks had complied her own booklet of Home Cookery and Jewish Recipes to raise funds for the Red Cross.
For more than 20 years, Alderman Marks was associated with the N.S.W. division of the Red Cross. During World War I, he was chairman of the Red Cross Day committee which raised more than £1 million. A foundation member of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, E.S. Marks was a noted athlete and did much for amateur sport in Australia.
Vice-chairman of the City Council's Health and recreations committee, Marks believed the one sure way to personal and national prosperity was to teach young people how to play.
Through his position on the City Council, he put this belief into practice by working for the establishment of children's playgrounds and encouraging young people to participate in organised sport.
He represented Australia at several overseas Olympic conferences, and was vice-chairman of the Australian Olympic Federation and vice chairman of the N.S.W. Olympic Council.
E.S. Marks amassed a vast personal library of sporting books and data on athletics which he later presented to the Mitchell Library.
