Samuel Elyard and the Jews of Sydney
Samuel Elyard, ca. 1880-1895. Silver gelatin photoprint. DG P1 / 8
Samuel Elyard (1817-1910) is remembered as a fine landscape painter. He had studied under Conrad Martens and John Skinner Prout, and in the late nineteenth century produced many very attractive views of the Shoalhaven River district. In the 1850s, he almost caused the downfall of the Jewish community in Sydney.
A staunch Protestant, Elyard suffered from delusions that had him believe he was variously prince of Israel, king of Australia, president of the Australian republic and the incarnation of the prophet Elijah. He worked obsessively towards both bringing about the fall of Catholicism and converting the Jews of Australia to Christianity. Elyard imported Hebrew type from England, enabling him to add Hebrew phrases to the documents he printed. He produced several petitions, some of which appear below, asking permission to preach in various churches, and especially in the Sydney (York Street) Synagogue. For reasons that are yet to be uncovered, Sydney's rabbi, the Reverend Herman Hoezel, and his wife Minnie signed several copies of Elyard's petition. In signing, both stipulated that their approval was granted only in relation to the Old Testament, and not to the New Testament. Nevertheless, their signing of Elyard's petitions created a sensation in Sydney's Jewish community. Before long, the services of Reverend Hoelzel - whose recruitment as Sydney's first official rabbi had taken several years - were terminated under much controversy.
Settling in the Shoalhaven district of New South Wales, Elyard developed into a brilliant artist. Right to the last, he retained his obsessions with converting Jews to Christianity. Aged well into his 80s, Elyard published his pamphlet Letters to a Jewess in 1897. Paradoxically, in 1910 - the year of his death - Samuel Elyard wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald, suggesting that the University of Sydney employ a professor to specialise in Hebrew language and culture.
> View a selection of Samuel Elyard's paintings via the Library's catalogue
