Synagogues for Sydney
Building used as Bridge Street Synagogue, ca. 1900, photograph. Percy J. Marks Collection of Judaica
JA 61, item 20
As the numbers of Jewish immigrants in Sydney grew, the need for a place to hold regular services and to express religious identity was evident. Former convict Joseph Marcus, who had trained as a rabbi, is said to have conducted occasional services for Sydney’s Jews between 1817 and 1825. Phillip Joseph Cohen, who arrived as a free immigrant in 1828, held regular services in his house in George Street.
By 1833, a community known as the Sydney Hebrew Congregation was flourishing. The congregation initially met in a makeshift synagogue above Mr Rowell’s chemist shop in George Street, and established a set of laws to govern it. The published laws (below) appear to be the first item of Judaica printed in Australia.
The building above, located at 4 Bridge Street, was the first building in Australia to be specially set aside for use as a synagogue. The Sydney Hebrew Congregation used it from about 1837 until the construction and consecration of the York Street Synagogue in 1844. The building was later a liquor warehouse, before becoming W. N. Beaumont & Company’s Federal Electrical and Engineering Works. It was demolished to make way for the office/residential complex that was constructed in 1915, and now known as Cliveden.
This pageturner requires a web browser with the Flash plugin and JavaScript enabled.
Get the latest Flash player
Sydney Synagogue, Laws and rules for the management and regulation of
the Sydney Synagogue, 1833. Printed. ML 296/S
