1848 census - 40 Jews in Maitland (ref "Australian Genesis" by Levi & Bergman)
Jewish population of NSW 1861-1933, from census summaries.
| |
|
1861 |
1881 |
1901 |
1921 |
1933 |
| Maitland |
m |
45 |
27 |
6 |
12 |
10 |
| |
f |
25 |
25 |
|
11 |
11 |
| |
t |
70 |
52 |
6 |
33 |
21 |
| Newcastle |
m |
2 |
34 |
78 |
73 |
39 |
| |
f |
1 |
16 |
36 |
48 |
24 |
| |
t |
3 |
50 |
114 |
122 |
63 |
The following information is compiled from articles in the Journal of the AJHS (my thanks to Gary Luke of of AJHS for giving me this information)
Elsewhere in New South Wales, fifteen Jews assembled in the Maitland home of merchant and future parliamentarian Samuel Cohen for High Holyday services in 1844, the first time public Jewish worship occurred in the town. Although the little Jewish population fell perceptibly between 1861 (when it numbered 70) and 1881 (when it numbered 52) the community defied the odds by optimistically erecting a synagogue, with the considerable financial backing of members of the Cohen family and business associate Lewis Wolfe Levy, who made many generous donations to the synagogue over the years. The 'compact, elegant little building' was consecrated in September 1879 by Rev. Samuel Aaron Goldstein, the newly appointed spiritual leader who had served briefly in Toowoomba. This impressive and well-educated young man's ambitions soon took him away from Maitland. In 1880 he resigned to take up a post in New Zealand, where a long and distinguished career awaited him.
Goldstein's replacement was the popular Rev. Solomon Levi, son of a chazan at Sydney's Great Synagogue whose fine voice he had inherited. Under Levi's guidance Maitland acquired a reputation as a model Kehillah'. But there was no future for Maitland Jewry after the turn of the century, since David Cohen and Company had moved its headquarters to Newcastle. The firm's departure was followed by a Jewish exodus. Many Maitland Jews resettled in Newcastle and by 1898 a minyon in Maitland had become a thing of the past. Only a handful of Jewish families remained there, including the minister's. The synagogue closed, and Levi, his wife and children left town. Other families followed their example, and by 1901 few Jews remained.
The coalport of Newcastle, whose rise as a Jewish communal centre had precipitated Maitland Jewry's demise, had only three Jews in 1861. By 1901 there were over 100. Most worked for David Cohen and Company as warehousemen and storekeepers. With a patriarchal concern for the spiritual welfare of his family's employees, George Judah Cohen, who had been the firm's Newcastle representative since 1865, founded a congregation in 1905 and a few months later, in 1906, when it was properly constituted, his son Samuel - later Sir Samuel - appropriately became foundation President. The first services were conducted in the social hall attached to the Methodist Mission in King Street, and evidently Newcastle Jewry took a sceptical view of its own durability, for it held services on leased premises for over two decades, not acquiring a synagogue site until 1921. Even then it was in no hurry, for the synagogue was not built until several years later. Capable of holding 250 people, it was consecrated on 18 September 1927.
Despite this tardiness, the congregation had wasted no time in securing a minister. At the time of its foundation it approached Rev. Isaac Morris, who had been assistant reader to the Newtown congregation since 1904 following an initial call to a congregation in Wales. Morris hesitated, doubting that the new congregation would be a going concern, but the prospect of regular pay cheques from David Cohen and Company changed his mind. He remained until 1910, when, frustrated by the delay in building a synagogue, he went to Hobart. He returned to Newcastle in 1921, having received assurances that the congregation was at long last preparing to dispense with makeshift premises, and he remained in Newcastle for the rest of his career. On his retirement he received the titles of'Rabbi Morenu from the Chief Rabbi and'Rabbi Emeritus' from the congregation.
Morris was a popular minister with many friends and interests in the wider community. Like so many other spiritual leaders of small and isolated congregations
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he needed to be versatile, for he acted as chazan shochet, moheI and religion school teacher. After the death of his first wife a daughter of Rev. Joel Falk of Melbourne, he married Raie Grinblat formerly Secretary of the Victorian Ladies' Zionist League Hatikvah, and largely through her influence he publicly identified with the Zionist movement at a time when many Australian Jews held back.
Samuel Cohen (1812-61), co-founder of David Cohen and Company, sat briefly as MLA for Morpeth during 1860. He had been the pioneer of Jewish congregational life in Maitland, and his political career was ruined owing to his religious principles. The second reading of the crucial Robertson Land Bill, which aimed to grant small farmers the right to settle on unsurveyed land, occurred on a Saturday. As a result Cohen was not present to record his vote, and was defeated at the subsequent general election. Cohen was a board member of the York Street Synagogue and was a founder and first President of the Macquarie Street Synagogue.
New South Wales Judge Henry Emanuel Cohen (1840-1912) sat as MLA for West Maitland from 1874-85 with a two Year break. He was the grandson, on his mother's side, of emancipist Henry Simeon Cohen (1790-1867) of Port Macquarie. The latter, a wealthy English broker, had been transported to Port Macquarie in 1833 for possessing stolen promissory notes. He made good in adversity, becoming hotel proprietor, storekeeper and shipowner. He could also boast some distinguished progeny: his son Nathan Cohen (1842-1910), twice Mayor of Tamworth, his son Edward, Mayor of Melbourne and Victorian parliamentarian, his granddaughter Fanny, wife of Sir Benjamin Benjamin, and of course his grandson. They, however, were not anxious publicly to claim him, and no hint of the relationship was breathed during Judge Cohen's lifetime, nor for many decades afterwards.
Judge Cohen's father Abraham Cohen (1811-74) arrived free about 1836, began his career as printer of the Australian newspaper in Sydney, and then went into business as a storekeeper first in Port Macquarie and then in Goulburn. True prosperity eluded him and in 1848 he returned to Sydney, setting up as a hotelkeeper. At the age of sixteen H.E. Cohen became a clerk in David Cohen and Company's West Maitland headquarters and remained there for eight years. In 1864 he opened a store at Bathurst in partnership with his twin brother, but it was not a success and they closed it three years later, joining the ranks of the unemployed. Cohen made a wise decision: he entered London's Middle Temple, and having qualified, returned to Sydney. He was called to the Bar in 1871 and swiftly established himself as a barrister specialising in commercial cases. From 1874 to 1880 he sat as MLA for West Maitland in succession to Lewis Wolfe Levy, serving as colonial Treasurer from 1877 to 1878, a full twelve months. He again represented the constituency from 1882 to 1885, serving for virtually all of that time as Minister for Justice. During the break in his parliamentary career he was an acting District Court judge. In 1896 he had the distinction of being the first Jew in the British Empire appointed to a Supreme Court bench, and in 1902 he became the first President of the New South Wales Arbitration Court, holding that office until 1905. While he was a judge he had several Jewish associates: his son Edgar, the future Sir Daniel Levy, Horace de Lissa and Alroy M. Cohen of the prominent business family.
An apt judgment on H.E. Cohen the judge came from the Sydney Morning HeraId:'Without being brilliant, it is generally conceded that Mr Justice Cohen worked laboriously and conscientiously on the Bench and during his career he justified the anticipations formed by the learned profession that he would strengthen the Common Law side and give satisfaction to the public... Sound and logical as a judge, he was genial and courteous as an individual...' An apt judgment on H.E. Cohen the Jew came from the Hebrew Standard, which on his death called him 'our foremost brother in this state'. His father had been a valued member of the board of the York Street Synagogue, and H.E. Cohen filled the vacancy caused by his father's death, sitting subsequently on the board of the Great Synagogue - a period of almost forty years. In 1885 and 1886 he was President of the Great Synagogue and served as Vice-President for ten terms. He also served as Honorary Secretary of the Sydney Hebrew Philanthropic and Orphan Society, which in 1888 amalgamated with his main communal interest, the Montefiore Home. He also held office as President, Vice-President and Councillor of the Jewish Education Board, and with the Anglo-Jewish Association. He also served as Chairman of the Hospital Saturday Fund and the St John Ambulance Association.
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The synagogue's foundation stone was laid in February 1879. It ceased as a place of worship in 1898. It then became a private school and later a masonic lodge. During World War 11 it was used as a dance hall to entertain soldiers, In that time it received its first re-paint and a new 'springy' floor was installed.
