Dedication of grave of Dunera Boy, Georg Hans Fröhlich – 16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Adele Rosalky

On 16 November 2025 the ACT branch of the Australian Jewish Historical Society held a ceremony at Woden Cemetery to honour the memory of Dunera Boy, Georg Hans Fröhlich.  Fröhlich’s was the first Jewish burial conducted in the national capital.  His grave is in un-consecrated ground, previously lying unmarked and anonymous for 83 years until the AJHS ACT arranged for a plaque to be placed as a headstone for the grave.

The year 2025 marked the 85th anniversary of the arrival in Sydney of the troopship HMT Dunera with 2,542 internees on board, including Fröhlich.  The decision by Churchill’s Cabinet in 1940 to arrest and to deport the refugees was later described by Churchill as “a deplorable and regrettable mistake”.   After a long voyage in appalling conditions, Fröhlich was incarcerated in camps in Hay, NSW and Tatura in Victoria.

Fröhlich had lens-making skills needed by the Australian Armed forces and was chosen as one of five internees to be released from the camps to work at Mt Stromlo Observatory, 16 km outside of Canberra.  In September 1942, a little over a year after he arrived at Mt Stromlo, Fröhlich died of natural causes at the age of 23.

As he was alone in Australia without any family—indeed his parents were in concentration camps in Germany–the Director of Mt Stromlo, Dr Richard (later Sir Richard) Wooley took responsibility to arrange and pay for his funeral.  The funeral was conducted by Kurt Gottlieb, a Jewish refugee working at Mt Stromlo, who later became president of the ACT Jewish Community.  The funeral took place before the formation of the ACT Jewish Community in 1951, and there was not yet a consecrated space for Jewish burials.

Through contact between AJHS ACT President Adele Rosalky, and Kurt Gottlieb’s daughter Miriam, who lives in Israel, the background was uncovered and the grave located.

The ceremony on Sunday 16 November 2025 was held in the presence of Israeli Ambassador, HE Amir Maimon, the Presidents of AJHS ACT, Adele Rosalky and AJHS NSW, Peter Philippsohn OAM, and the President of the ACT Jewish Community, Athol Morris.  Dr David Rosalky explained the religious ritual and recited appropriate psalms and prayers to invited guests with personal and historic connections, and to the members and friends of the AJHS.

The ceremony has ensured that Georg Hans Fröhlich is honoured and his name remembered as an eternal blessing.

Frohlich – Georg Hans Frohlich 4th from right, Kurt Gottlieb 2nd from right – photographer unknown
Frohlich burial – Kurt Gottlieb delivering the burial of Georg Hans Frohlich at Woden Cemetery in 1942 – photo courtesy of Miriam Gottlieb
Frohlich 10 – Adele & David Rosalky conducting the dedication ceremony – photographer Eldad Ohayon
Georg Hans Frohlich plaque – photographer Adele Rosalky

References:

  • Trove.nla.gov.au
  • Dunera – National Library of Australia (Duneera – The Holocaust)
  • Carol Bunyan, personal communication, 27.9.22 & 12.10.25
  • Pearl, Cyril, The Dunera Scandal, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1983
  • Gottlieb, Miriam, personal communication, 9.10.25