Jews have migrated to Australia from all over the world. While a large number came from Europe after WWII, there were Jewish convicts on the first fleet, Jewish traders were early settlers, Jewish migrants, and refugees from Egypt, China, and India… Jews from pretty much everywhere!

The Jewish communities of Europe were almost destroyed by the events of the Holocaust and WW2, and many communal records were destroyed. Thankfully organizations like the Mormon (LDS) Church had begun collating, photographing, and indexing these records long before the war. FamilySearch now holds these records, and millions of them have been digitized and indexed. Family search is free to use, but you do need to register. 

Civil administrations in many jurisdictions also required copies of some records to be lodged in municipal centers.

The development of the Internet now means many of these records and indexes are available online. As well, archives around the world have embarked on the Herculean challenge of digitizing millions of records in their holdings before the paper copies crumble to dust.

Click on the buttons below to access information, links, and resources about specific subject areas and locations in Australia and around the world.