culture

Jewish Divorce in the colony

As far back as 1831, the London Beit Din was confronted with issues surrounding granting divorces, when one or other of the parties had been transported to Australia, which did not have a formal Jewish legal body. The first Beit Din, or religious Jewish court, was convened in Australia in 1864, for the sole purpose of effecting a divorce and arranging a gett, for a Jewish couple that wished to legally separate.

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Striking Gold in Australia

When gold was discovered in New South Wales in 1851 by Edward Hargreaves, the area near Bathurst was actually given a Hebrew name – ‘’Ophir’’ – a name and place from the bible famous for its gold and wealth. Victoria’s gold rush began in 1851 and, over the next ten years, close to 600,000 people flowed into the region in search of their fortune. Many of these adventurers were Jewish.

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