Join us for a Free Virtual Lecture: Jews and Aborigines

Jews and Aborigines: Little-Known Stories from Australia

Presenter: Irene Shaland. Date: Tuesday, January 26th , 2021, 1:00 PM

This program is hosted by The Women of Fairmount Temple.    The event is FREE but a Registration is required.  To register: email Janice Hirshon at  [email protected]

Follow Irene Shaland on an exciting virtual trip to Australia to explore this country’s history, its land, and its people. Meet an Aboriginal man, William Cooper, a hero of his people’s human rights struggle and a brave defender of the Jews during World War II.

William Cooper
William Cooper

What inspired Cooper to stand up for the Jews from faraway Europe, while in his own country he and his people had no legal rights, and until 1967 were officially classified as an equivalent of flora and fauna”?  

During Cooper’s life, Australia maintained the “White Australia“policies and considered Jews, though not classified as colored,” to be others” who should not be issued entrance visas. How did Australia become the country that opened its doors to numerous refugees from Europe, second only to Israel by the ratio of the Holocaust survivors to its population?

Irene Shaland in Sydney Jewish Museum
Irene Shaland in Sydney Jewish Museum.
Sydney Jewish Museum, Australia
Sydney Jewish Museum

Was it a coincidence that the Australian Jews stepped into the forefront of the struggle for Aboriginal rights in defense of the indigenous Australians?

Our presenter, Irene Shaland is the author of “The Dao of Being Jewish and Other Stories” and a multitude of magazine articles published in the US, Canada, the UK, and Israel. She regularly presents at conferences, museums, universities, special-interest group events, and other venues throughout the country.

Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House

Meet Irene Shaland.

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