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Myra Freedman
We had left London on a cold foggy December day and arrived in Melbourne five weeks
later, in January. It was a hot blindingly bright day. As the boat pulled in, we looked at the
people waiting for their relativesWe disembarked and the heat of the north wind hit us like
a physical force.i These are the words of Myra Fisher, at the time Myra Freedman, upon
recollecting the experience of immigration from England to Melbourne in approximately
January, 1948ii. When she spoke these words Myra was a British citizen of Jewish ancestry,
at seventeen years old, when she arrived in her sunny new home.
this new place you so suddenly find yourself in. The feeling that the location you are now in
is wholly unlike what you have come from. The feeling that you do not quite belong. The
knowledge that a new life must be forged in this strange new country in some unknown way.
These feelings are certainly not exclusive to Myra and myself. But how much do they reflect
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the experiences of other migrants during the time period, 1948 to 1955, in which Myra
immigrated and made a new life for herself? This article seeks to place Myra and her
community narrative, the often overlooked story of Jewish migration to Australia, back into
the broader community narrative by answering this question.
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Why Australia?
But what pulled him to move to Australia? The first force that pulled Charles to choose
Australia over other migrant nations was the existence of a relative by marriage, Syd, in
Melbournexvii. Syd helped to sponsor the Freedman familys migration to Australia.
Secondly, the positioning of Syd and his family in Melbourne would also ease the Freeman
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family into a new social environmentxviii. Thirdly, the Ten Pound Pom program was in full
effectxix. This made passage to Australia a cheap endeavour compared to other destinationsxx.
Fourthly, Melbourne had a large and established Jewish communityxxi. Therefore, Charles
and his family sailed for Melbourne aboard the passenger liner Mooltan in 1948.
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interact with other culturesxxxix. Women were kept away from cultural difference because of
their perceived weakness. Intriguingly Myra did not reflect this gender bias. Myra worked in
the ethnically and culturally diverse environment of a beauty salonxl.
Conflicting identities
Myra and her family appear to not have experienced any real homesickness after their arrival
in Australiaxli. This lack of nostalgia was a reflection of the feelings of many Jewish
immigrants during the post war period. Jewish people during the 1950s had a strong sense of
having escaped holocaust in Nazi Europexlii. In addition Jews experienced far greater degrees
of racism in Europe then in Australiaxliii. The Freedman family had themselves experienced
persecution from the Black Shirts, or British Nazi sympathizers, in the pre-war east end of
Londonxliv. The twin feelings of having escaped the holocaust and now being situated in a
less racist environment made Jews in Australia reluctant to want to return home. Another
factor that reduced feelings of homesickness was that there was a large Jewish community in
Melbournexlv. For the Freedman family there was something familiar about a strongly
interconnected Jewish community surrounded by a dominant British-type culturexlvi. This
lack of homesickness is remarkable when compared to the feelings of non-Jewish migrants
who usually had some experience of longing for the familiarxlvii. This demonstrates just how
strongly the Jews did not feel welcome in post-war Europe. In addition, this feeling of not
belonging to the national community continued upon arrival in Australia.
A Coming of Age
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would meet her husband through chain migration. Ron Fisher was a friend of the extended
Freedman family in Englandli. They wrote to Charles and asked if, as Ron was an exserviceman planning on immigration to Australia, he could stay with the Freedman family
until he was settledlii. Ron and Myra experienced a mutual attraction while he was staying at
the Freedman family home and within five weeks they were engagedliii. The newly engaged
couple made plans, with Myras parents blessing, to get married soonliv. Ron had almost no
money but this did not prevent the couple from getting married on the 8th of September 1952
in Toorak Synagogue on St. Kilda Roadlv.
A New Life
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The whole Jewish community existed as something outside and other to the rest of Australian
societylxix. Interaction was certainly present between Jews and non-Jews, but belonging and
shared identity were conspicuously absentlxx. Myra belonged to her people in Melbourne.
Myra, even though she did become an Australian citizen, never was Australian in how she
defined herselflxxi. This experience of living in Australia without the sense of belonging to
Australia is reflected in modern Australia. Myras story demonstrates how certain groups of
people do not assimilate and how the need for assimilation never becomes presentlxxii. An
example of this is the modern Muslim community in Melbournelxxiii. Or the Chinese
community and the Indian communities. Assimilation is often not even consideredlxxiv.
Ethnic, cultural and historical community is the point of focuslxxv. As Australia becomes more
multicultural the lessons from Myras experiential history becomes ever more relevant.
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Reference List
Pictures usedlxxvi
Figure 1. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 65 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 2. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 58 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 3. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 48 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 4. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 25 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 5. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 74 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 6. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 61 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 7. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 79 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Figure 8. Authors own collection. Picture taken of page 81 in Myra Fisher Cossacks,
Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community Library, 2002).
Primary Sources
Family Notices, Hebrew Standard of Australasia, 20 April 1950, 1, in Trove [online
database], accessed on 10 September 2016.
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Fisher, Myra, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish
Community Library, 2002).
Foster, John (ed.), Community of Fate (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986).
Secondary Sources
Bernard, Kelly, Masters in Their Own House: Britain, the Dominions and the 1946 ExService Free Passage Scheme, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 44/1
(2016), 121-139.
Collins, Jock, Migrant Hands in a Distant Land (Sydney: Pluto Press Australia, 1988).
Gouttman, Rodney, A Jew, and coloured too! Immigration of Jews of middle east origin
to Australia, 194958, Immigrants & Minorities, 12/1 (1993), 75-91.
Haebich, Anna, Spinning the Dream Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970 (N/A: Fremantle
Press, 2008).
Lake, Marilyn, The White Man under Siege: New Histories of Race in the Nineteenth
Century and the Advent of White Australia, History Workshop Journal, 58/1 (2004), 41-62.
Rutland, Suzanne D., The Jews in Australia (EBook: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
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Rutland, Suzanne D., Debates and Conflicts: Australian Jewry, the Claims Conference and
Restitution, 19451965, Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust, 28/3 (2014), 155-172.
Stratton, Jon, The Colour of Jews: Jews, Race and the White Australia Policy, Journal of
Australian Studies, 20/50-51 (2009), 51-65.
Walsh, James, Mass Migration and the Mass Society: Fordism, Immigration Policy and the
Post-war Long Boom in Canada and Australia, Journal of Historical Sociology, 25/3 (2012),
352-385.
Wilton, Janis and Bosworth, Richard, Old Worlds and New Australia (Ringwood, Victoria:
Penguin Books, 1984).
A note on copyright: I have fulfilled, respected and complied with, to the best of my
knowledge, all guidelines and laws as given by all concerned parties with regards to
copyright.
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials (Caulfield South, Victoria: Makor Jewish Community
Library, 2002), 69-70.
ii
Ibid et al.
iii
Ibid, 65-70.
iv
Ibid, 62.
v
Jock Collins, Migrant Hands in a Distant Land (Sydney: Pluto Press Australia, 1988); Janis Wilton
and Richard Bosworth, Old Worlds and New Australia (Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books, 1984).
vi
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials.
vii
Ibid.
viii
Ibid, 61-62.
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ix
John Foster (ed.), Community of Fate (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986).
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 40-48 & 61.
xi
Ibid, 61.
xii
Ibid.
xiii
Ibid, 61-62.
xiv
Janis Wilton and Richard Bosworth, Old Worlds and New Australia.
xv
Ibid.
xvi
Kelly Bernard, Masters in Their Own House: Britain, the Dominions and the 1946 Ex-Service
Free Passage Scheme, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 44/1 (2016), 121-139.
xvii
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 62-71.
xviii
Ibid, 62-72.
xix
Ibid, 62; Kelly Bernard, Masters in Their Own House: Britain, the Dominions and the 1946 ExService Free Passage Scheme, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 44/1 (2016),
121-139.
xx
Jock Collins, Migrant Hands in a Distant Land, 19-24.
xxi
Suzanne D. Rutland, The Jews in Australia (EBook: Cambridge University Press, 2009); Suzanne
D. Rutland Debates and Conflicts: Australian Jewry, the Claims Conference and Restitution, 1945
1965, Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust, 28/3 (2014), 155-172.
xxii
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 65.
xxiii
Ibid et al.
xxiv
Ibid, 85-86.
xxv
Rodney Gouttman, A Jew, and coloured too! Immigration of Jews of middle east origin to
Australia, 194958, Immigrants & Minorities, 12/1 (1993), 75-91; Jon Stratton, The Colour of Jews:
Jews, Race and the White Australia Policy, Journal of Australian Studies, 20/50-51 (2009), 51-65.
xxvi
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials; Suzanne D. Rutland, The Jews in Australia; James
Walsh, Mass Migration and the Mass Society: Fordism, Immigration Policy and the Post-war Long
Boom in Canada and Australia, Journal of Historical Sociology, 25/3 (2012), 352-385.
xxvii
John Foster (ed.), Community of Fate.
xxviii
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 74-77.
xxix
Ibid, 73.
xxx
Ibid, 71-72.
xxxi
Ibid, 72.
xxxii
Ibid, 71 & 77-78.
xxxiii
Ibid et al.
xxxiv
Ibid.
xxxv
James Walsh, Mass Migration and the Mass Society: Fordism, Immigration Policy and the Postwar Long Boom in Canada and Australia, Journal of Historical Sociology, 25/3 (2012), 352-385.
xxxvi
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 72; Marilyn Lake, The White Man under Siege:
New Histories of Race in the Nineteenth Century and the Advent of White Australia, History
Workshop Journal, 58/1 (2004), 41-62.
xxxvii
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 73; Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream
Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970 (N/A: Fremantle Press, 2008).
xxxviii
John Foster (ed.), Community of Fate.
xxxix
Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970.
xl
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 72.
xli
Ibid, 70-91.
xlii
John Foster (ed.), Community of Fate.
xliii
Ibid.
xliv
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 31-32.
xlv
John Foster (ed.), Community of Fate; Suzanne D. Rutland Debates and Conflicts: Australian
Jewry, the Claims Conference and Restitution, 19451965, Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust, 28/3
(2014), 155-172.
xlvi
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials.
xlvii
Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970; Janis Wilton and
Richard Bosworth, Old Worlds and New Australia.
x
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xlviii
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