Plaque affixed at moving graveside ceremony

A “Dunera boy” named Georg Hans Frohlich was the first person to ever have a Jewish burial in Canberra, but for the last 83 years, his grave was unmarked.

As he had died in September 1942 – nine years before the establishment of the ACT Jewish Community – there was no consecrated area for Jewish burials at the capital city’s Woden Cemetery.

In a dedication ceremony at the cemetery on November 16 that was arranged by the Australian Jewish Historical Society (AJHS), a plaque it provided – engraved with his name, a Star of David and “Dunera Boy” – was affixed to Frohlich’s grave, ensuring the young Jewish man’s life and his name will not be forgotten.

The ceremony was held in the presence of Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon, the AJHS’s ACT branch president Adele Rosalky, AJHS NSW president Peter Philippsohn, and ACT Jewish Community president Athol Morris.

In her address, Rosalky shed light on Frohlich’s background, and how the Berlin-born World War II refugee arrived in Sydney aboard the HMT Dunera that had carried more than 2000 Jewish refugees deported from Great Britain as enemy aliens.

“After enduring appalling conditions in that long voyage, Frohlich was incarcerated in [internment] camps in Hay in NSW and Tatura in Victoria,” she said.

“Frohlich 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 Mount Stromlo Observatory, outside Canberra.

“In September 1942, a little over a year after he arrived at Stromlo, Frohlich died of natural causes, aged 23.

“He was alone in Australia without any family – indeed his parents were in concentration camps in Germany.

“Under the circumstances, the director of Mount Stromlo, Dr Richard (later Sir Richard) Woolley took responsibility to arrange and pay for his funeral.

“It was conducted by Kurt Gottlieb, a Jewish refugee working at Mount Stromlo, who later became president of the ACT Jewish Community.”

She added, through contact between her and Gottlieb’s daughter Miriam, who lives in Israel, “his history was uncovered, and his grave located”.

During the consecration service, Dr David Rosalky explained the religious ritual to invited guests, members and friends of the AJHS, and recited appropriate psalms and prayers.

“Remembering the dead takes a high standing in Jewish religious ethics and ritual. Today we are ensuring that Georg Hans Frohlich will not be forgotten,” he said.

Peter Philippsohn said, “This perhaps helps explain why the families of those Israeli hostages murdered in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and Jews around the world, have been so determined to bring their remains home.

“Beyond closure, the families need to fulfil a sacred religious duty – to give their loved ones the dignity of burial, and allow their souls to find peace.

“Only then can the families begin shiva.”