The lasting legacy of the Dunera

This weekend marks the 85th anniversary of the arrival in Sydney of the troopship HMT Dunera carrying men interned in England as a potential “fifth column” even though they had settled there after fleeing the impossible situation of Jews and other anti Nazis in Central Europe. Among its more than 1900 Jewish passengers were over 200 who declared themselves as Orthodox. Many had enjoyed a substantial level of Jewish and/or secular academic education, which they furthered during their time in camps in Hay – and subsequently Tatura – that functioned both as virtual yeshivot and a university.

While interned, the Orthodox group conducted their camp life in accordance with the ultimate detail of Orthodox practice, including prayer services, Shabbat and kashrut. Lacking a megillah for Purim in the absence of parchment but wanting some sort of megillah anyway, my late father Ze’ev Aron wrote one on a scroll created by joining pages from an exercise book. Elchanan Loebenstein wrote a Haggadah that now sits in the Australian Jewish Museum. Nothing daunted the internees, who were determined to maintain the highest standards of observance. To cite but one example, the archive of correspondence of Rabbi Joseph Lipman Gurewicz of Carlton included a letter regarding kashering the camp kitchen for Pesach. In the absence of ability to acquire new sets of cutlery, they needed advice as to how to kasher the type of knives then in use. Difficult circumstances did not mean compromises in religious practice.

Some internees subsequently left Australia for Palestine or other destinations. Many however, were destined to have a significant impact on the further development of the Australian Jewish community.

My father remained in Australia. As generations of his students can testify, determined to see growth and development of the Jewish community in his newfound home, he made education his life. He commenced his Australian educational career in Shepparton (to which he and other Orthodox internees had moved from nearby Tatura with the assistance of orchardist Reb Moshe Zalman Feiglin, as working on the land allowed privileges during wartime and facilitated their release from the camp). In 1944, he moved to the Elwood Talmud Torah where he served as Baal Koreh for some 30 years and taught legions of bar mitzvah boys. He taught at Mount Scopus College in its earliest years, before heading the Adass Israel School for more than two decades.

With the assistance of Sydney communal benefactor Abraham Rabinowitz, Rabbi Hans Blumenthal who also served Elwood moved to Sydney to head the North Bondi Jewish Day School, forerunner of Moriah College. He is remembered by many in Sydney for his major impact on contemporary Jewish youth.