| Historical notes: | Statement of Country
The Woollahra area is the traditional country of the Gadigal (alternatively Cadigal) (Woollahra Council, Coast History & Heritage 2021) and Birrabirragal of the Eora nation (Coast History & Heritage 2021). The name Woollahra, as well as the names of many of the places within the suburb, come from Aboriginal words (Coast History & Heritage 2021). The Woollahra area remains rich in Aboriginal cultural places which attest to the long occupation of the area, including midden sites, rock engravings, and shelters (Woollahra Council). Main arterial roads in the area have often been built to follow ridgelines and traditional pathways used by the Gadigal.
Despite the devasting impact of European colonisation for the Gadi and Birrabirra people, strong communities remained on the fringes of the city around Edgecliff and New South Head Road well into the 1800s. These communities dissipated somewhat as laws and policies enforcing dispossession and regulation of Aboriginal people grew in the late 1800s, yet strong tangible and intangible connection to country remains to this day (Coast History & Heritage).
Foundations of Sydney's Jewish Community
Jewish migration to New South Wales began with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. 800 Jewish convicts, most commonly from London's poorer areas, were transported for relatively minor offences and established a small Jewish community (Sydney Jewish Museum). From the 1830s, free Jewish settlers arrived in Sydney from the United Kingdom, strengthening the diaspora in both major cities and rural centres (Sydney Jewish Museum). Pogroms in Russia and Poland saw increased refugee arrivals in the late 1800s, with about 3,000 Eastern European Jewish people arriving (Sydney Jewish Museum). By the end of the 1800s, approximately 6,000 Jewish peoples were living in Australia and established community organisations, places of worship, and successful local businesses.
Chevra Kadisha societies
The Chevra Kadisha is the holy society responsible for ensuring proper traditional Jewish burial rites are administered to all Jewish people, with this name associated with burial societies since the 13th century. Burial societies have existed since the Talmudic/Rabbinic period (70-638CE) however, the first Jewish burial society in the tradition of the Chevra Kadisha was founded in 1564 in Prague (Jewish Press).
The primary functions of the Chevra Kadisha include the tahara (purification of the body, by trained volunteers of the same gender) and the watching of the body until its burial, known as the shmira (My Jewish Learning). Mourning commences from the time of death and the body must not be unattended (Sydney Chevra Kadisha, Guide to Mourners). Mourners are known as the onan (meaning those 'in sorrow') and the 'watchers' are shomer. The Chevra Kadisha society then arranges the levaya - the traditional Jewish funeral service - and the k'vurah, burial in a Jewish consecrated burial plot (Sydney Chevra Kadisha). The Sydney Chevra Kadisha is the only in the country which services all sects of Judaism (Sydney Chevra Kadisha).
The Sydney Chevra Kadisha
The Sydney Chevra Kadisha was founded in 1817 by a group of 20 Jewish convicts and was the first Jewish organisation in Australia (Sydney Chevra Kadisha). Prior to its establishment, rites in the early 1800s were likely performed by Jewish convict Joseph Marcus, who had some rabbinic education (State Library of NSW, Australian Jewish community and culture). With no funeral home or synagogue, Jewish services were held privately in homes. In 1831 the Sydney Hebrew Congregation was formed and the first purpose-built synagogue opened in 1844 on York Street, later merging with a second congregation in 1878 to form the Great Synagogue (State Library of NSW).
Sydney's first Jewish residents were undoubtedly buried in the Old Burial Ground (below Town Hall) however it is unclear whether a Jewish section was reserved. At the Devonshire Street Cemetery (below modern Central Station) there was a small consecrated Jewish section, where many were buried with traditional rites. In 1832 a modest cottage was built in the Jewish section, and it was here that the tahara rites were carried out, in convenient proximity to the burial sites where funerary services were held. Similar cottages were located in the consecrated burial grounds at Goulburn, Maitland, and Raphael's Ground at Lidcombe. The limitations of transport and undertaking facilities and matters of hygiene likely made the provision of these services within necropolis boundaries more convenient and sanitary. It is uncertain if these cottages were operated by the early Chevra Kadisha society. Following the establishment of Rookwood Cemetery in the 1860s, a large Jewish section was set aside, comprising around 5.5 hectares and was managed by a dedicated Jewish Trustee.
The dedicated rail connection from Mortuary Station to Rookwood (est.1869), popularisation of motor driven hearses in the early 1900s, and modernisation of mortuary practices and facilities likely enabled the closure of the necropolis-based tahara cottages, and the opening of a central Chevra Kadisha site. Throughout the nineteenth century, many of the annual meetings of the Chevra Kadisha were held at the Great Synagogue, who also provided additional support to the organisation (Vytrhlik, J. 2025). Many members of the Syngaogue assisted with funerals and additional funerary services, with seat-holders providing funds to the Chevra Kadisha (Vytrhlik, J. 2025).
In 1912 Rabbi Francis Lyon Cohen and Reverend Marcus Einfeld were determined to establish a permanent tahara house and mortuary chapel for the Chevra Kadisha, and they called a board meeting of the organisation. Meetings were held in the chambers of the Great Synagogue or the Darlinghurst Maccabean Hall, with additional meetings for sub-committees, including the Ladies Committee. In the early 1920s the Great Synagogue clergy continued to assist in arrangements of burial practices, reflecting the close relationship between the two organisations. The correspondence with the Chevra Kadisha, at this time based in office premises at 103 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, is testament to this relationship (Vytrhlik, J. 2025). In 1922 the Great Synagogue officially recognised the Chevra Kadisha and all funerary arrangements were transferred to the organisation (The Hebrew Standard of Australasia,19 May 1922). The official recognition empowered the Chevra Kadisha "to take cognisance of all burial and cemetery matter except those which by statute are within the province of the Trustees of the Cemeteries and confer thereon with the Trustees and with the Executive of the Chevra Kadisha" (TGS Archives Records, Folder 1922-23).
The First Premises - Chippendale
In 1924 the Chevra Kadisha purchased their first official premises at 42-44 Balfour Street, Chippendale (since demolished), located close to Mortuary Station and its rail access to Rookwood Cemetery. While the premises was the first outside cemetery walls and within the city, Chippendale remained heavily industrial at the time, largely dominated by the Carlton United Brewery. The establishment of the Chevra Kadisha within this industrial area would have been inconspicuous amongst a backdrop of industry and would not have been suitable for visitors and public funeral services.
Within only a few years from its official recognition by the Great Synagogue, the organisation was highly praised in The Australian Jewish Chronicle:
"The work the Society performs is of the most praiseworthy character in the service to the dead the only reward to be anticipated is in the consciousness of performing acts of true kindness. Yet we must all feel some anticipatory gratitude to the society upon which we must at some time depend for the last services and the Jewish community is well satisfied with the work the Chevra has been performing" (5 March 1925).
Community support for the institution was so immense that the mortgage was paid in full by 1929. In the same year the Chevra Kadisha conducted 119 funerals (The Australian Jewish Chronicle, 14 March 1929), including several funerals conducted without payment, for those in need (The Australian Jewish Chronicle, 14 March 1929). The Chevra Kadisha also contributed to community causes, including the Moriah College War Memorial Building Fund (The Australian Jewish Times, 19 Dec 1958).
Post-War Growth and the Woollahra Premises
At the time of the Nazis coming to power in Germany in 1933, there were around 23,000 Jewish people in Australia (Sydney Jewish Museum). In the lead up to 1939, 9,000 Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia fled Europe for Australia before European borders were closed. At the end of World War II, over 31,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors "rebuilt their shattered lives in Australia" (Sydney Jewish Museum). It became clear that a larger premises for the Chevra Kadisha was required to reflect the growth of the community.
A vacant, triangular shaped site at the junction of Oxford and Wallis Streets in Woollahra was purchased on 27 February 1947 and the Jewish architect Samuel Lipson of Lipson & Kaad was engaged to design a purpose built premises, including public mourning spaces and tahara rooms. Lipson himself was a practising Jew who described his religion as a "point of difference" within Sydney's architectural community, and he worked on several Jewish religious and community buildings over his career (Hawcroft, R.). He described his experience in Sydney's Jewish community as being part of "the same village" (Samuel Lipson, RAIA Oral History Project 1992, cited in Hawcroft). Founding Lipson & Kaad with fellow migrant architect Peter Kaad, they became one of Sydney's most prominent modernist firms (Hawcroft, R.) and were engaged by members of Sydney's artistic migrant community, often meeting with other prominent migrant architects to discuss modern architecture in cafes such as Repin's (Hawcroft, R.).
Jewish buildings have largely been shaped by their geographic location and the typical architecture of the place and time, rather than reflecting a typical Jewish style or requirements. Many Jewish buildings in Australia were designed by non-Jewish architects and were often designed with Christian characteristics traced back to the Byzantine style and early basilicas (De Jong, U., and Beynon, D., 501). While Lipson & Kaad themselves were regarded as leaders in 'functional modernism' and were known for their streamline and functionalist commercial premises, the design of the Chevra Kadisha was a distinctive breakaway. The Post-War context of austerity, loss of skilled tradesmen, and a return to conservatism saw religious clients turn away from modern movement to emphasise that a "church should look like a church" (Apperley, Irving and Reynolds 1989, 212).
The foundation stone was laid in 1948 and the building was opened and consecrated by Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie in March 1952. The opening was celebrated, described as:
"Magnificently planned and executed buildings, which comprise the new parlours, present a most imposing and dignified sight opposite Centennial Park The buildings consist of two main halls, a shrub-planted courtyard, and well-appointed rooms and modernly equipped Taharah rooms."
Chief Rabbi Brodie addressed the congregation and discussed the importance of the Chevra Kadisha, its community, and its new premises following the Holocaust, with the building consecrated in the memory of those who did not survive:
"Chevra Kadisha means a brotherhood which is dedicated to perform deeds of kindness, not only to those that passed away but also in respect of those who have been deprived of their loved ones Let time not efface from our memory this greatest tragedy in the history of our people Let us also remember those who Fell in the wars, to whom the other part of the building is dedicated" (The Hebrew Standard of Australia, 28 March 1952).
Since its construction, the Chevra Kadisha has continued to grow, reflecting the strength of Sydney's Jewish community. Jewish migration to Australia has continued throughout the 20th century, some migrating for a new life, while others sought refuge from China, South Africa, Russia, and the Middle East. Within the Woollahra district, several synagogues were established within the 20th century, such as the Emmanuel Synagogue. Today there are over 120,000 Jewish people living in Australia, forming a strong and vibrant Jewish community. In 2021 over 7500 people practiced Judaism within the suburb of Woollahra alone, with the Chevra Kadisha and other synagogues capturing the patronage of many other nearby suburbs.
Reflecting the changing needs of the Chevra Kadisha and its members, minor modifications have included the provision of air conditioning in 1963; commercial alterations in 1970; provision of a new dwelling in 1981; and alterations including new air conditioning in 1995. Since its establishment, new technology has been incorporated into the functions of the institution, with upgraded mortuary facilities and ability to practice shmira through CCTV. |