Figure 1 The Mooltan

Belonging in not belonging:

An exploration of micro Jewish immigration experience
Melbourne 1948-1955
By Samuel Craig Gerrell
Student Number: 18108152
Latrobe University Subject: 2016-HIS3MHI-Making History
Subject coordinator: Ruth Ford
Tutor: James Kirby

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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.

When I read this I could not help but remember my

own experience of migration. It could be said that the
differences between me and Myra are easy to point
out. She arrived on the passenger liner Mooltaniii. I
arrived on a passenger aircraft. The time of her arrival
was the brink of the 1950s. I landed in Melbourne in
2008. She was an ethnically Jewish British citizen. I
am a Caucasian South African citizen. However,
despite of all these differences, the similarities
between Myra and I are poignant. I can remember the
same feelings that Myra expresses of wonderment at

Figure 2: Myra Freedman age 13

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.

My family is going to move

My father began to talk about migrating to Australia, as my mother had her brother there. He
began to make inquiries, filled in forms, and wrote to my uncle Syd in Melbourne, to see if he
would sponsor usWithin about eighteen months, we were on our way to Australia, for ten
pounds!iv No migrant makes the move from one country to another without many forces
having pushed and pulled them to guide their decision to move. The collective of these forces
is the historical context which informs and guides not only one migrant, but a whole peoples
movements in a historical periodv. Myra Freedman and her family were no exception to these
forcesvi. Myras family was made up of her father Charles, her mother Mariam and her
younger sister Lilian. Although Myra certainly felt the effects of the historical forces which
motivated her family to make the move she, as a minor and a female in 1948, did not have
much agency in the move from London to Melbournevii. Her mother, Mariam, also does not
seem to have had much agency in the move. Instead it was her father, Charles Freedman, who
exclusively made the decision to move his familyviii. Patriarchal decision making was typical
of the vast majority of families, migrants included, during the years 1948 to 1955ix.
Therefore, it is Charles Freedmans reasons for leaving that should be examined here.

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Charles Freedman was

an ex-serviceman who
had served with the
52nd Lowland Division
in the British Army
during WWIIx.
Figure 3: Charles Freedman in military dress

Charles division had

been given

occupational duty in Africaxi. Intriguingly this posting

Figure 4 Charles & Mariams wedding

created a motivation for moving to Australia. Charles had

experienced a sunny climate while in Africa and because of this could not stand the English
winters any morexii. The second, more serious, reason given by Charles was to do with
financial opportunity and security. It was clear to Charles that there was a financial gulf
between the men who had served in the services and those who had stayed at homexiii. The
returning servicemen, including Charles, had been out of daily business for an extended
amount of timexiv. Those who had managed to stay outside of the military not only had the
benefit of sustained business operations but also the wartime black marketxv. Therefore it was
weather and lack of financial prospects that pushed Charles away from post-war Englandxvi.

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.

Moving away from home

What was it like to leave? Myra remembers her feelings upon leaving her home as I watched
The White Cliffs of Dover fade into the distance I cried, but I couldnt help also being
absolutely exhilaratedxxii. Like many migrants upon leaving their cherished homeland, Myra
experienced contradictory feelings. She felt pain about the loss of friends, family and
familiarity that came with the leaving of home. In opposition she felt a sense of hope and
adventure about going to a new location. However, a gulf existed between Myras
experiences and those of other migrants. This gulf was imposed by her age and ethniccultural backgroundxxiii. As a young woman at the age of seventeen Myra was not exposed to
most of the strain of trying to find a place in a new society. For example, Myra does not
recollect facing racism in Australia until leaving home as an adultxxiv. Given the prejudice
towards Jews and southern appearing Europeans it is likely that her parents did experience
such prejudicexxv. Because of her ethnicity Myra was segregated from society at large and
lived in a closed Jewish communityxxvi. This made it easier to make friends and feel a sense
of belongingxxvii. Myra was well on her way to becoming part of the Melbourne Jewish
community within months of her arrival.

Arriving at a new home

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My uncle and aunty had a huge circle of family and

friends who were glad to open their houses and
hearts to us.xxviii Within two years, from 1948 to
1950, the Freedman family was part of the
Melbourne Jewish community. Within weeks of
arrival the Freedman family started their respective
careers. Her mother, Mariam Freeman, had a hat
Figure 5 Myra, Lilian and Mariam at the hat shop

shop on Carlisle Street Balaclavaxxix. The family

lived behind and above the hat shop. Charles

Freedman secured a job as a bookkeeper in a governmental aircraft factory in Fishermens

Bendxxx. Myra herself worked at the Beauty Lodge, a beauty salon, in Elizabeth Streetxxxi.

But it was not all work. Myra found time to make

many friends and was fond of dancingxxxii. Like most
Jewish immigrants Myra exclusively made friends
with only people from within her own
communityxxxiii. Although her family could not be
described as ultra-conservative they still only

Figure 6 A card from Myras second job in

England

maintained friendly social relations with other

Jewsxxxiv. The space of interaction with people of other cultural and ethnic backgrounds was
the workplacexxxv. Charles Freedman, as a bookkeeper, had complete workplace immersion in
an Anglo-Saxon dominated cultural environmentxxxvi. Mariam Freedman, by contrast, had a
shop which was centrally located in one of the larger Jewish communitiesxxxvii. This would
have minimized Mariams interaction with non-Jews. The gender bias represented here by the
location of workplace was typical of the timexxxviii. Men were cast as the best suited gender to

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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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At about this time, a young man in England was making

plans to migrate to AustraliaHis name was Ron Fisherxlviii.
From 1950 to 1952 the Freedman family had settled into
Melbourne life. As she matured to twenty-one by 1952 Myra
had increasingly become involved in the thriving Jewish night
life scenexlix. Myra had a number of romantic relationships as
she moved close to marriageable age. One of these
relationships was serious enough to actually have an
Figure 7 Ron and Myra engaged

engagement party, but the relationship was not sincere as it

was broken off almost immediately after the partyl. Myra

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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After the wedding festivities were completed Ron and

Myra had to find a home. Myra had bought her own
beauty salon in Thornbury in 1950lvi. Ron and Myra
rented half a house a few doors up from her salon. Ron
secured a job as a salesman and the young familys
financial status improvedlvii. The marriage was a happy
one and in 1954 a daughter, named Linda, was bornlviii.
The Fisher family sold the salon in Thornbury and
moved to a flat in Vale Street, St. Kildalix. It was in the

Figure 8 Ron & Myras wedding

purchase of this flat that Myra first encountered racism

in Australia. Ron and her were forced to pay four hundred pounds more than the other
customerslx. The reason for this was most likely that they had the physical appearance of
being southern Europeanlxi. The real estate agent involved in the sale said there are two
kinds of people I cant bear to do business withPoms and Jewslxii. He evidently did not
realize that he was dealing with two people who were both identities. This pattern of vague
racism was repeated throughout the rest of Ron and Myras lives in Australialxiii. They were
treated as being an ethnically southern European couple and not as both Jews and British
citizenslxiv. Myra and Ron would continue being a part of the Jewish community for the rest
of their liveslxv.

Belonging in not belonging

Myra Fisher never became Australian. Her identity remained largely as a Jewish woman and
to a lesser extent as an Englishwomanlxvi. Her experience of Australia was as an invisible
outsider to mainstream societylxvii. This was a reflection of her community in Melbournelxviii.

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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).

Page 12 of 15

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

Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 77-78.

Ibid, 71 & 77; Suzanne D. Rutland Debates and Conflicts: Australian Jewry, the Claims
Conference and Restitution, 19451965, Dapim: Studies on the Holocaust, 28/3 (2014), 155-172.
l
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 77; Family Notices, Hebrew Standard of
Australasia, 20 April 1950, 1, in Trove [online database], accessed on 10 September 2016.
li
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 77-78.
lii
Ibid, 78; 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.
liii
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 78.
liv
Ibid, 78-82.
lv
Ibid, 82.
lvi
Ibid, 84-85.
lvii
Ibid, 85-88.
lviii
Ibid, 82-86; Family Notices, Hebrew Standard of Australasia, 20 April 1950, 1, in Trove [online
database], accessed on 10 September 2016.
lix
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 85.
lx
Ibid, 85-86.
lxi
Jock Collins, Migrant Hands in a Distant Land, 198-222; Rodney Gouttman, A Jew, and coloured
too! Immigration of Jews of middle east origin to Australia, 194958, Immigrants & Minorities,
12/1 (1993), 75-91.
lxii
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials, 85-86.
lxiii
Ibid, 86-98; 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.
lxiv
Jon Stratton, The Colour of Jews: Jews, Race and the White Australia Policy, Journal of
Australian Studies, 20/50-51 (2009), 51-65.
lxv
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials.
lxvi
Ibid.
lxvii
Jock Collins, Migrant Hands in a Distant Land; Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream Assimilation
in Australia 1950-1970.
lxviii
Suzanne D. Rutland, The Jews in Australia.
lxix
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials; Jon Stratton, The Colour of Jews: Jews, Race and
the White Australia Policy, Journal of Australian Studies, 20/50-51 (2009), 51-65.
lxx
John Foster (ed.), Community of Fate; Jon Stratton, The Colour of Jews: Jews, Race and the White
Australia Policy, Journal of Australian Studies, 20/50-51 (2009), 51-65.
lxxi
Myra Fisher, Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials.
lxxii
Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970.
lxxiii
Jock Collins, Migrant Hands in a Distant Land, 226-243.
lxxiv
Rodney Gouttman, A Jew, and coloured too! Immigration of Jews of middle east origin to
Australia, 194958, Immigrants & Minorities, 12/1 (1993), 75-91.
lxxv
Anna Haebich, Spinning the Dream Assimilation in Australia 1950-1970, 117-152.
lxxvi
All pictures were taken by me of pages in Cossacks, Cockneys & Colonials.
xlix

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