Celebrating Shepparton
RESIDENTS of Shepparton gained insights into a bygone chapter of north-eastern Victoria when Jewish fruit growers settled in the area, as a plaque commemorating the former Shepparton synagogue was unveiled recently.
RESIDENTS of Shepparton gained insights into a bygone chapter of north-eastern Victoria when Jewish fruit growers settled in the area, as a plaque commemorating the former Shepparton synagogue was unveiled recently.
The ceremony, at an orchard on the outskirts of Shepparton, drew some 200 people, including around 160 Jewish visitors, as Shepparton Mayor Dennis Patterson unveiled a brass plaque atop a sandstone monolith.
Shepparton synagogue was converted from a house to serve some 60 families from the first Jews’ arrival in 1913 until 1966, when one member of the community, Maurice Silverstein, remained. The building was demolished when the land was sold in the 1980s.
The plaque and dedication ceremony were the culmination of months of preparation by Shepparton-born Shirley Randles (nee Hayat) and Ina Clive (nee Greenblat) who attended the shul in its heyday, with the help of Shepparton historian Elsie Brady.
“The dedication was unbelievable, it went like a dream,” Randles told The AJN afterwards.
“The response and generous support was overwhelming.”
Descendants of the original Shepparton Jewish families attended the ceremony and a social event at a local church hall.
Attendees included members of Shepparton’s Indigenous community, including Uncle Alf ‘Boydie’ Turner, grandson of Aborigines Advancement League founder William Cooper.
Recalling the community’s heyday, Randles said, “Young boys celebrated their bar mitzvahs, and two weddings were conducted in the synagogue. In the 1940s, several Lubavitcher families lived for a short time near the synagogue.”
Randles said after the success of planning and erecting the monument a permanent exhibition will be set up next year in the Shepparton Heritage Museum.
PETER KOHN
comments