Jewish/Hebrew Synagogue

In 1843 the foundation stone for the first Jewish Synagogue in the colony was laid in Hobart. The Jewish community in the north of the island wanted the same and put a request in to John Franklin for land to be given for the erection of a synagogue. The request was denied much to the disgust of approximately 100 Jewish families, in Launceston. Many letters to the editor in the papers discussed Franklin’s anti Semitic reasoning behind his denial of land.

However, by July 1844 a subscription fund raiser was begun and the community soon had enough money raised to use as a deposit for a £500 loan to buy land. A plot in St John’s Street between York and Elizabeth was purchased from a Mr Francis in the same month, a bargain according to the papers. A notice inviting tenders for design was advertised and by August Mr Richard Lambeth was named as the successful applicant and Barton and Bennell were hired as the builders, of the second oldest Synagogue in Australia and the only building in the Egyptian Revival style in Launceston.

Mr Lambeth had migrated with his family in 1838 from England to be with his wife’s uncle and aunt, Mr & Mrs Bickford. He was advertising as an art teacher in September 1838 and also worked as an architect, later becoming the Colonial Architect for South Australia. Lady Franklin who met Lambeth at a dinner held by Bickford in 1838 described him as a glass blower and architect in her diaries.

The sygnagogue was completed by 1846 but sadly by 1871 the congregation had decreased to six families so the building was closed for several decades. In 1917 a Mr Benjamin led an application by the trustees’ to sell the building due it not being used for several years.

Fortunately this was declined and despite sitting mostly unused for several more years it was eventually reopened in September 1939 for a short time when it was found that numbers in the Jewish community had increased, possibly due to an influx of European refugees. During the 1930s Mr Sim Crawcour, a trustee of the Synagogue would still use it for personal prayer on Yom Kippur. From this time to the present the Jewish community have struggled with numbers that enable a full time use of the Synagogue but it is opened for celebrations and feast days with a Rabbi present in Launceston, the interior much the same as when it was first built.

By Kelli Schultz

Built in 1844, in the Egyptian Revival Style. Its facade has been rebuilt. On several occasions the synagogue h ad to close due to a decline in membership, initially in 1871. It is currently in use.