To download this media release by ECAJ President Anton Block in PDF format, click here.

The Aus­trali­an Jewish community joins with our fellow Aus­trali­ans to mark our national day with both cel­eb­ra­tion and reflec­tion. Australia Day is an oppor­tun­ity to give thanks  for the blessings we enjoy as  Aus­trali­ans, to con­tem­plate the things that make our country special, to celebrate our freedom and prosper­ity, and to commit ourselves to ensuring that Australia is a fair and just society for all its citizens.

The Aus­trali­an Jewish community is unique among Jewish com­munit­ies worldwide in that it can trace the precise date that our presence in this country commenced. That date is 26 January, 1788 when the First Fleet sailed into Port Jackson and European set­tle­ment of the land commenced. At least 14 Jewish convicts were aboard the Fleet.

Since that day, Jewish-Aus­trali­ans have con­trib­uted in shaping our great country by helping to build it as convict-labourers, by pursuing liberty and justice through­out the world as soldiers and field-nurses; and by helping to establish and entrench our demo­crat­ic values and insti­tu­tions as jurists and members of state and federal par­lia­ments.

The greatness of our country surely comes from the unique com­bin­a­tion of values on which it is built – values such as democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, egal­it­ari­an­ism and mateship, which together capture the essence of the rela­tion­ship between Aus­trali­ans. It is our belief, that all Aus­trali­ans have a duty to defend and safeguard these values.

On Australia Day, we also pause to con­tem­plate the enduring plight of our First Peoples who continue to suffer dis­crim­in­a­tion, and adverse outcomes in health, incar­cer­a­tion rates and in virtually every measure of quality of life, when compared with non-Indi­gen­ous Aus­trali­ans. Compelled by the Jewish people’s ancient belief in justice and human dignity, we feel a special bond with our First Peoples and urge all Aus­trali­ans to help them achieve justice and genuine recon­cili­ation.

We wish all of our fellow Aus­trali­ans a joyous and mean­ing­ful Australia Day.

Contact
Alex Ryvchin | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0478 297 245
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au