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Don’t forget to check our website at www.hobartsynagogue.org
5
Old Jewish Cemetery Site, Harrington Street
Next time you drive up Harrington Street, just past St Mary's Church and School, take a
look at what's happened to the site of Hobart's original Jewish Cemetery.
As you may recall, until recent times, there stood 3 or 4 large blocks of what many
regarded as ugly and outdated public housing units, in front of, and unfortunately intruding
into, the burial site.
The facts that, firstly, the land had belonged to the Government for decades before these
were built in the 1950's, and, secondly, at that time cultural, religious and political
awareness was not what it is today, conspired to allow this to happen.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago.
The Congregation was approached by Housing Tasmania, who were about to demolish
these units and replace them with a modern development consisting of smaller, lower
profile blocks of two or three units each, spread out over the whole site. This means
excavating parts of the site, which had remained untouched by the first development.
Housing's concern was that some graves may be disturbed by this work, and they wanted
us to be involved to ensure that all was done in accordance with Jewish requirements;
they indicated that perhaps "a few" graves might be involved.
In the event, as has been reported in these pages previously, the remains of some 52
early members of our community were discovered and have been re-buried in the Jewish
section of Cornelian Bay Cemetery.
The development is now almost complete and, due to the usual bugetary problems, the
original concept has been somewhat modified. In fact, I would say that the Jewish flavour
has been unintentionally expressed in the prominent solar water heating panels sticking
up from the rooftops, making it look a bit like a modern Israeli settlement!
Be that as it may, I was contacted recently by Housing Tasmania for our input and
involvment in the design of a monument to be erected at the site acknowledging its past
history. I understand that this will encompass more than just the land's use as a Jewish
burial ground; it will also acknowledge its pre-European, Aboriginal history.
As the liason person, I would like to emphasise that this is something we should all give a
bit of thought to, and I'll be happy to pass on any ideas to the Government. I expect to be
contacted by them any day now, so if you have any thoughts regarding this, get in touch
soon.
Shalom,
David Clark.
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