In Their Merit

Australia entered the Great War of 191418 on the coattails of her imperial mother, Great Britain. Some 420,000 of her citizens fought in the islands off New Guinea, Gallipoli, the Western Front, and the Middle East. Among them was a relatively large chunk of the countrys small Jewish population. The precise number remains unknown since many enlisted as Christians.

The Jewish story of World War I is far more complex than the current communal narrative, monopolised, as it is, by the superb military leadership of General Sir John Monash, and the avowals of passionate loyalty of Australian Jewry to king, country, and empire. It is claimed that this was manifest in its relatively large enlistment and war effort on the home front. At all times, an edgy Anglo-Australian Jewish leadership was looking over its shoulder worried by possible accusations of disloyalty.

The sketchy account of the Australian-Jewish involvement in World War I is due to a lack of evidence from that era and little enthusiasm for collecting whatever was available subsequently. Much of what does exist lacks a grassroots Jewish voice, except for a few diaries and letters. Nonetheless, it is most likely that the capacity of Jewish communal leaders to influence the average Australian Jews attitude to enlistment or home front activities was minimal. One matter is certain, and that is that a strong belief in social integration helped prevent the formation of any communal organisation to care for ill and wounded Jewish veterans.