Antiques markets in Queensland Australia

Traveling in Australia this summer and browsing amongst the beautiful antiques markets in Queensland, I came upon a Star of David pendant dated to the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century. Slightly surprised by this finding I started looking into the Jewish origins in Queensland.

The first record of Jewish settlement in Queensland was around the time the colony of Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859. Several Jewish families left Sydney to settle in Queensland and a few years later established a formal Jewish congregation in Brisbane. The Jewish population of the State spread rapidly throughout Queensland in the late 1800's, settling in some of the most remote locations. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century a new wave of Jewish immigration began and Russian immigrant families arrived in Brisbane. This was one of the many waves of Jewish migrants to the State.