Dunedin Jewish Congregation

History

There have been Jewish people in New Zealand from the beginnings of European settlement. In the north, Jewish traders from England, including John Montefiore, Joel Polack and David Nathan, were active from about 1830.

Jews were on the first ships to arrive in Wellington. A Jewish community was founded in 1843 with the arrival from London of Abraham Hort. He held the first organised prayer service on 7 January 1843, only days after he and his family arrived aboard the Prince of Wales.

Wellington Harbour, 1840 Museum of Wellington Collection

During the 19th century, synagogues were established in the main centres of European settlement, including Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, as well as in Hokitika, Nelson and Hastings. click here to continue