Jewish Museum of Australia

The Jewish Museum of Australia was established in 1977 by a group of passionate and dedicated volunteers, led by the visionary Rabbi Ronald Lubofsky AM (1928-2000). During the Museum’s first years of existence, the Committee, organised exhibitions at the Myer gallery and the Tramways Board building, started to acquire objects for the Museum’s collection, and searched for premises for the museum. In 1982, under the patronage of Sir Zelman Cowen (1919-2011), the Museum opened its own temporary premises in the disused classrooms of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, South Yarra. Over the next 13 years at that location, the Jewish Museum of Australia presented over forty wide-ranging exhibitions, several of which travelled nationally. The Museum attracted significant communal support and won several prestigious industry awards. In 1992 the Jewish Museum of Australia purchased a building in Alma Road, St Kilda opposite one of Melbourne’s most beautiful synagogues, the St Kilda Hebrew Congregation. On 20 August 1995, the then Governor General, Bill Hayden, officially opened the Jewish Museum of Australia, Gandel Centre of Judaica, named in honour of the Museum’s lead benefactors, John and Pauline Gandel.

The collection is made up of over 20,000 items that have been donated and acquired since the late 1970s. Encompassing historical and contemporary Judaica, visual art, photography, textiles, personal and ceremonial objects, documents and books, it is driven by a desire to share and preserve the Jewish history and culture.

The collection primarily represents the unique social and cultural history of Australia’s Jewish communities, but it also includes items that signify the broader history and practices of Jewish people from across the world. Image use policy: All images, audio and audio-visual material within the collection are owned by the Jewish Museum of Australia.