Published: 8 December 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
TASMANIA'S SOUTH-WEST was once considered for a Jewish homeland, an idea that died when the gentile who came to explore the idea perished after months alone in the wilderness.
By all accounts, Critchley Parker was a privileged young man when he became captivated by charismatic and trailblazing journalist Caroline 'Lynka' Isaacson, who was involved in a campaign for a Jewish homeland in Australia.
It was the late 1930s when Mr Parker returned from living in France and met the older, married Mrs Isaacson, who was assisting refugees fleeing Europe.
"She became involved with the Jewish community when she moved to Australia in the 1920s, and also a lot of emigres from Europe, particularly Germany, Russia and Austria, who had escaped the rise of Nazism," said Angela Lynkushka, her granddaughter, a photographer from Melbourne.
She then came across Dr Isaac Steinberg, who was meeting with Australian landowners and politicians with a proposal of a Jewish homeland in the Kimberley that would house 50,000 Jewish refugees.
Dr Hilary Rubenstein has written several books on the history of Jews in Australia and stumbled across the Critchley Parker saga reading old Jewish Australian newspapers.
"Dr Steinberg was the emissary for the Freeland league for Jewish settlement. They basically wanted a homeland," she said.
Mr Parker became convinced Tasmania could become that homeland, and convinced Dr Steinberg and Mrs Isaacson to visit Tasmania with him.
FULL STORY Before Israel was created, Critchley Parker set off to find a Jewish homeland in Tasmania's wilderness (ABC)
Photo: Critchley Parker (courtesy, State Library of Victoria) began his journey to find a Jewish homeland in Melaleuca (courtesy Helen Shield)
