PERTH, capital of Western Australia, founded in 1829. The first
Jew arrived in the same year, but up to the 1880s only a few
Jews lived in Perth. The Perth Hebrew Congregation was founded
in 1892 and the synagogue opened in 1897, but the community of
Fremantle, the port of Perth some nine miles (14 km.) distant,
was established earlier. Most of the Jewish settlers came from
Eastern Europe both before and after World War I, but a number
also arrived from Palestine. A Liberal (Reform) congregation
Temple David, was formed in 1952. In 1970 the Jewish community,
which numbered about 3,300, was the third largest in Australia.
In recent decades Perth's Jewish community has expanded
considerably. According to the optional religious question asked
in the 2001 Australian census, 4,871 declared Jews lived in
Perth; the actual number was probably more than 6,000. Many were
recent migrants from South Africa, for whom Perth was the
nearest community in an English-speaking democracy. Perth's
Orthodox synagogue, the Perth H