Changing representations of Indigenous peoples in the New South Wales Jewish Press

A distinct Australian Jewish press first began in 1842 with the periodical Voice of Jacob. Published in Sydney, the aim was to provide a regular paper that catered to the needs and desires of the growing Jewish community in the colony of New South Wales. Since then, many other newspapers and periodicals have emerged, and these have played a significant role in shaping Jewish ideas and attitudes toward the world around them. Contextualised within changing social and political discourses of race and religion that impacted both Jewish and Indigenous communities across the 19th and 20th centuries, this project aims to uncover representations of Indigenous peoples in NSW-based Jewish newspapers from 1842 until 1990, when the Australian Jewish News first began publishing as a national newspaper. In tracing such representations, the project seeks to explore the different ways Indigenous peoples were depicted, spoken about, or represented by another minority community, how these depictions and representations may have changed over time, and what these representations reveal about Jewish communities in NSW.