These are the names: Jewish Lives in Australia 1788-1850

In 1800 Uriah Moses arrived in Sydney aboard the convict ship, Royal Admiral (2) - one of my twelve convict ancestors to arrive in Australia by 1808. However what makes Uriah different from my other convicts is that he was a Jew, definitely a member of a minority group at the time. But Uriah was not alone as shown by John S Levi in the second edition of this book outlining what is known of the lives of approximately 1,600 Jews who came to Australia between 1788 and 1850.

In 921 pages biographies of the first Jews in this country are compiled from a range of existing records. The biography for Uriah, for example, provides a brief summary of where he was born, his dates of birth and death, the ship that brought him to Australia, when and where he was sentenced, marital status on arrival in Australia and the number of children he eventually had. These notes are followed by a summary of his crime, trial and sentence. The rest of the biography details Uriah's life in New South Wales including life in the Hawkesbury region where he spent the rest of his life. Information is taken from records kept of the lives of convicts (and former convicts) in the colony as well as from newspapers, post office directories and records of religious institutions (synagogue and church). From time to time in the biography there are references to other Jews known by Uriah, including two who signed the copy of his will. Reading the biographies of these people provided a little additional information about Uriah's life.

The introduction to These are the Names provides a brief outline of the history of the survival of Jews in Europe for hundreds of years before some migrated to England, life of Jews in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries plus an informative summary on the life of Jews in the colonies. The information in this book therefore provides useful information leading to a better understanding of the lives of people in the Jewish community who, for various reasons, ended up living in Australia.