I get the impression that there’s a people group who sometimes feel forgotten, living as they do on the other side of the world – Down Under!
I should know, because I have close family there. So I will try to remedy this.
I have just received a glowing report of Melbourne’s revamped Holocaust Museum from my good friend Hugh Kitson, the well-known filmmaker, who now lives there himself, near to his children. He says the Australian metropolis has, since the late 1940s, hosted more Holocaust survivors than any city in the world outside of Israel.
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I’ll tell you more about that in a moment, but feel this is a good opportunity for shining a light on Australia in honour of their vital contribution to Israel’s restoration which itself came about in fulfilment of multiple biblical prophecies. I even once worked under an Aussie boss (he too is from Melbourne) in my current role as a volunteer for the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ).
And just across the North Sea from here [England], Australian-born lawyer Andrew Tucker is working feverishly to defend Israel’s legitimacy in the international sphere from his office in the Netherlands as director of THINC (The Hague Initiative for International Co-operation).
Of late, he has been ruffling the feathers of the International Court of Justice and others with a few home truths about Israel’s legitimate claims to the Holy Land, stating: “The call for evacuation of settlements means that all Jews must be removed from the Old City of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria – the historic heartland of the Jewish people. This is not only totally absurd and impractical, but also unjust as it completely ignores the fact that Jews have been living there for millennia.”
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He adds: “The ICJ has unquestionably adopted the historical and legal narrative of the Palestinian side that denies any Jewish connection with the land and ignores Israel’s legal and historic rights and its legitimate security interests.”
Andrew’s ongoing arguments are effectively about flawed ‘lawfare’.
This is a good point to remind readers of the crucial role played by Australian troops in paving the way for Israel’s national re-birth through the immense courage of those involved in a highly dangerous cavalry charge across the Negev desert to capture wells the enemy was intending to destroy.
Their victory in this Battle of Beersheva thus opened the way for General Edmond Allenby’s forces to liberate Jerusalem from the Turks (after 400 years of rule) in December 1917. Israel was duly reborn just over 30 years later thanks in part to those brave Aussie soldiers.
Back to the museum. Hugh Kitson describes his three-hour guided tour: “Since the late 1940s Melbourne has had the largest population of Holocaust survivors of any city in the world outside of Israel. They have just completely revamped the museum and made it interactive. The story of the Holocaust is now portrayed mainly through the experiences of a group of named survivors who came to Melbourne after World War II.
“They were all guides at the museum after it was established in 1984. Some are still alive, but many are no longer with us. To have the Holocaust personalised and portrayed through the eyes and experiences of a small group of people is very powerful.
“One of the exhibits is designed for secondary school pupils, the survivors portraying their experiences as children using child actors and a beautifully done visual display. The museum also has a rich collection of artefacts donated by the survivors. Overall, it is one of the most impactful Holocaust displays I’ve seen.”
Now wind the clock back more than 400 years to the arrival in Australia of a Catholic Jew who apparently discovered the continent long before Captain Cook got there. Explorer and missionary Capt Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1563-1614) duly named it the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit!
A Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, he was burdened with a desire to establish a holy settlement there to be called ‘The New Jerusalem’, according to Kathy Stewart, author of Go to the Land of Moriah (Freedom Publishing, 2020).1
On the Day of Pentecost, May 14 1606, the good captain is said to have declared: “Let the heavens, the earth, the waters with all their creatures and all those present witness that I, Capt Pedro Fernandez de Quiros…in the name of Jesus Christ…hoist this emblem for the holy cross on which His person was crucified and whereon he gave his life for the ransom and remedy of all the human race… I take possession of all this part of the South as far as the pole in the name of Jesus… which from now on shall be called the Southern Land of the Holy Ghost.”
As Kathy aptly put it, “an honour bestowed on no other nation!”
1Kathy and her husband Tony are founders of the Moriah Trust, committed to helping needy Arab and Jewish believers in Israel.
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