Life in the colony

I have been sharing some family stories, about my ancestors who went as business men with their families to Tasmania, then called Van Diemen’s Land. Samuel Moses and his wife and children sailed from London, probably in 1839, and by the early 1840’s were well settled into the life of the town of Hobart. As well as being involved in commerce, my great-great-grandfather was a very special person within the small Jewish community, as this item in the newspaper of the time reports:

Ancient Jewish Rite

On Sunday morning, the son of Mr. Judah Solomon, a youth twenty years of age, was circumcised according to the custom of the Jews; the operation was performed by Mr. Samuel Moses of the firm of Nathan Moses, and Co., of the Commercial House. The operation is usually performed when the child is eight days old, but when he was born, twenty years ago, there was no person competent to do it. The operation was performed in a very scientific manner in about two minutes, the patient undergoing the operation without a murmur.
After the ceremony was performed the whole of the guests about thirty in number, adjourned to the adjoining room, where a splendid luncheon was provided by the host of the Temple.