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Settlement of Jews in Australia After War Urged by Church, Press, Notables

June 24, 1943
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Without referring to Jews, the Melbourne Herald, one of the leading Australian newspapers, today published an editorial urging the opening of Australia to large-scale immigration after the war.

“Post-war immigration is imperative for the interests of our country,” the editorial said, expressing the sentiments of many statesmen here who are known to support the proposed post-war settlement of Jews from European countries on a 7,000,000-acre tract in Kimberley, West Australia. The project has been endorsed by the West Australian Government, but consideration of the scheme was suspended in 1940 as a result of the war.

Prof. Woodruff, noted bacteriologist of Melbourne University, in a broadcast today, appealed to the people of Australia to demonstrate their desire to some to the aid of the persecuted Jews in Europe by saving their lives through immigration. He pointed out that of all the people in the world, Hitler has singled out the Jews of Europe for complete extermination, and urged the Australians to intervene with the government for speedy action to rescue Jews in Nazi-held lands.

Prayers for the Jews of Europe were delivered in all churches here last Sunday. Today, the Emergency Committee for the Rescue of European Jews, which includes many church leaders, announced plans for a widespread campaign to bring the plight of Europe’s Jews to the attention of the Australian people through mass-meetings and pamphlets which will also call for the admittance of Jewish immigrants to Australia.

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