Construction was underway today on a settlement sponsored by the Jews of Victoria, Australia, in an area south of the Dead Sea town of Sodom. Construction began after laying of the cornerstone for the settlement, Neot Hakikar, which was started four years ago by a small group of settlers seeking to prove that the huge wasteland south of the Dead Sea could be tilled.
The ceremony was addressed by H. E. Bolte, Premier of Victoria, on behalf of Australian Jewry, and former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. The Jewish National Fund gave 25, 000 acres to the settlers for a date plantation, a vegetable farm and cattle pasture, Mr. Ben-Gurion noted that Australian Jews were planning to finance a complex of structures to be known as Nachlat Victoria.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.