Antisemitism in Australia has affected Jews since Australia's Jewish community was established in the 18th century. It became more pronounced in the late 19th century,Suzanne Rutland. "The long, dark history of antisemitism in Australia". The Conversation. 23 November 2023. . rising further in the 20thSchneidawind, J., 2026. German-Jewish Migration to Australia: Forgotten Nineteenth-Century Trajectories. Journal of Migration History, 12(1), pp.116-145. and early 21st centuries. A number of community organisations track anti-Jewish activities, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which publishes an annual list of all antisemitic activities reported to it,"Antisemitism reports", Executive Council of Australian Jewry. and the Community Security Groups (CSG) responsible for local communal ssecurity. According to the Anti-Defamation League's 2024 Global100 survey, an estimated 20% of Australian residents harboured antisemitic views. Ten years earlier the estimate was 14%.Rise of menacing minority: anti-Semitism scourge in Australia among worst in the West. The Australian. 15 January 2025. Threats to Australian Jewish life have been perpetrated by individuals from different backgrounds,Vergani, M., Goodhardt, D., Link, R., Adamczyk, A., Freilich, J. D., & Chermak, S. (2022). When and how does anti-Semitism occur? The different trigger mechanisms associated with different types of criminal and non-criminal hate incidents. Deviant Behavior, 43(9), 1135-1152.Ray, J. J., 1973. Antisemitic types in Australia. Patterns of Prejudice, 7(1), pp. 6-16. representing a small minority of Australians, impacting Jewish safety and security. Overseas actors have also played a role. Australian Jews are among the most targeted minorities in Australia. Antisemitism has manifested in attacks on Australian Jews and their religious and communal institutions, in media and antisemitic publications, in primary and secondary education, in higher education,Rezaei, M. and Slucki, D., 2026. Developing a theory of change for addressing antisemitism in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, pp.1-17. in civic life, on social media,Vergani, M., Giovannetti, A., Ng, S., Liao, K., Goodhardt, D., Tran, H., Hong, H. P. and Chen, Y., 2026. Mapping Online Anti-Jewish Hate in Australia: A Big Data Analysis.Vergani, M., Giovannetti, A. and Liao, K., 2026. New study of 2 million online posts shows persistent anti-Jew and anti-Muslim hate in Australia. The Conversation. and in past efforts to prevent Jewish immigration.
Recent surges, particularly following the October 7 attacks, highlight its ongoing presence, and its impact on Australian Jews with survey findings of widespread scepticism of government's ability to combat racism with "hate speech" laws.McCrindle Research, The New Intolerance Study: Summary Report, commissioned by the Centre for Independent Studies (May 2026). Survey conducted 16 February — 8 March 2026. Advocacy by Jewish organisations, legislative measures, and condemnation by political leaders illustrate efforts to combat these issues, yet threats to Australian Jewish life remains a persistent societal concern.
The first known fatal attack targeting Jews in Australia was the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting, which resulted in 16 deaths (including one of the attackers) at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach organised by Chabad. Jewish leaders have criticised the Australian government for failing to take appropriate measures in response to the escalating antisemitism prior to the attack.
Early history Before World War II In his 1989 review of early history of antisemitism in Australia (colonial period through the immediate postwar period), Sol Encel, observed that aside from its impact on immigration policy, antisemitism in Australia in this period can be viewed as a relatively minor social problem. According to Encel, anti-Jewish prejudice in Australia dates back to the first arrival of British convicts, eight of whom were Jews.Sol Encel (1989) Antisemitism and prejudice in Australia, Patterns of Prejudice, 23:1, 16-27, DOI: 10.1080/0031322X.1989.9969990 Nonetheless, the colonial period was marked by the absence of institutionalised antisemitism found in Europe. Jews in Australia were never formally barred from entering the professions, sciences, academia, and arts. Despite being British subjects, Jews ran for political office in Australian parliaments even before it was legal for Jews to do so in the United Kingdom.Jones, J. (2004). Confronting reality: anti-Semitism in Australia today. Jewish Political Studies Review, 89-103. Suzanne Rutland argues that antisemitism started to become prevalent in the country in the 1880s alongside the rise of Australian nationalism and the campaign to establish the Federation of Australia. Trade unions, politicians and the media were hostile to the small number of Russian Jewish arrivals in the country.Suzanne Rutland. "The long, dark history of antisemitism in Australia". The Conversation. 23 November 2023. . In 1915, the Labor Party politician, Frank Anstey published a pamphlet, The Kingdom of Shylock, which included antisemitic elements, some of which he removed in a later republication. Due to its antisemitic content, the circulation of the original pamphlet was suppressed.
In the case of the Emanuel Solomon and Vaiben Solomon and their descendants, who arrived in the early 19th century and helped form a mercantile network composed of Jewish and non-Jewish members, correspondences concerning their entrepreneurial efforts contain occasional complaints over antisemitism they experienced in Australia.Richards, E. (2014). Colonial misfits of the 1830s: Three stories of migration. Agora, 49(1), 30–38.
In 1933, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on antisemitic statements of a University of Melbourne professor.
In the late 1930s, antisemitic agitation concerning the purchasing of land by Jews was refuted by government officials.
During the wave of Jewish immigration in 1938–39, Frank Clarke, president of the Victorian Legislative Council, offered graphic depictions of refugees as "rat-faced men". Other incidents in this period include a 1920 arson attack on the synagogue in Toowoomba, Queensland (see ).
World War II and postwar period The second wave of Jewish refugees arrived between 1938 and 1939 and it was also denounced by an antisemitic Australian press and anti-Jewish statements were made by politicians. Pressure groups such as the Australian Natives' Association and Returned and Services League of Australia spearheaded resolutions against Jewish immigration. Nevertheless, the state of Australian antisemitism did not culminate in acts of violence like the acts of violence that were being perpetrated in Europe at that time.Gouttman, R. (2019). Not our problem: Australia and the genocide of European Jewry. Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 24. Nevertheless, there were reports of antisemitic attacks which were perpetrated against Jews by local Nazi sympathizers."Australian Jews". The Examiner (Launceston, Tasmania). 10 April 1939, p. 6. . In 1941, there were reports of antisemitic propaganda being circulated across Sydney suburbs."Wide-Spread Anti-Jew Propaganda in Australia". Smith's Weekly. 25 October 1941, p. 1. The Social Crediter, a publication run by C. H. Douglas, produced in England and circulated in Australia, was accused of promoting antisemitic propaganda."Douglas Crediters' Anti-Jew Propaganda". Smith's Weekly. 1 November 1941. Page 3."Not anti-semitic: Australian social crediters". Smith's Weekly. 15 November 1941. Page 3. The New South Wales division of the social credit movement denounced the antisemitic material in The Social Crediter."Douglas Credit Attacks Major Douglas". Smith's Weekly. 8 November 1941. Page 3. A related publication, New Times, published by Eric Butler, was accused of promoting antisemitism."So There's No Anti-Semitism?" The Sydney Jewish News. 18 August 1950. Page 3. After the war, The Bulletin published antisemitic cartoons, pushing against Jewish immigration. In 1947, the Australian Journalists Association formed a committee to investigate the extent of antisemitism in the Australian press. By 1950, the Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism (JCCFAS) observed that 80,000 copies of a single antisemitic pamphlet were distributed in Australia, and alleged that the Jewish community was often uninformed of these developments."In Sydney Wider Publicity Needed For Campaign Against Anti-Semitism". The Australian Jewish Herald. 11 August 1950. Page 16. In response, JCCFAS published and distributed 30,000 copies of a pamphlet titled "Anti-Semitism: A Menace to Australia"."30,000 Copies Distributed by Jewish Council". The Australian Jewish Herald. 10 November 1950. Page 3. In some instances, antisemitic publications distributed in the 1950s were originally printed in South Africa. In 1949, the Jewish cemetery in Sydney was vandalised. In 1950, a North Carlton Synagogue and Talmud Torah were vandalised by local youths."Outrageous Desecration In North Carlton". The Australian Jewish Herald. 15 September 1950, p. 1.
During this period, Arthur Calwell, the minister of immigration adopted measures to ensure that Jews would not constitute more than 0.5% of the country's population.Rutland, S. D. "Antisemitism in Australia". In The Routledge History of Antisemitism (pp. 77–85). Routledge. Calwell also halted all immigration of Jews of Middle Eastern origin.Gouttman, R. (1993). "A Jew, and coloured too! Immigration of 'Jews of middle east origin' to Australia, 1949–58". Immigrants and Minorities, 12(1), 75–91. There was a 25% cap on Jewish passengers travelling on Australia-bound ships and planes. In the late 1940s, Australian antisemitism continued to involve a strong focus on the prevention of Jewish immigration.Kaiser, M. (2022). The Anti-German Migration Campaign and the Fall of the Jewish Antifascist Left. In Jewish Antifascism and the False Promise of Settler Colonialism (pp. 137-181). Cham: Springer International Publishing. In the postwar period, Jews were commonly refused membership to Australian country clubs, this led to the 1951 founding of the Cranbourne Country Club.Rubinstein, Hilary L. "'A lifelong record of generosity': Aaron Cohen JP (1884-1960), Melbourne philanthropist and Jewish community leader." Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal 26.Part 1 (2022): 27.