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Jewish Section
The small (28 plots) Jewish Orthodox section of the Fremantle Cemetery lies towards its eastern end next to a drive which starts out as Samson Avenue (tho it changes name twice by the time it gets here).
A general view of the Jewish section. The plots are numbered F 1-28, tho not every one is marked. In the centre is the grave of Elias Solomon, the (now black) railings of which have been repaired, but not the stone.
F1 (right) is the grave of Elias Solomon, F2 that of Lionel Samson. The plaque at this end of Solomon's grave, near the number 1, is new, and records that Elias was the first member of the Federal parliament for Fremantle.
The rather modest grave of Elias Solomon: a single stone with a metal railing painted white before its repair. Solomon was the Mayor of Fremantle 1889-91 (to be followed by the first W. F. Samson) and then again 1700-1. He was also Fremantle's first Federal MP.
F2 is a Samson family plot, containing the unusual monument to Lionel Samson, on the left.
The Samson gravestone indicates that it contains the remains of Lionel (1788-1878), his wife Fanny, their youngest son William Frederick and second daughter Adelaide. The first William Frederick Samson was Fremantle Mayor 1892-3, the first of three Samson Mayors.
F3 and/or F4 is also part of the Samson family plot with this impressive monument to Caroline, relict (widow) of Daniel Henry Scott (c. 1834-1874). She died in 1923, aged 77, and so was born c. 1846. Her husband was the son of harbourmaster Captain Daniel Scott (1800-65). Caroline was the eldest daughter of Lionel Samson, explaining why she was interred here - despite the inscription not mentioning the relationship or her maiden name. Her husband was buried in the Church of England section of the Skinner Street Cemetery in 1874, having died of 'debility'. Caroline apparently did not marry again, despite being widowed at only about 28, and bore no children.
Charles Henry May is buried at F5. His first wife, Annie Cooper, would have been buried in the Vale St Cemetery, as she died in 1897. His second wife, Esther Masel, was cremated and is remembered by a plaque on a seat near the entrance to the cemetery.
A seat near the entrance of the cemetery is the memorial of Esther Masel, her only child Frederick, and his wife Catharine, and has plaques for each of them.
Nothing to indicate what is between Charles May at F5 and Isaac Ostrovsky at F8.
Isaac Ostrovsky was a secondhand dealer. His grave is at F8.
More unmarked space between F8 Isaac Ostrovsky and F11 Annie Rosenberg.
Annie Rosenberg, d. 23 December 1897, wife of Mark, is buried at F11, with Cesar Solomon Jüdell next, at F12 (on the left).
Another unmarked space between Jüdell, at F12 and Luber, at F14 (left).
Coming back, from right to left, along the opposite side of the section: on the right is the grave, at F15, of Herbert Nathaniel Davis. F16 is the Falk plot. F17 has no identification.
Grave of Herbert Nathaniel Davis, architect. Notice that it has the year in the Jewish calendar.
Grave of Leslie Falk Alexander, infant son of Lawrence Alexander, who was Mayor in 1902. He was a manager for Falk & Co., whose warehouse was on the corner of Henry and Phillimore Streets, where the facade (only) may still be seen: it was called Customs House, when it provided offices for various Commonwealth Government departments. It's now yet another of Notre Dame's numerous buildings.
This grave is at F18. The couple were Sephardic Jews.
Next to the Galota grave, at F18, is this unnamed grave, at F19, and then there is space to the left until we get to Michael Samson's memorial.
F27 and F28 hold the remains of Michael Samson and his family, including those of Sir Frederick Samson (the second William Frederick Samson).
Michael Samson (1844-1907) was Lionel and Fanny's eldest son. He was Mayor of Fremantle in 1906-7, dying in office.
Michael's son, another William Frederick (1892-1974) was also a Fremantle Mayor, 1951-1972, a 21-year record that will never be broken. He was knighted as Sir Frederick in 1962. He had no children, and left his house to the WA Museum.
A general view of the Samson memorials from the opposite direction, with Elias Solomon's railed grave at the rear. The Lionel Samson grave in the middle is an iron box which appears to be above the ground, rather than in it: it's possible to see the bottom of the box, at ground level.
Fremantle Herald 14 April 2012
Fremantle Herald 11 December 2015
There was a Jewish section in the East Perth cemetery, and so some extent there still is, tho it has not been maintained in original condition. The Perth DPS map shows its location in 1867.
The Google Maps photo show the memorial cemetery today - obviously reconstructed by resituating the eleven gravestones that remained after 1899 - but still on the original site.
As well as the Orthodox Jewish section (F) in Fremantle Cemetery (above), there is also a small section, F1, not far away, with a sign saying PROGRESSIVE JEWISH. There seems to be only the one grave in it: that of Isidore Cohen (1920-1987):
References and Links
Antonovsky, Ari & Wendy 2010, 'Here from the beginning: Jewish community life in early Fremantle, Fremantle Studies, 6: 1-11.
Berry, Elaine 1994, 'The Samsons in Fremantle', Fremantle, the newsletter of the Fremantle Society: October 1994.
Silbert, Eric 1999, 'Jewish personalities of Fremantle', Fremantle Studies, 1: 77-91.
Solomon, Coralie 2004, 'Elias Solomon: first Federal Member of Parliament for Fremantle: life and letters 1839-1909', Fremantle Studies, 3: 1-13.
Wendy and Ari Antonovsky conduct a tour of the Jewish section of the cemetery called 'Visiting the Residents of the Jewish Section of the Fremantle Cemetery', and they very kindly provided me with the text of the talk. Rather than put the biographies in this page of images, I've put them in the pages for the individuals concerned:
Lawrence Isaac Alexander
Herbert Nathaniel Davis
Charles Henry May
Lionel Samson
Michael Samson
Elias Solomon
The 2019 tour, 12 May, was called 'Morning Tea @ the Cemetery - a visit to the Jewish section'.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 21 July, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/cemeteries/jewish.html (it was last updated on 6 December, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.