S3PIEC'i BY LMR PRIME~ MIISTER ZltE RTo HON. R. G.
MENZIES9 AT J441SH 4A1R MEJ4OIAL ; AN& WqO
26, ai F~ 4~ W~ di 1 142
Sirg ladies and 6entlemen,
There are a couple of aspects of today's proceedin,,, s that I
would like to mention right away. The first is that 1 wa3 told
yesterday that my friend, Mr. Smith had levoted a fortnitght to
preparing a magnificent speech and that Mr. 1foffuan was coming back
from abroad just in time to deliver it. Wiell that tarmed out to be a
egloomy prophesy., . Lhe se* cond fact that i want to mention to you is that this
mornin4, into m~ y offices came, among others9 the Chief RabA, Rabbi
3rodi., -iho has I regret to tell you, a formidable memory because he
reminded me that 10 years ago I made a speech In his presence on an
occasion not entirely dissimilar to this arid9 what's worse, he
roaeibered what 1 had said. Now this, of course is most embarrassing
bizuso no doubt on tiagt occasion I : iaid all that I had to 3ay; and
the trou~ le Is that he re. wbers It and th. orefore9perhaps, I can't
say It again. That was an ocoasion v'hen we were celebratin-P a very
notatble event in the history of the Fustralian Jewish oowvanity in
Melbourne, My old friend Jaron Snider will no doubt remiember it very
-ioll. i bad a few -iords to say on that o,: casion, as I. tvie today.
Herle we are on a splendid site -we're join-, to have a
synagogu', a ommunity centre -strategically placed next door to the
Presbyterians. That's very 3-' tisfactory to weo very sitisfactory.
(' aughter) Jut 4hen I looked ait the book of tfie words that I was
given I was really surerixed to find that the total Jewish corn-unity
in Canboerra nmmredi 1W peoplet something around 100 adult ptrsons,
i-" hat is a very simall number in a city of 96,000 or 57 000. And in
those circumstanoes one might not have been surprised to hind"" that this
relative handful of people anxious though they might be , nd Properly
so to preserve the symbols and practice of their ancient faith
anxious though they might be to provide rior their children a training,
a bringing-. up in that faith anid in its educational methods, said,
I" veUl sorry, ) ut it can't oe done; there aire so fewo Of -, Mt they
i'erenit deterred by the fact that thay were so few, They m~ ade, what
I will always believe to be one of the most imaginative de~ isions Lkade
in recent years in this place. They saidt * This Is the capital of
AUstr~ jaia. This -11 on , rowing aind roving in numoers and in
importancet and we must set out to~ impress upon the conscience of the
Jewish comm~ unity all over Australia how important It is that there
should be, in this places a shrine tind a schiool and a place of mooting",
Now this was a m,-gnificent and ima~ giniative conceltion. It is
a matter of *., reat satisf'actioni to me, and i'M 3ure to all of you, to
realise ho4 it wdas seized upon as an lini 4, native Idea by -,-' ople of the
Jewish community all over Istralia, The result Is that ,. oday we have
the privilee, of being present at the laying of a 2tone# at the
be~ inning of a buildings at the oe,. innhig of a ci-. ntre, 4hich will some
day cater for the needs, not of 160 pe~ ople but, I imagine, of thousands
or people in a 4reat, Iforiard-looking, national capital.
Now jir I t'iink that that is a splendid idea. ' n4 because
it is a splenlid ila. I hope that all over f~ srlapeople of your
comnmuniity will. rally to it and be proud of it ' tid do so-' ething for
it; and that " eople not oIt your cmunity wrill have enough imagdnation
to see the significance of it and, in their turn lend their aid,
lend their recognition, lend their encoura.; mexnt lor something that has
such great spiritual and educational signifficance in Australia,
There is Just one other thing that I vould like to say to
you and it is this. The fact that here we are at the beginning of the
construction of a Synagogue, a school, a centre is not to be taken as
meaning that the Jewovish community in Australia feels that it is
something apart. That is not true; any more than the existence over
the road here of the Burns Club means that the Scottish community reel
they are something apart. Now as a man of Soots origin I have never
thought that we were something apart; I've Just thought that we were
in the business, but rather better. ( Laughter) And that is the
whole approach. Here is a comunity not I'm happy to say, torn asunder by
racial dispute# by disputes of religion. Here is a community in which
I'm* happy to say I find, overvhelminly, a broad tolerancet a broad
sense of the oamon aim that we all have to leave a better country than
ve found. In such a country it isn't right to suppose that some of
these old things that occur in an old world, and in a worse vorldp are
being perpetuated. If a J3ow in Australia devoted himself entirely to
the retrospective study of ancient history and medieval history he
could find much to sorrow about, much persecutions much deprivation of
rightst muoh deprivation of liberty. All those things are part of
history; but they are not part of Australia. have the great
pleasure, the great honour, the privilnge that puts responsibility upon
us to live in a country in which all th.:: t history is forgotten, a
country in which we are not anti anybody, but pro somebody: torn
asunder politically ' y parties engaging every now and then in the
luxury, if you care to look at it that way, of elections. This is
very spirited; this divides all churches, all schools of thought,
dut when it comes to the basic element there is no decent Australian
who worries about soebody'else's derivation of race, somebody else's
religious adherence; on the whole, he prefers to have a man of faith,
even though it be not his faith, to a man of scepticism and unbelief.
Therefore -e can all meet here whoever we may be, to whatever church
we may subscribe, happy and proud to think that once more in the
history of Canberra we are attending the setting up of a symbol of
faith, of hope, atnd as I believe, of aharity.
Sir* it is a very ; reat privilce for me, and for my wife#
to be present here this afternoon. It has been a particular pleasure
for me to renew my acq'. iaintance with the Chief : iabi. And if I an
still around somewhere in anothir 10 years' time I shall look forward
to meeting him and we can put our feoot up and, on that occasion, recall
with reat advantage the speeches that wo have neaver male. ( Applause)