Jewish resistance during Holocaust in spotlight this Anzac Day at Western Plains Cultural Centre

Dr Breann Fallon, Manager of Student Learning and Research at Sydney Jewish Museum, will travel to Dubbo to present stories of people who rose up against atrocities during the Holocaust - which marks 80 years in 2023 - and what we can learn from this time in history.

"I think it's important for the Dubbo community to hear about Jewish resistance during the Holocaust because there are a lot of messages and lessons we can take from this particular example of resistance," Dr Fallon told the Daily Liberal.

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"We see a community that was standing up during the most horrific of circumstances. It's a piece of history that's been under-represented and there's been a narrative that the Jewish people didn't resist - and it's the opposite.

"We hear these incredible stories of uprising, resistance, helping your fellow man - be that a Jewish person or non-Jewish person. These lessons we can take into the world and they resonate in the ways that they are about mateship and making a better world for everyone in the contemporary space."

Dr Fallon said this year's 80th anniversary of the Holocaust was a time to stop and reflect and ask ourselves: What have we learnt, and how far have we come? She said it was a time to be thankful for those who survived, but also a time to consider the work we have to do to honour those who didn't survive.

"I think we all would have hoped that perhaps we would have come a little bit further than where we are in 2023. You look at the world and there's so much division and separation ... the Holocaust being one of the most preeminent examples of such division and horrors and genocide - and yet there's still a lot that humanity can learn," she said.

Dr Fallon's will present multiple examples of Jewish resistance, including spiritual, ideological, and through armed resistance, and will look at the lessons we can learn from each example. This will include stories from from the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which is also marking 80 years in 2023, and is one of the most famous examples of armed Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.

Dr Fallon will present to school-aged children and the general public over two sessions and will share personal stories for them to take back into their lives. She said people could expect to walk away "inspired by personal stories".

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"This is a history that feels like it's getting further and further away, but what audiences can expect is for that history to come roaring into the present. Hearing personal stories, hearing those narratives, and understanding that there is so much to take away from a history that seems to be so far in the past," Dr Fallon said.

"We're hoping that people take away really tangible lessons on civic citizenship, but also walk away curious, wanting to learn more about ... this history or other history - and really making sure that when they do learn about the past, they're making sure they're finding the human voices in that past."

Dubbo has an interesting link to the Sydney Jewish Museum in the form of a photo album that was donated by William Ross Harris and was the property of Raymond McLean Becker, who was born in Sydney in 1909 to a Jewish mother.

Raymond grew up in Strathfield and at the age of about 20, began working as a travelling salesman on behalf of Harold Edward Gaggin, who owned a women's fashion and accessories business based in Dubbo.

Between 1929 and 1930, Raymond and his colleague, drove a Ford Model T from Sydney to Townsville, the vehicle advertising "Harold Gaggin: Travelling the West with the best of ladies wear". In their vehicle they carried roughly 200 garments and accessories and set up temporary boutiques in local pubs, hotels and halls, before packing up and moving on to the next town.

They visited Hillston, Narromine, Canbelego, Gilgandra, Tooraweenah, Condobolin and Rockhampton, among other regional towns.

Their adventures weren't without their mishaps. In 1929, their vehicle was bogged for almost 24 hours between Cobar and Hillston. After their unfruitful attempts to move the vehicle using logs and branches, they were helped and pulled out of the mud using 16 horses.

A glimpse of what their travelling boutique may have sold is provided by an advertisement in The Gilgandra Weekly which advertised the travelling boutique on Thursday, March 28, 1929:

"Every woman who is interested in smart dressing should not fail to inspect the exceptionally fine showing of new season's fashion goods, which will be displayed at Gilgandra... The range includes 150 smart frocks, coats, jumper suites and costumes and fifty smart hats; also shoes, dress lengths, cardigans, pleated skirts, hosiery, etc."

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Following this journey, Raymond began his own lingerie business which also travelled around regional Queensland. He would continue to identify as a 'traveller' for the rest of his life.