To date there has been no full-blown historical analysis of anti-Semitism in Australia which combines both qualitative and quantitative aspects. That social and cultural anti-Semitism existed in the period 1860–1950 is a fact. The question is whether it was of a nature meriting real concern. Anti-Semitism can be real, imagined or believed potential. These different aspects of the same problem have affected both individual and communal Jewish responses. The mere tabulation of anti-Semitic incidents alone tells us little about their emotional impact on Jewish lives. Relying on empirical data alone tells us little about how the ordinary Jew coped with anti-Semitism.

Whether as a result of actual incidents or the fear of its occurrence, anti-Semitism stamped Anglo-Australian Jewry in at least two connected ways. It affected their social behaviour and communal practice. And it also influenced how they related to ‘foreign’ Jews who settled in their midst. It was asserted that nothing should be seen, said, or done, that might incur the displeasure of the Gentile community to such a degree that it might arouse anti-Semitism and therefore put the social standing of Anglo-Australian Jewry in peril.

Jews have long had to wear the oft heard criticism of being over-sensitive to the possibility of anti-Semitism. They are accused of often seeing dangers that are not there. However, their Exilic history has taught them the fundamental lesson that their domicile in places considered safe for extensive periods of time cannot be guaranteed or taken for granted. No doubt, this ‘wariness gene’ also affected Anglo-Australian Jewry. Not that anti-Semitism in Australia between 1860 and 1950 even approached the levels reached in Europe, England, and the United States of America. Nonetheless, communally, Anglo-Australian Jewry was ever looking over its shoulder to see ‘what the Goyim (Gentiles) might think’.

During this period, Australian Jewry was a miniscule and nationally scattered minority, never reaching a size that posed a threat to anyone. On the other hand, despite the fact that Australia did progress down the liberal democratic path relatively peacefully, any anti-Semitism, real or imagined, placed Jews on edge. It forced advocacy in their interest to be conducted privately through personal contacts. This remained basically so until 1949 when the private path failed and with the Holocaust in mind, and somewhat buoyed by the establishment of the State of Israel, a more assertive Australian Jewry threw off the shackles of the past to publicly contest the perceived threat of mass German immigration.