A Pioneer Jewish Community - Maurice Joel 1829 - 1907
Research Group – Overview of roles and tasks for data gathering
Roles and Tasks
Your group task is to find out as much as you can about Maurice Joel 1829 – 1907.
Your group roles include the following people. You need to choose or assign the following roles...
5A Researcher: The role of the researcher is to locate and gather information resources
about your subject from websites and books. This will include biographies and other
historical information.
5B Archivist: The role of the archivist is to locate original information resources (primary
resources) about the subject. This will include a visit to the cemetery for photographs of
personal information, printing out or taking notes from newspaper cuttings, and archived
photos where these are available.
5C Journalist: The role of the journalist is to write a series of short narratives or paragraphs
about the subject for publication using material located by the researcher and the archivist.
5D Editor/Producer: The role of the editor/producer is to gather cemetery data, design the
layout and create the end product.
Maurice Joel 1829 – 1907:
Jewish Section
Map reproduced
from Ngaire
Ockwell, (1985).
Southern Cemetery
Dunedin. Vol 5.
Jewish and
Chinese Portion.
Member of the
New Zealand
Society of
Genealogists.
Hebrew translation 1: Here lies Mr
Moses, son of Mr Joel deceased on the 7th
on the month Kislev 5665 May his soul be
bound up in the bond of everlasting life.
(Ockwell, 1985)
Maurice Joel
Hebrew Translation 2: A modest woman
Madam Catherine Joel died on the first day of the
month Ayyar 5676 in the 84th year of her life. May
she rest in peace in her grave. (Ockwell, 1985)
Catherine Joel
Maurice Joel 1829 - 1907
For the Archivist – Obituary Otago Witness 20 Nov 1907
This article was obtained and more material for the archivist is
available at Papers Past http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Maurice Joel 1829 - 1907
For the Researcher
Maurice Joel was born in 1829 at North Shields, England, and was educated at Newcastleon-Tyne. He was an engraver by trade and for some time was in partnership with his brother
in Newcastle-on-Tyne in the Birmingham and Sheffield goods trade.
He came out to Melbourne in 1853 and acted as a gold-buyer in Ballarat, acquiring general
mercantile experience before coming to New Zealand in December 1861. Maurice at once
established himself in a general hardware and ship-chandlery business in Princess Street.
Three years later, in 1864, he purchased the Red Lion Brewery situated on an acre and a
quarter section fronting George Street and Great King Street with entrances from both
streets, with the main entrance and offices fronting Great King Street.
This well-known brewery was established in 1862. Their business extended right throughout
the Colony.
For a number of years Maurice Joel was, a member of the Otago Harbour Board, for nine
years treasurer of the Jewish synagogue, and for three years its president. He was a
member of the committee of New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition of 1889-90. He
married in Victoria in 1859 to Catherine, a daughter of Mr. A. Woolf, of the Cape of Good
Hope, South Africa, and afterwards of Melbourne, and together they raised nine children.
One daughter, Grace Jane, achieved fame as an artist.
He died on 13 November 1907, survived by three sons and three daughters, and is buried in
the Jewish Section of Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery.
Stories in Stone, Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand.
(Image from Otago Witness 3 April 1901)
Papers Past URL
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Also check out the following biography at Collins, R. D. J. 'Joel, Grace Jane 1865 - 1924'.
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 22 June 2007 URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/
Maurice Joel 1829 - 1907
For the Researcher
The Jewish Beth El Synagogue in Dunedin: Architect
Maurice Joel. Built in Moray place. It was consecrated on
Purim 1878 and demolished in the 1970s. (Image from
Otago Witness 3 April 1901)
Jewish Synagogue Dunedin: Architect Maurice Joel. Photo of the
interior of the Synagogue. (Image from Otago Witness 3 April 1901)
Images from Papers Past URL: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/