Esther apparently sold the livery stables after Joseph’s death. She had accumulated sufficient capital to set up the first public baths for ladies, at Woolloomooloo Bay on the shores of Sydney harbour. Women and children who wished to bathe could do so for a price: “1 pound per quarter for a lady and three children – for a single lady ditto 10s, and a single baths 6d.” The site was a natural rock shelf into the harbour where Aboriginal people had been bathing for centuries. The baths served as a “mykveh”, a place for ritual bathing by Jewish women. There was a memorial to the baths on the site, comprising a boardwalk with the words installed as part of an art exhibition, but a visit to the site in 2019 confirmed they have all been removed.
The baths were a feature for some time but failed to pay their way and were eventually let go.
The baths were a feature for some time but failed to pay their way and were eventually let go.
Esther died on 27 December 1855, at her residence, Phillip Street, after a long and painful illness. According to the notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of Monday 29 December, she was aged 86. The nature of the illness was not specified.
After a long and eventful life, in which she had to use various services[1] of the Church of England,her Jewish identity had survived. She was known amongst the Jewish community in Sydney.
She was buried in the Jewish section of the Devonshire St cemetery (where the Central Station now stands). Her burial service was conducted by the Reverend Isaac Jacobs, minister of the Sydney Synagogue at the time. In 1901 the cemetery site was needed for Central Railway Station, and Esther’s remains were re-interred at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, known then as Bunnerong Cemetery. Unfortunately there is no headstone to mark her grave.
[1] The first Synagogue in Sydney was not built until 1844
After a long and eventful life, in which she had to use various services[1] of the Church of England,her Jewish identity had survived. She was known amongst the Jewish community in Sydney.
She was buried in the Jewish section of the Devonshire St cemetery (where the Central Station now stands). Her burial service was conducted by the Reverend Isaac Jacobs, minister of the Sydney Synagogue at the time. In 1901 the cemetery site was needed for Central Railway Station, and Esther’s remains were re-interred at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, known then as Bunnerong Cemetery. Unfortunately there is no headstone to mark her grave.
[1] The first Synagogue in Sydney was not built until 1844