1985 - present

Melanie Lindenberg was born in 1961 in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the age of 21, Melanie’s father decided, that due to apartheid, it was time to leave South Africa. The family sat down as a unit to talk about where they might go and after looking at the UK, the USA and Australia, they decided that Australia would be the place to live.

Melanie was married with a child and was six months pregnant with her second when they received visas to come to Australia. Packing up, Melanie and her family, her brother and parents in-laws all migrated to Australia in June 1985. Her sister and other members of the family were to follow and now there are over 50 relatives living here. The family has lived in a close-knit Jewish community in Johannesburg, so chose the Eastern suburbs to live due to the presence of the Jewish community.

Melanie worked in radiology and also dedicates her time to working with the community through various past and present roles such as P&F President at Mt Zion and Moriah College, fundraising for schools and supporting music camps for children. She has worked with the Sydney Jewish Museum for the 50th anniversary of the liberation \[of the concentration camps\], as has been involved in WIZO (Womens' International Zionist Organisation), with JCA (Jewish Communal Appeal, with UIA (United Israel Appeal) and is a staff member at Montefiore Residential Care in Randwick.

Melanie brought with her from South Africa and treasures two volumes of ‘The Unbroken Chain’ by Neil Rosenstein - A book written about her mother, Adele Swirsky’s family history, the Katzenellenbogen family who were first settlers in South Africa, with notable descendants being Karl Marz, Helena Rubenstein and the New York Lubavitcher Rebbe. They say the family goes back as far as Rashi (medieval Jewish Torah scholar). South African Jews have immigrated to Australia since 1948, initially for ideological reasons opposing apartheid, and later propelled by increasing of crime, violence and insecurity. There were three distinct waves of migration: following the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960; the Soweto Uprising of 1976; and preceding the collapse of apartheid in 1990.

Courtesy Eat, Pray, Naches.