Emanuel Solomon (1800–3 October 1873) was a businessman and politician in the early days of the

Colony of South Australia A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

, representing the seat of West Adelaide in the

South Australian Legislative Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assemb ...

from 1862 to 1865. He is the brother of

Vaiben Solomon Vaiben Solomon (abt 1800 – 21 June 1860) was a Jewish-English convict who, with his brother Emanuel Solomon, was transported for larceny to New South Wales in 1818. Despite further brushes with the law, Solomon and his brother seized business ...

and is a part of the larger

Solomon family Samuel Moss Solomon (c. 1769 – 13 May 1842) was an early Jewish settler in Australia, amongst whose descendants many achieved a degree of notability. The relationship between these descendants is complicated by three factors: the duplication of ...

History

Emanuel was born in London, a son of Samuel Moss Solomon (c. 1769 – 13 May 1842) and his first wife Elizabeth née Moses (c. 1772–c. 1814). He and his brother

(1802 – 21 June 1860) were transported to Sydney and served time for larceny, arriving on 1 May 1818 aboard the '' Lady Castlereagh''. He arrived in South Australia in 1837 and was one of the founders of the

Adelaide Hebrew Congregation The Adelaide Hebrew Congregation is a Modern Orthodox synagogue and congregation in Adelaide, in South Australia. The congregation was first established in 1848, and the synagogue was completed in 1850. A larger synagogue building was construct ...

. He founded the

Queen's Theatre, Adelaide The Queen's Theatre is a building of historic importance in Playhouse Lane, Adelaide, South Australia. It is the oldest intact theatre in mainland Australia, having originally been built in 1840, the only earlier one in Australia being the still ...

with brother Vaiben and occasional involvement of nephew

Judah Moss Solomon Judah Moss Solomon (21 December 1818 – 29 August 1880)Richards, Eric'Solomon, Judah Moss (1818 - 1880)' Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, 1976, pp 163-164. was a successful businessman, Mayor of Adelai ...

(1818–1880), father of

Vaiben Louis Solomon Vaiben Louis Solomon (13 May 1853 – 20 October 1908) was the 21st Premier of South Australia and a member of the first Australian Commonwealth parliament. He was generally known by his full name (perhaps to distinguish him from his uncle, ...

. In 1848 he and Matthew Smith purchased of land on

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe an ...

and subdivided it as a township to be known as Port Pirie. Little development occurred on site and by the late 1860s there were only three woolsheds on the riverfront. It was later re-surveyed and became

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...

's suburb Solomontown, commonly referred to as "Solly". Solomon had reserved a parcel of land for a synagogue, but was never taken up by the few Jews in Port Pirie. A clause in his will left it to whatever denomination should erect a building there, which offer was taken up by the

Bible Christians The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist denomination founded by William O'Bryan (born Bryant), a Wesleyan Methodist local preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall. The first society, consisting of just 22 members, met at Lake Farm ...

, who transported a surplus building to the site. Solomon is commemorated for the generosity he provided to

Mary MacKillop Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ ( in religion Mary of the Cross; 15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister. She was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Fr Julian Teniso ...

. In November 1871 he gave the

Sisters of St. Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for Saint Jo ...

, who had been evicted from their convent, a house rent free. In December 1871 he hosted a reception for 500 early settlers of South Australia to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the foundation of the colony. Photographer Henry Jones took photographs of most if not all of those who were invited to attend. He presented a large composite photograph to Solomon, and in 1910 another was purchased from Jones by T. R. Bowman and donated to the

Public Library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

for display in the entrance foyer.

Politics

He was elected to the seat of West Adelaide in the

in November 1862, with James Crabb Verco as his colleague, and resigned in 1865. He was elected to the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in 1867 and retired in September 1871.

Family

He married fellow convict Mary Ann Wilson on 6 November 1826. On 12 April 1844 he married Cecilia Adelaide Smith ( – 24 July 1852) who died in Sydney; that same year he married a third time, to Catherine Abrahams (c. 1819 – 2 July 1901). Their children included: *Elizabeth Dorseta Solomon (c. 1839 – 16 February 1914) married her cousin Samuel Israel Myers on 24 November 1858. (She had been the focus of a court case against Townsend Duryea amongst others in regards to an alleged conspiracy to elope to Melbourne with John Holthouse Pierce in 1855.) *Rosetta Solomon ( – 24 December 1901) married Joel Moss on 5 July 1865, lived at "Westwood", Glebe Point, New South Wales. *Joseph Samuel Solomon (c. 1844 – 4 September 1940) married Miriam Solomon (died 6 December 1921), eldest daughter of Abraham Jacob Solomon (c. 1825–1889), on 25 November 1868. They lived at Walkerville Terrace, Walkerville. *Julia Solomon (c. 1844 – January or February 1881) married Victor Voules Brown on 24 January 1864. She died in Darwin. *Catherine Leah Solomon (c. 1848 – 4 July 1897) married Louis Victorsen of

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

on 27 May 1874 at the residence of J. S Solomon, Buxton St, North Adelaide. *Vaiben Joel Solomon (27 November 1854 – 27 January 1936) married Dora Muhr on 25 July 1877 His oldest brother Moss Solomon (c. 1796 – 3 February 1849) was father of

and grandfather of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Emanuel Members of the South Australian Legislative Council Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Jewish Australian politicians 1800 births 1873 deaths Burials at West Terrace Cemetery 19th-century Australian politicians Convicts transported to Australia Jewish Australian history