Reading, Fanny (1884 - 1974)

Fanny Reading, medical practitioner and activist for Zionist and Jewish women’s causes, was born near Minsk in Russia in 1884. After her family migrated to Australia, Reading taught Hebrew to private students before entering the University of Melbourne to study music and later medicine. Graduating in 1922, she moved to Sydney to join her brother’s medical practice. In 1923, inspired by the visit of Zionist emissary Bella Pevsner, she founded the Council of Jewish Women - a Zionist organisation which was also active on a range of women’s issues, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

In 1925 she travelled to the United States, Europe and Palestine, and helped organise a conference for the International Council of Jewish Women. In 1929 she organised a conference in Sydney at which the National Council of Jewish Women was formed.

Reading's father fled Russia for Ballarat soon after her birth. Fanny and her mother spent some time in London before they were able to join him, and the family relocated to Melbourne in the early 1900s. During WWI, due to hostility towards the Germans, they changed their name from Rubinovich to Reading.

Reading was active in many other organisations, including the National Council of Women and the Socialist Club, of which she was vice president in 1929. She was also vice president of the Youth Aliyah (which assisted Jewish orphans in Israel) and in 1948 she (unsuccessfully) represented this group in a libel suit against Smith's Weekly which had alleged that they raised money to buy weapons to fight the British in Palestine. Through both the National Council of Jewish Women and the Australian Jewish Welfare Society she was also active in immigration reception work in the 1930s, particularly assisting Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.

Member

• National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (1923 - )

Books

• Newton, Marlo Leigh, Making a Difference: A History of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne, 2000, 342 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

• Cohen, Lysbeth, 'Beginning with Esther: Some distinguished Jewish women of New South Wales', in Thompson, Patricia and Yorke, Susan (eds), Lives Obscurely Great: Historical Essays on Women of New South Wales, Society of Women Writers (Australia), NSW Branch, Sydney, 1980, pp. 156-165. [ Details... ]
• Cohen, Lysbeth, 'Dr Fanny Reading', in New Zealand Jewish Year Book, B'nai B'rith District 21, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 29-31. [ Details... ]
• Rutland, Suzanne D., 'The changing role of women in Australian Jewry's communal structure', in Jews in the Sixth Continent, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1987, pp. 101-126. [ Details... ]
• Serle, Geoffrey, 'Fanny Reading (1884-1974), Medical Practitioner and Jewish Communal Leader', in Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 11, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 343-344. [ Details... ]

Journal Articles

• Andgel, Anne, 'The law of loving kindness: a tribute to Dr Fanny Reading, founder of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia in 1923', Journal (Australian Jewish Historical Society), vol. 14, no. 2, 1998, pp. 199-259. [ Details... ]
• Cohen, Lysbeth, 'Not merely housewives. Australian Jewish Women. Paper presented to Australian Jewish Historical Society. Meeting (1980: Sydney)-', Journal of Proceedings (Australian Jewish Historical Society), vol. 9, 1981, pp. 8-24. [ Details... ]
• Ochert, Morris S., 'Dr Fanny Reading v Smith's Weekly', Journal (Australian Jewish Historical Society), vol. 13, no. 2, 1996, pp. 308-342. [ Details... ]
• Rutland, Suzanne, 'Perspectives from the Australian Jewish community', Lilith: A Feminist History Journal, no. 11, 2002, pp. 87-101. [ Details... ]

Newspaper Articles

• Cohen, Lysbeth, 'Service to Women: Dr Fanny's lifestyle', Australian Jewish Times, 11 June 1981, p. 17. [ Details... ]

See also

• First Jewish Women's Conference, May 21st to 27th, 1929, Council of Jewish Women of New South Wales, Sydney, 1929, 104 pp. [ Details... ]
• Official report of the Second Jewish Women's Conference of Australasia : under the auspices of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, held at Sydney, N.S.W., March 8th to 16th, 1932., National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, Sydney, 1932, 140 pp. [ Details... ]
• Meeting new migrants on the wharves: A significant part of National Council of Jewish Women history from the 1920s to the 1950s, The Council, Sydney, 2003, 36 pp. [ Details... ]
• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au. [ Details... ]
• Radi, Heather (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Women's Redress Press, Sydney, 1988, 258 pp. (Also available at http://www.200australianwomen.com/) [ Details... ]