ACT Jewish Community Inc

Cultural collections

The National Jewish Memorial Centre houses cultural collections which the public is invited to view.  Access is available between the hours of 10am and 3pm, Monday to Thursday, except on Jewish holy days.

There is a Library holding over one thousand books covering historical, cultural and religious material on Judaism and Jewish people, as well as some novels with a Jewish theme. The online catalogue can be viewed here.

There is a gallery of art works distributed through the building. The collection is of varied genre. They display notable Jews in politics or the arts; traditional forms of artistic depictions of Jewish themes or of Israel; art works depicting and relating to the Holocaust; some classic pieces of art or craft.

Our Museum pieces bring together torah scrolls, religious artefacts and nationally significant Judaica gifted by the Commonwealth of Australia. The collection includes torah scrolls which are old, valuable and of varied cultural origin (e.g. Sephardi scrolls from the Indian sub-continent, inscribed with family names). The Commonwealth Government recently gifted to the ACTJC the entire collection of Crown gifts of Judaica or historical Israeli objects received by Prime Ministers and Ministers of the past half-century.

The National Jewish Memorial Centre is located at

31 National Circuit, Forrest, ACT 2603. 

At the heart of Canberra, tucked right beside Parliament House is the National Jewish Memorial Centre, the home of the ACT Jewish Community.

The ACT Jewish Community is the home of both the Orthodox and Progressive Congregations and the epicentre of cultural and educational programs for all Jews in Australia's Bush Capital.

Guided under the leadership of Rabbi Alon Meltzer and an elected board with our President, Yael Cass at the helm, our community is experiencing strong growth in both numbers and programs. 

We would love to have you join our community 
and get involved with what we have to offer.

Rabbi Meltzer is the ministering Rabbi to the Orthodox Congregation, and the educator and pastoral provider to the ACT Jewish Community

Check out our calendar of events and the rest of our site.

Until a change in 2015, the Burning Bush (right) was the symbol for the community and was inspired by the sculpture on the outside of the building, designed and fabricated by Izzy Kingsberg. For more information please click the symbol.