From Australia’s Jewish past…and sometimes New Zealand’s

By Ruth Lilian on J-Wire…

Samuel Edward Shrimski – one of the most colourful and effective figures of the early township of Oamaru, New Zealand.

Occasionally, stories are written about those who established themselves in New Zealand. This week’s story is one.

Samuel was born in 1828 in Poznań, Poland, to Hannchen and Elias, a tailor. They had five children. Samuel received his initial education in his hometown.

In 1846, at the age of eighteen, he travelled to London, having left his family, and spent the next twelve years there.

Once in the UK, he slightly anglicised his name from Schrimski to Shrimski. In 1858, he emigrated to Melbourne and then moved to New Zealand in 1861, becoming a naturalised citizen in 1863.

Read the full story on J-Wire HERE.