Fanny Reading

Fanny Reading (born Fanny Rubinovich; 2 December 1884 – 19 November 1974) was a Jewish Australian community leader and medical practitioner.

Reading is widely credited with encouraging Jewish Australian women to become more widely involved in discussions about Jewish issues throughout much of the 20th century.

Early life and education Fanny Rubinovich was born in Karelichy near Minsk in Russia in 1884. Her parents were Orthodox Jewish. She migrated to Australia with her mother in 1889 where her father had already emigrated to after Reading's birth.

In 1918, with the rise of racial antisemitism during World War I, Reading's father changed the family name from Rubinovich to Reading.

Reading returned to the University of Melbourne to study medicine, graduating in 1922.

Career

Relocating to Sydney, she commenced a medical practice with her brother in Kings Cross. After new branches of the Council of Jewish Women had formed in different states of Australia, the National Council of Jewish Women was formed in 1929. In 1947, the Victorian branch of the National Jewish Council of Women honoured Reading for her Zionism work by raising £4000 to redeem a portion of land in Palestine in Reading's honour called "Nahlat Dr. Fanny Reading".

In 1957, after attending an International Council of Jewish Women convention in Israel, a settlement was named "Neve Zipporah", in honour of Reading's Hebrew name, Zipporah Rubinovich. Following the article's publication, Reading attempted to sue National Press Pty Ltd for £10,000 in damages, believing that as a member and a vice-president of the association, her reputation and credibility had been damaged by the statements made in the newspaper article.

The magistrates ruled in favour of Smith's Weekly, stating that because Reading had not been identified in the article, there was no case and said that as the law stood, "a class, sect, congregation of people" could not be subject to libel action.

Death and legacy Reading died at the Wolper Jewish Hospital on 19 November 1974, and was buried in the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, New South Wales.

In 1953, an appeal was launched by the National Council of Jewish Women to establish an events venue in Reading's honour. It was officially opened as the NCJWA War Memorial Fanny Reading Council House in Woollahra in 1963.

Upon the Wolper Jewish Hospital in Woollahra completing expansions in 1966, a new surgical wing was named the Fanny Reading Wing.

In December 1971, when Australian Prime Minister William McMahon opened the National Jewish Memorial Centre in the Canberra suburb of Forrest, his wife Sonia McMahon unveiled a plaque and dedicated the centre's auditorium as the Fanny Reading Auditorium.

Awards and honours 1935, King George V Coronation Medal 1937, King George VI Coronation Medal 2010, Reading was posthumously added to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women