Branches of the Cedar Tree: Lebanese on the NSW Far North Coast

Book Launch Event Details

Saturday 03 September | 11 AM- 1PM

McKee’s Hill Hall, Bruxner Highway, McKees Hill

For full details, please click here.

Order Form for Branches of the Cedar Tree

About the Book

Branches of the Cedar Tree: Lebanese on the NSW Far North Coast – edited by Anne Thacker and published by the Australian Lebanese Historical Society (ALHS).

The ALHS aims to promote study of the history of Lebanese settlement in Australia as well as develop ways of understanding and recording family emigration histories. The ALHS most recent project collects stories from people who made a new life on the NSW Far North Coast. These families settled across the districts from the Queensland border and south to around Grafton, including Glen Innes. You will read about people, to list a few only:  at the Tweed District – Aboud, Habib, Solomon; at the Kyogle District – Michael, Mellick, Aboody; at the Casino District – Jabour, Bracks, Watson, Karam, George; at the Lismore area Wickham, Skype, Hajjar, Lutvey, Moses and Solomon; and Grafton District with Sweeten and Howley. In all, the book has over thirty family stories.

Until the ALHS was established in 2000, very little was known about the Lebanese who migrated to Australia commencing from as long ago as the 1870s. Classified as Asian, these people experienced legislated discrimination under “the White Australia policy” and so they remained largely invisible within their communities. But they were here to stay and are now among some of the most well-established families in their districts.

The book also has many early photographs and aims to create a starting point for some families who wish to investigate their heritage but are not sure where to start.

More importantly, the whole community will benefit from this book by obtaining a true understanding of the make-up and contributions to the establishment and development of NSW by an important segment of the local community.

It is also a delightful read about the antics of early life around the districts when people “made do” with the often limited resources they could muster under their own hand.