Amirah, An Un Australian Childhood

Two-year old Amirah Gutstadt was brought to Australia in 1929 with a forename that no one could pronounce and a surname that no one could spell.

But this was not the only part of her self that was challenged and confused by a range of cultural, political, religious and philosophical paradoxes in the new country of her parents’ random choice.

Amirah’s amusing, warm and trenchant story offers compelling insights into the frustrations and joys of a young Jewish migrant becoming an Australian in the 1930s and 1940s.