Moss Judah Solomon
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Moss Judah Solomon (15 June 1843 – 11 February 1933), was a businessman in the British colony and, later in South Australia. He was a prominent member of Adelaide's Hebrew congregation.
Solomon was born in Brisbane, Australia, the eldest son of Judah Moss Solomon, Government Auctioneer of the colony of Queensland, later Mayor of Adelaide and a member of both houses of parliament of South Australia. In 1846 the family sailed to South Australia in the brig Dorset, owned by his uncle Emanuel Solomon, and settled in a house on Stephens Place, later the site of John Lorenzo Young's school.[1] In February 1854 J. M. Solomon took his family to England aboard the steamer Australia, to act as buyer for his brothers Vaiben and Emanuel. The Australia, which was carrying a valuable cargo of gold bullion, ran aground on a reef off Cape Town, so the passengers took to the boats, and were picked up by the steamer Royal Shepherdess, which was following, also heavily laden with bullion. The Australia turned out to have suffered no serious damage, so was able to resume her voyage and arrived in London with no further mishap. While in England, Solomon and his brother Benjamin Solomon attended London College.[2]
In 1858 J. M. Solomon returned to Adelaide, and resumed his business activities, enrolling the boys at St Peter's College. At age 17 Solomon joined his father's auction house, and updated the system of departmental bookkeeping then being used. He married and had five children, living at "Palmerston Villa" on Barton Terrace east.
In 1873 he left Adelaide and his family for the Northern Territory, which was enjoying a surge of business activity, led by the discovery of gold. He established an auctioneering business in Darwin. Solomon was elected to the first district council. He established trade connections with Batavia and Surabaya, and returned to Adelaide on a P&O ship, narrowly avoiding being carried on the Gothenburg, which was tragically wrecked in 24 February 1875.
Back in Adelaide, Solomon returned to auctioneering, trading chiefly in sugar and molasses from Mauritius, the subject of see-sawing tariffs between the colonies of Queensland and New South Wales, which intensified after Federation.
He married a second time in 1895, to Fanny Bennett (daughter of Gabriel Bennett, she founded the Jewish Ladies' Guild in 1902, died in 1927).
He was partner in firm of Solomon Cousins (aka Nimble Ninepence) of King William Street and Kapunda with his "uncle" Joseph Samuel Solomon (1846–1940).
He died at his home, "Palmerston", at 226 Wellington Square, North Adelaide.