Elise Hawthorne
What drives the indomitable Josie Lacey’s dedication to social justice? Her achievements are remarkable, it is like she has lived a life of many people in regards to what she has accomplished, and she is still making her mark on society. Born in Romania, Josie emigrated to Australia as a child refugee from Nazi Europe arriving in Sydney in 1939. Josie’s memories of school days being called a ‘reffo’ she encountered ignorance and anti-Semitism which left its mark.Memories of the Holocaust were and are never far from her mind.
Fear of racism and the consequence have been the motivating force and inspiration for Josie’s interfaith work. A youth leader in her teens, a retired kindergarten and Jewish studies teacher, Josie knew from a young age that she had to “speak up against injustice.” Josie has dedicated herself to interfaith and inter-communal harmony as well as fostering and promoting diversity in many spears of society. In addition, she is active in social justice, anti-racism and women’s and children’s rights. She is a pioneer in the field with more than 30 years practical experience to draw on. In 1992, Josie was awarded an OAM for ‘Services to Community Relations and the Jewish community.’
Josie has been an executive member of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), and is a Life Member of the ECAJ, she advises the ECAJ on relations with other ethnic and religious communities. In 1989 when the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies decided to join the Ethnic Communities Council (ECC) of NSW, Josie was appointed as a delegate. She was later elected as a vice-chair of the ECC and in 2012, she was made a life member of the ECC for her lifelong work in anti-racism, anti-racial vilification and inter-faith dialogue, as well as supporting multiculturalism and diversity. It is the highest constitutional honour that the ECC can bestow on its members.
Moving into the 1990s, Josie was instrumental in securing bipartisan support for the original racial vilification laws in NSW. It was the first such laws in Australia. She chaired the ECC’s Interfaith and anti-racism committee set up during the first Gulf War. In 1993, Josie was a United Nations Association of Australia (NSW) Human Rights Committee delegate to the Asia-Pacific Conference on Women in Development (ESCAP), Manila and Representative of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) at the Ministerial Conference of ESCAP held in Jakarta in June 1994.
In 2001, Josie was the foundation convenor of the Women’s Interfaith Network ( WIN), a group bringing together women of different faith traditions to promote understanding, respect and harmony. WIN now has four regional groups. Josie has had a lifelong association with the Women’s International Zionist Organization; she was group president for seven years and State president for four years. Josie also served on the Steering Committee of Journey of Promise, an interfaith project in which young Christians, Muslims and Jews resided together for a week, engaging in dialogue and discussion, they visited each others’ centres and prepared a video of the experience.
In 2008 she assisted the organisers of the Catholic World Youth Day to arrange the interfaith functions, and she was one of those who was personally presented to the Pope. Josie still gives of herself to the community; she chairs the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) – NSW Chapter and is a member of the NSW Council of Christians and Jews.
Josie’s upcoming memoir An Inevitable Pathis a detailed account of her incredible life, giving the reader an idea of what leads a person down ‘an inevitable path,’ itis sure to be a captivating read. Josie Lacey has come a long way from the young Romanian refugee who first landed in Australia so many years ago.
 
To purchase Josie’s book visit: sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au
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