In the 1930s to 40s, London-based Isaac Steinberg was a regular visitor to the Kimberley region of Western Australia and promoted it as a new homeland for the Jews.
He lobbied unions, church groups and community groups to allow tens of thousands of Jews
to settle in the Kimberley region.
Earlier, another Jew Melech Ravitch visited the Northern Territory in the
1930s and
suggested the area could house a million Jews.
In the late 30s to 40s it was a heated issue in the newspapers, union halls and state and federal parliament asThe Canberra Time, The Age, Truth and Sydney Morning Herald spoke against the settling of large populations of Jews in the Kimberley region.
Even after Israel was created, Steinberg tried once more unsuccessfully in 1950.
The Jewish Autonomous Oblast was created by Soviet authorities in 1934 but apparently it's remote location in the Russian Far East was not popular due to the lack of natural resources and poor strategic location.