Nathan Spielvogel

Born in Ballarat, Australia, Nathan Spielvogel was brought up in a community of Jewish immigrants from the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires who had moved to the town amid a regional gold rush. Spielvogel began his writing career contributing short stories to the local press, and from 1897 he worked as a schoolteacher. His first and most popular novel, A Gumsucker on the Tramp (1906), chronicles his travels through North Africa and Western Europe. Our Gum Trees (1913) was his only published collection of poetry. Spielvogel remained actively involved in Ballarat’s Jewish community throughout his life, and he led the local historical society for many years.