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David Isaac Freedman (1874-1939), rabbi, was born on 17 April 1874 at Budapest, Austria-Hungary, son of Moses Freedman, merchant, and his wife Esther. Two years later the family went to London where he was educated at the Bell Lane School, Jews' College (1891-97) and the University of London (B.A., 1894). He was encouraged to write by the author Israel Zangwill and contributed to journals; in 1889 he was naturalized.

In 1897 Freedman arrived in Western Australia, on the Ophir to minister to the Perth Hebrew congregation. He was a bearded, curly-haired, handsome young man. Joined by his fiancée, Anne Florence (Mollie) Cohen, he married her on 22 December; they had two sons. He became a Freemason, established the Perth Hebrew Philanthropic Society and in 1899 wrote a report stressing the value of Hebrew education and the need to foster pride in the history and traditions of Judaism. He became headmaster of the Perth Hebrew School where he improved teaching methods by writing and setting to music over 150 songs covering the major teachings of the Jewish religion. In 1903 he set up a fund to aid victims of the Kishineff pogrom. From 1904 he edited the West Australian Craftsman, Scottish Freemasonry's official organ in the State. Next year he and his wife visited England. Freedman was a keen cricketer and tennis player and he encouraged by his membership a wide range of cultural and charitable activities within the Jewish congregation and in the wider Perth community. He became well known as a lecturer on literary and historical subjects. In 1910-11 he joined a delegation urging the State government to appoint a commission on the establishment of a university for Perth.

On 1 October 1915 Freedman was appointed as a chaplain in the Australian Imperial Force and he served briefly on Gallipoli and in Egypt and France. Throughout it was his policy to write home to the family of every Jewish soldier whom he met. In February 1916 the British War Office appointed him chaplain to all Jewish men in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. In France, for two years he took no leave and in December 1917 was mentioned in dispatches. Next year he returned to Perth, his war appointment terminated. During his absence the title of rabbi had been conferred on him by the London authorities of his faith. Perth Jews were relieved to have him back and they protested so vociferously when he was offered a promotion in Sydney in 1920 that he remained with them for the rest of his life. Freedman had visited Palestine and on his return he became president of the Western Australian Zionist Association. He also became active in the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia and was its State president in 1924. Among the organizations to benefit from his membership were the Soldiers' Children Scholarship Trust, Jewish Returned Soldiers' Circle, Australian Jewish Welfare Society, Jewish and non-Jewish dramatic societies, Children's Protection Society, Victoria League, Institute for the Blind, Prison Gate Committee and the Home of Peace for the aged.

In 1932-38 Freedman was a member of the Senate of the University of Western Australia. In 1933 he went to London as a delegate to the British Empire Service League's sixth biennial Congress; from there he went with the Australian delegation to the fourteenth assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva and spoke on the German-Jewish question which dominated the proceedings. Next year in Perth he spoke out against the 'good deal of anti-Jewish feeling in Australia' and called on the Federal government to make it a criminal offence to circulate racial propaganda. In 1936 he was appointed O.B.E.

As a pastor Freedman was orthodox yet understanding, benign and good-humoured. He possessed phenomenal energy and 'had his own methods of facing difficulties—sometimes with superb diplomacy and tact, at other times with a direct vigour that proved him to be a man of courage'. Until late in life he wore a monocle and a neatly waxed moustache. He never owned a car and enjoyed playing golf with the leaders of Perth's other religious denominations. Survived by his wife and sons, Freedman died on 24 June 1939 from a coronary occlusion suffered while at a hospital committee meeting. Two thousand mourners attended his burial in Karrakatta cemetery. The Jewish Centre and Perth's Hebrew congregation are now located in Freedman Avenue, Mount Lawley.

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/freedman-david-isaac-6242

Major-Chaplain D. I. Freedman.
ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA.
Major - Chaplain Freedman, the esteemed Rabbi of the Perth Hebrew Congregation, returned to Perth (W.A.) on Friday, the 5th July, in excellent health, after serving as Jewish Chaplain to the Australian Imperial Forces for two years and eight months at the war front, which included Gallipoli, Egypt and France. Rabbi Freedman was specially mentioned in despatches.
The Rabbi is respected and esteemed by the people of every denomination in the City of Perth and W.A. generally. At Kalgoorlie, en route to Perth, he was accorded a civic reception in the Town Hall, at which there was a large attendance of all sections of the community including the Mayors of Kalgoorlie and Boulder, the Attorney-General and church ministers of various denominations. He was also tendered a civic reception on his arrival at Perth, being met at the train and welcomed home by the Mayor of Perth, the executive of the Perth Hebrew Congregation and a large number of prominent citizens. On the 8th July the Mayor entertained Major Chaplain Freedman and other returned soldiers at dinner at the Palace Court, Perth, and in the evening a public welcome was extended to Major-Chaplain Freedman at the Perth Town Hall, at which the Mayor of Perth presided, and among- those present on the platform were the Minister for Defence (Senator Pearce), the Postmaster-General (Mr.Webster), Senator Dynch, the Premier (Mr.H. B. Defray), the Colonial Treasurer and the Military Commandant. The Mayor delivered an address of welcome. On rising to reply to the Mayor's address, the Chaplain was greeted with a tremendous ovation, and, in an interesting speech, he thanked the Mayor for the hearty welcome he had received and, with his characteristic humour, detailed some of his experiences at the Front.

We are indebted to the "West Australian"for the following descriptive interview with Rabbi Freedman :
"I felt the possibility of the establishment of a national home for such of the Jewish people who cannot find rest for the soles of their feet in any other country. I believe, thanks to the generosity and far sightedness of Great Britain, that that ideal will be realised."
In these words Major-Chaplain D. I. Freedman, for three years the only Jewish chaplain for the whole of the Australian and New Zealand forces, who has returned to Perth, summed up his impressions as he stood gazing at the Promised Land two or three months ago. It is not surprising that a member of that long-suffering race should glow with enthusiasm at the prospect of Judaism—its people scattered to every country and wandering up and down the face, of the earth, during many hundreds of years—being reunited as a nation, and restored to the land of its fathers.
Major Freedman, who for twenty-one years has been the spiritual head of the Jewish Congregation in Western Australia, was met on his arrival from the East by the Mayor (Mr, W. F. Lathinin, on behalf of the citizens, and the president, and members of the Hebrew Congregation. It was suggested to him by the military authorities when he was preparing to return to "Australia, that he should do some work in Palestine, an evidence of good feeling that he strongly appreciated. Accordingly, in April last he joined the Anzac mounted division outside Jericho, and spent two months in the country, where the hopes and aspirations of millions of it's compatriots are focussed. The British advance had reached to the other side of the River Jordan, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the Turks defeated in a, big light which he had the opportunity of watching closely. A Turkish artillery officer told him that to this day the Turks regretted that they had not fought on the Allies' side. Major Freedman happened to be going to Palestine at the same time as the Commission, which was composed of representative Jews of every Allied country,and was appointed for the purpose of examining and reporting on the conditions of Palestine from an economic aspect;, with the object of the repatriation of the Jewish nation.
He travelled from Cairo, to Jerusalem withthe chairman of the Commission, a Pole named Dr. "Weitzinan. In conversation with him the doctor said he saw many difficulties in the way of the realisation of the project. A great deal would have to be done to make the present conditions better, and in order to attract the proper , class of settler. The road was a very hard one, but he was full of confidence that ultimately the ideal would be approached. Major Freedman spoke enthusiastically of the wild plantations of olives, figs, almonds, and other fruits, and the beautiful appearance of the Jewish "colonies" or settlements. There are forty such colonies in Palestine, but the majority are still in enemy hands. One of them contains the third best wine cellar in the world, and was built by Baron Edmund Rothschild, whose son, Captain James Rothschild, is a member of the Commission.
The British Government has been exceedingly good to the inhabitants, irrespective of race or creed. The distress was very great when the British troops first occupied the territory. Now the work of providing a water supply for Jerusalem is in hand, roads are being built, and the people are supplied with rations. The Government is lending, free of charge to the settlers of the colonies, horses, mules, and waggons for agricultural purposes—treatment very different to that of the Turks, who confiscated all the horses and cattle. The settlers, to show their gratitude, treat the soldiers most magnanimously, giving them a hearty welcome and making no charge for the billets.
Major Freedman spent three years at the various fronts, like other chaplains, he is reticent about the things that would interest his hearers most. He made no reference to being mentioned in despatches or to the incidents which have served to give him personally, and chaplains generally, a place in the hearts of the soldiers irrespective of creed and race. A chaplain carries his Life in His Hands.
Shells and bombs have burst only a few yards away from Major Freedman. and his billet has been shattered in his absence, yet he went on with his work of encouraging the lighters, sympathising with the sick and wounded, and burying the dead, serenely and uncomplainingly oblivious, to all appearances,of the messengers of death that dogged his footsteps. Yet, with the help of a stout ,heart and a robust constitution, he did not, "report sick" once, and he is even willing and eager to go back. But his own congregation want him, and they have been calling him by cable and letter for twelve months. So devoted was he to his work that he would not leave it until he knew that his successor—the Rev. J. Danglow, of St. Kllda, Victoria—was well on his way to relieve him.
Sketching his association with the Anzacs, he said he was attached "for discipline and rations"—as the army regulations put it—to the Second Division headquarters. He reached Gallipoli just before the evacuation, and subsequently went to Mudros Island and then to Egypt, where, at the request of the War Office, he acted as chaplain for the Jewish soldiers in the British Forces that were operating in that country.
"My work, therefore, covered three army corps he said, "and that meant very hard going every day." Not only did his work extend over the whole of the canal zone, but he had to "do" all the hospitals in and around Cairo and Alexandria. After five or six months, however, he was relieved of the hospitals in and around Alexandria by another chaplain. He left Egypt with the last infantry units to go to France, and during the two years he spent in that country he never experienced a retirement. He was in the battle area, the whole time and witnessed practically every fight the Australians had during time period.
Few people have heard of the battle front at Aden, the British coaling station in Arabia, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Yet there is a British field force keeps a Turkish force in check, and they seem to conduct warfare on the Most Gentlemanly Lines.
The Turks permit the entrance of vegetables into the city for the population, but levy a tax on them, and the British force allows medical comforts to reach the Turkish lines. Major Freedman paid a visit to this sector of the great world war when on his way back to Australia, and for the purpose, presumably, of proving that it was real war,the British artillery fired a few rounds for his entertainment.
When Major Freedman was in London he was frequently the guest of the Chief Rabbi, and before he left a public presentation was made to him in recognition of his work at the front. He had many conversations with the head of the Rothschild family—Mr. Lionel de Rothschild—who is the head of the Jewish War Services Committee.
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Jewish Herald Friday 26 July 1918 page 8