This article examines the changing negotiation of group identity in the South Brisbane Russian Jewish community from 1912-1922 between two clear phases demarcated by the watershed of the March 1919 riots and the shift from a model diasporic community to a creolized form embracing various elements of English, Australian, Russian and Jewish cultural forms. It assesses the effects of political, religious and ideological conflict within identity formation, and examines the lasting effects of this period on the community.