British settlement in Australia commenced in 1788, to the
detriment of the nomadic Aboriginal inhabitants whose occupation of the
continent dated back 50,000 years. From
federation in 1901 until recent years, the Australian nation remained an outpost
of European culture, although in closer proximity to the peoples of Southeast
Asia and the Pacific Islands. Although a Christian nation, secular influences
are equally apparent in this increasingly multicultural society of almost 17
The Bahá'í Faith was brought to Australia in 1920 by Clara (d.1960) and
Hyde Dunn (d.1941), both of whom had met `Abdu'l-Bahá when he visited
California. The Dunns responded to Abdu'l-Bahá's call in the Tablets of the
Divine Plan, to bring the Bahá'í teachings to Australasia. Hyde Dunn
taught the Faith extensively as he worked his way around the Australian
continent as a travelling salesman. The first Australians to become Bahá'ís,
late in 1922, were Oswald Whitaker, a Sydney optometrist, and Effie Baker a
Melbourne photographer who later worked for Shoghi Effendi in Haifa 1925-36.
After Hyde Dunn's death in 1941 the Guardian referred to him as
"lion-hearted", and posthumously named him a Hand of the Cause. Clara
Dunn was named Hand of the Cause in 1952, and took part in the convocation of
Hands in Haifa in 1957.
Among the most significant of Bahá'í visitors to Australia were Martha
Root in 1924 and 1939, and Keith Ransom-Kehler in 1931-32. The former gained
unprecedented media coverage for the Bahá'í community, while the latter
attracted to it several able administrators and teachers, notably Hilda Brooks
of Adelaide, who became the first secretary of the National Assembly.
The National Assembly of Australia and New Zealand was
established in 1934, on a foundation of three local assemblies - Sydney,
Adelaide, and Auckland (NZ). In 1936 the National Assembly first issued its
news-organ, the Bahá'í Quarterly. Sydney Local Assembly was
incorporated in November 1937, and Brisbane by April 1957 (Messages to the
Bahá'í World, 107), and it seems, by 1953 (Messages to the Bahá'í
World, 150). Adelaide was not incorporated until November 1962.
Shoghi Effendi said Australia was "impotent to extricate
herself" from world conditions (World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 31).
In Advent of Divine Justice he referred to the "solid achievements,
spiritual as well as administrative" in Australia. (68). see Messages to
the Bahá'í World, 21.
In 1938 the first summer school was held on a property at Yerrinbool,
south of Sydney, eventually donated to the National Assembly by Stanley and
Mariette Bolton. A National Hazírá was purchased in Sydney in 1944 at the
instigation of Shoghi Effendi. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s efforts were made
to expand the Australian Bahá'í community beyond the state capital cities, and
a six-year teaching plan (1947-53) enlarged the community to 14 Local Assemblies
and 45 other localities.
At the commencement of the Ten Year crusade there were about 60 Bahá'í
centres in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania (Messages to the Bahá'í
World, 148). In October 1953 Shoghi Effendi directed hand of the Cause Mr
Furutan to visit Australia and New Zealand, and directed Clara Dunn to continue
her efforts in the two countries also (Messages to the Bahá'í World,
172). At Ridván 1954 the Guardian announced the purchase of land "to the
west of the Bab's resting place" which was to be registered in the name of
the Israel branch of the NSA of Australia and New Zealand (Messages to the
Bahá'í World, 70). This might be the same purchase, the registration of
which was being "expeditiously carried out" as mentioned in the
Guardian's 1956 Ridvan message (Messages to the Bahá'í World, 95).
In his Ridvan message 1957 the Guardian noted the convening of teaching
conferences for South Australia in Adelaide, for Tasmania in Hobart, and for New
South Wales in Sydney, as well as the holding of a Post-Convention Teaching
Institute in Sydney (Messages to the Bahá'í World, 114).
During the course of the Ten Year Plan the Australian National Assembly
was incorporated and Shoghi Effendi was instrumental in establishing a Branch of
the National Assembly in Israel, in 1954. Also in 1954, Clara Dunn appointed two
Auxiliary Board Members, Thelma Perks (d. 1988), who later served as a
Counsellor on the Australasian Board, and H. Collis Featherstone, who was
appointed a Hand of the Cause in the Guardian's last message, in 1957. In the
same year, the New Zealand community established its own National Assembly. In
May 1958 Sydney hosted one of four intercontinental conferences called by the
Guardian to mark the mid-way point of the Crusade (Messages to the Bahá'í
World, 124, 125). Mason Remey was directed to attend the Sydney conference,
and to bring a portion of earth from the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh, a lock of His
hair, and a reproduction of his portrait. In the same message the Guardian
called for representatives of the Australian NSA to be at the Djakarta
conference. The earth was to be placed in the foundations of the Sydney temple (Messages
to the Bahá'í World, 129).
During Australia's Five Year plan, 1974-79, objectives focussed on the
attainment of legal status for Local Assemblies, on provision of pioneers for
international goals, and on enrolment of minorities in Australia into the Bahá'í
community. 50 Local Assemblies were to be incorporated and a Publishing Trust
was established, in 1975.
Hand of the Cause H. Collis Featherstone joined 81 delegates at the 1979
National Convention for the launch of the Seven Year plan, 1979-86, during
which, successful National Teaching conferences and youth conferences were held,
and difficult objectives such as opening remote Flinders Island were achieved.
Other achievements were literary. In 1982 an affiliate branch of the Association
for Bahá'í Studies held its first conference in Australia, at Yerrinbool and
in 1984 "Herald of the South", a magazine first produced jointly with
the New Zealand community in 1925 was re-established.
The incorporation of National and Local Spiritual
Assemblies in Australia was made difficult by the nature of the country's State
laws. Bahá'í Holy Days received recognition from the Department of Education
in Victoria by 1953 (Messages to the Bahá'í World
, 4, 150). By 1973 Bahá'í
Marriage Certificates had received recognition.
With the resurgence of persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran that followed the
1979 revolution the Australian Bahá'ís entered a period of extensive contact
with government officials and mass media. The Australian government was active
in its defence of human rights for the Bahá'ís. In August 1980 the Minister
for Foreign Affairs asked the Iranian Charge d'Affaires to inform the
Iranian government of the Australian Government's concern about the persecutions
of the Bahá'ís in Iran, and in September notice was given of a motion about
the persecution in the House of Representatives. In February 1981 the Senate
adopted a resolution deploring the persecution, and in August a similar
resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives. In March 1982 the
government established a special humanitarian assistance program, under which
Persian Bahá'í refugees were eligible to migrate to Australia.
The Bahá'í community made representations to the heads of Commonwealth
Governments when they met in Australia in September/October 1981, and in 1982
extensive media coverage was gained on government television programs (ABC) and
"60 Minutes". Concern at the situation in Iran permeated the
international conference held in Canberra in 1982 attended by 2,400 Bahá'ís
from 45 countries, and at which were present Hands of the Cause Collis
Featherstone, and Dr Ugo Giachary, who represented the Universal House of
Since 1984 the Australian Bahá'í community has been involved in Peace
activities at national and local level. In 1984 the National Assembly submitted
a statement on peace to a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and
Defence. The Promise of World Peace, a statement by the Universal House
of Justice, was presented to the Governor General, Sir Ninian Stephen in October
1985, and one year later, the Governor General attended a service in the House
of Worship to mark the International Year of Peace. In 1986 the Australian
National Assembly sponsored a "Peace Exposition" in the Temple grounds
that attracted 10,000 visitors, and received a "Peace Messenger" award
from the United Nations for activities throughout the Australian Bahá'í
community. Peace Festivals were successfully organized by Atherton, Caboolture,
Fremantle, and other Local Assemblies.
In the years 1953-63 the National Assembly of
Australia and New Zealand carried out one of the 12 Ten Year Crusade plans
mapped out by Shoghi Effendi. The Australian Bahá'ís pursued both domestic and
international objectives. In the Indian and Pacific Oceans Australians were to
open the Admiralty Islands, Cocos Island, Mentawei Islands, New Hebrides,
Portuguese Timor, and the Society Islands; and to consolidate the Bahá'í
communities of the Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New
Zealand and Tasmania. Six members of the 1953 National Assembly members were
among the pioneers to these destinations. When Australia and New Zealand were
unable to send a pioneer to the Mentawei Islands, and Iran was similarly unable
to send one to the Solomon Islands, the goals were swapped: Dr and Iran Muhajer
opened the former, and Alvin and Gertrude Blum moved from New Zealand to the
Territories to be opened to the Faith 1953-1963
1. Admiralty Is - Violet
Hoehnke, July 1954.
2. Cocos Is - Frank
Wyss, June 1955.
3. Loyalty Is - Daniel Haumont, October 1955.
4. Mentawei Is - Rahmatu'llah & Iran Muhajir, February 1954.
5. New Hebrides Is
- Bertha Dobbins, October 1953.
6. Portuguese Timor -
Harold & Florence Fitzner, June 1954; Jose Marques, July 1954.
7. Society Is - Gretta Lamprill, & Glad Parke, October 1954.
Territories to be consolidated
ASIA: 1. Bismark
Archipelago 2. Fiji 3. New Caledonia 4. New
AUSTRALASIA; 1. New
Zealand 2. Tasmania
In ten international collaboration goals during the Nine Year Plan
(1964-73) Australia assisted the National Assemblies of the South Pacific, South
West Pacific, North East Africa, and Tanganyika and Zanzibar acquire properties.
A Continental Pioneer Committee was established to assist with the settlement of
pioneers in the nine year plan. Australia assisted with the establishment and incorporation of a National Assembly in the Bismarck
Archipelago and New Guinea in 1969 (the National Assembly of Papua New Guinea).
During 1974-79 pioneers embarked to Fiji, Gilbert and Ellice Islands,
Laos, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga and Vietnam.
Assistance was to be given to Fiji in the
translation of literature, and to several Pacific Assemblies in the acquisition
of Haziras - the North West Pacific (Yap, Guam, Pohnpei and Majuro) and South
West Pacific (Vila).
The Australian Bahá'í community has been responisible for opening
several small islands surrounding the continent. Primary objectives of the Ten
Year Crusade included the opening of Bathurst and Groote Islands and
resettlement of Admiralty and Cocos Islands. The goal of opening Bathurst Island
was the last of Australia's Nine Year Plan tasks. A pioneer was accepted for
employment on the islands' Aboriginal reserve on 29 April 1973, and on 24 April
the Universal House of Justice Cabled "CONSIDER ALL AUSTRALIAN GOALS
FULFILLED". Christmas island, an Australian Territory in the Indian Ocean,
had achieved one Local Assembly by 1986.
Joseph Dobbins Jnr., who worked on Groote Island 1966-75, was followed on
that island for lesser periods by Tom Jones (six months) and Tony and Allison
Scott (one year). In the nine year plan members of the Andilyaugwa tribe became
Bahá'ís and by 1973 there were 2 localities on the island. Melville Island,
off the coast from Darwin in the Northern Territory, was opened to the Faith by
1967, but the pioneers had had to leave by 1973 (see Wellspring of Guidance,
103). Several Bahá'ís had travelled to Norfolk Island, off Australia's east
coast, on short-term tourist visas, and in 1989 Colin Dibdin secured a
professional post there, becoming the first pioneer to the island.
Efforts to attract Aboriginal Australians into the Bahá'í
community began in South Australia and the Northern Territory in the 1950s and
in the same decade the first Iranian Bahá'ís settled in Australia. Goals
during the Nine Year Plan 1964-73 included translation of literature into
Bainings and Panaras languages; and the enrolment of Aboriginals. By 1968 the
Bahá'í community included members of the Andilyaugwa (Groote Island),
Bunanditj, Jirkia Minning, Junjan, Minen, and Narrogin tribes. The first
Aboriginal Bahá'í, Fred Murray (1884-1963) of the Minen tribe, attended the
1963 London World Congress.
During the Five Year plan 1974-79 Bahá'ís from Turkey and Papua New
Guinea visited Australia to assist with teaching in the Turkish and Aboriginal
communities, and by 1979 the goal of establishing 3 Local Assemblies in
Aboriginal areas had been exceeded by 4. By 1983, however, there were just 4
Local Assemblies in Aboriginal areas. Teaching projects had been carried out in
the islands of Torres Strait, and efforts were also made to attract members of
the Chinese and Greek communities in Australia to the Bahá'í Faith.
Following National Convention in 1985 an important meeting took place in
Onslow, in the far north-west of Western Australia, between members of the
National Assembly, the Carnarvon Bahá'í community, and Onslow Aboriginal
elders. Discussion focussed on the essence of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings and the
Aboriginal way of life. Acceptance of the Faith by Herbert Parker, an important
tribal elder, in 1985, and Jack Malardy leader of the Karradjarrie people, La
Grange, in 1987 led to a similar entry into the Bahá'í community of more than
one hundred Aboriginals. Similar results have occurred in North Queensland.
In August 1994 the National Spiritual Assembly presented a statement on
"Aboriginal Reconciliation" to the Council for Aboriginal
When plans for a House of Worship in Tehran were
frustrated by a wave of persecution in 1955 Shoghi Effendi announced the
construction of two others, in Kampala, and Sydney. When a first Temple site was
repossessed by the government a second 7 acre site acquired in February 1956.
Plans to build the Temple were officially announced at the 1957 convention.
After four years construction, the dedication of the Temple in September 1961
was attended by Hands of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum and Collis Featherstone, and
by Jessie Revell, representing the International Bahá'í Council.
Four major Bahá'í conferences have been held in Australia. In March
1958, mid-way through the Ten Year Crusade, one of the
"inter-continental" conferences announced by the Guardian was held in
Sydney. It was attended by Hands of the Cause Clara Dunn, Agnes Alexander,
Charles Mason Remey, Zikru'lláh Khádem and Collis Featherstone, and by Bahá'ís
from across Asia and the Pacific. A second conference in Sydney, in 1967, marked
the mid-point of the nine year plan and coincided with the centenary of the
proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh. Following the conference Hand of the Cause Dr
Ugo Giachary, present as representative of the Universal House of Justice,
travelled to Apia for an audience with the head of state of Western Samoa, that
lead to his rapid acceptance of the Bahá'í teachings. A third major conference
in Canberra in 1982 attracted 2,000 participants. A satellite conference of the
second Bahá'í world congress was held in Sydney in November 1992.
Bahá'í Faith has spread slowly in Australia. Local Assemblies grew from 31 in
1963 (19 incorporated) to 61 in 1973, and 152 in 1986, a 54% increase for the
period of the Seven Year Plan, and 17 in excess of the goal of 135. Youth had
played an important role in propagation activities during the 1970s, and in
April 1969 held a first National Youth Conference at Yerrinbool. In 1975 Hand of
the Cause Dr Muhajir attended National Convention in Melbourne. Hand of the
Cause Collis Featherstone also attended, albeit for only one day, (his first
attendance at an Australian convention since 1962), before flying to attend
National Convention in Japan.
In the Seven Year plan Local Assemblies increasingly took the initiative
in planning large-scale activities. From 1983 the Kentish community sponsored a
series of annual events highlighing alternative technologies and lifestyles.
Newcastle community fostered a sister city relationship with Ube, in Japan. More
Persian refugees per capita were received in Australia than in any other Bahá'í
community, and by 1988 Persians comprised 38% of the Australian Bahá'í
in the Bahá'í writings
Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, Wilmette, 1977.
Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, Bahá'í Publishing
Trust, Wilmette, 1970.
" Messages to the Antipodes, Bahá'í Publishing Trust: Mona Vale,
" Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950 - 1957, Bahá'í Publishing
Trust, Wilmette, 1958, pp 4,18,21, 37, 43, 54, 65, 70, 73, 83, 87, 92, 102, 107,
111, 112, 114, 119, 124, 126, 127, 128, 148, 150, 163, 164, 166, 167, 171, 172.
- "The Cause of Bahá'u'lláh in Australia and New Zealand", Bahá'í
World 7, 1936-38, 159-60.
- "The Bahá'í Faith in Australia and New Zealand", Bahá'í
World 8,1938-40, 90-1.
- "Clara Dunn, 1869-1960", Bahá'í World 13, 1954-63,
Brooks, Hilda, "Annual Report - National Spiritual
Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand 1938-40", Bahá'í
World 8, 1938-40, 201-4.
Hassall, Graham "The
Bahá'í Faith", in Ian Gillman (ed), Many Faiths, One Nation,
William Collins, Australia, 1988.
Walker, Noel, "The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the
Antipodes", Bahá'í World 13, 1954-63, 721-32.
Whitehead, O.Z., Some Bahá'ís to Remember, George
Ronald, USA, 1983.
Bahá'í World 1963-68: SL Bolton 323-5, F Murray 368-9, 474, 478, 560, 566
Bahá'í World 1968-73: 263-4, 293, 329 youth, 350 youth, 407, 435-7, 457-8 G Parke, 489-90 P M
Almond, 534-5 G Lamprill, 586, 612, 625
Bahá'í World 1973-76: 77, 122, 115, 120, 122, 128, 267-70, 549, 551-2, 582.
Bahá'í World 1976-79: 99, ,2,05, 227
Bahá'í World 1979-83: 92, 94, 96, 97, 100, 102-3, 106-8, 117, 119, 121, 123, 125, 129, 131-2,
136, 147, 159, 183-4, 186-7, 202-3, 340, 343, 345, 348-9, 351, 353, 355, 372-4,
408-9, 481, 485, 486, 496, 501, 503-7, 681 J Hutchinson Smith, 512, 528, 669,
681-2, 727, 757-8
God Passes By, 296, 308, 315, 323, 330, 333, 336,
338, 341, 355, 391, 330, 335, 336, 338,
340, 341, 378, 379, 385, 391, 400