January 17. On this date in 1958, the Brisbane Telegraph carried an article about the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár noting "The Sydney House of Worship will be the third built by the Faith, which has 8 million followers in 3,700 localities in the world."

 

January 17. On this date in 1958, the Brisbane Telegraph carried an article about the construction of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár noting "The Sydney House of Worship will be the third built by the Faith, which has 8 million followers in 3,700 localities in the world."

From Bahá'í Faith in Australia 1947-1963 by Graham Hassall....

A fresh outbreak of persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran in 1955 had halted plans to construct a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (House of Worship) in Tehran, the capital of Iran, leading Shoghi Effendi to decide to build two: in Kampala, Uganda, and Sydney, Australia. A seven-acre site was acquired in February 1956. Plans to build the Temple were officially announced at the 1957 convention. Funds were raised within Australia and from the Bahá'ís from around the world, and the nine-sided, domed Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of simple concrete and marble construction was dedicated in September 1961. The building of this Temple, more than any other activity of the Bahá'ís, aroused public curiosity. The Brisbane Telegraph, reported on 17 January 1958 "The Bahá'ís build a church":

The followers of a nineteenth century Persian nobleman will build a £150,000 nine-sided House of Worship 22 miles from Sydney within the next 13 months. The House of Worship will be the centre of a hospital, school for orphaned children, and a college for higher education, making the temple a spiritual centre for all forms of culture, education and welfare work.

The Sydney House of Worship will be the third built by the Faith, which has 8 million followers in 3,700 localities in the world.

Americans were largely responsible for the spread of the Faith, and two brought it to Australia in 1920. It first came to Brisbane in 1923. The followers were given assembly status in 1949 and it was recognised by the state government under the Religious Institutions Act in January this year.

A Brisbane follower said there were nearly 500 Bahá'ís in Australia - 22 of them in Brisbane.

The Lord Major of Sydney held a reception for international dignitaries present for the dedication, and the Daily Telegraph for 18 September reported 100 visitors from 20 countries among a total of 1,800 at the opening. Press coverage at the time was considerable, and resulted in several articles appearing in church newspapers. In addition to domestic press, brief articles about the Bahá'í Faith appeared at during this period in such international news magazines as Time, and the Economist.[25] The persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran which resulted in the building of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Sydney also hastened the migration of Persian Bahá'ís to Australia and New Zealand - although not in the substantial numbers following the later, 1979 Islamic revolution.

25 West Publishing Corporation, Sydney, 1958; third edition with introduction by A.P. Elkin 1970.