Centenary of Thebahá'í Faith in Australia 1920 - 2020 the ORIGINS of the AUSTRALIAN
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A VISION OF UNITY Centenary of theBahá'í Faith in Australia 1920 - 2020 THE ORIGINS OF THE AUSTRALIAN BAHÁ'Í COMMUNITY The Australian Bahá'í Community is celebrating its centenary. Since the first Bahá'ís arrived in Australia in 1920, our community has embraced people from all backgrounds and walks of life in cities, towns and rural areas across the country. Bahá’ís are inspired by the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, to build unity between all the people of the world, believing that all human beings are created noble and equal, and are guided The Australian Bahá'í community was established by John Henry Hyde by one God who has revealed Dunn (1855-1941) and Clara Dunn (1869-1960), who arrived in Sydney on His religion to humanity on the steamship S.S. Sonoma from the United States on 10 April 1920. over time through successive Hyde Dunn was an Englishman who had emigrated to the United States. divine messengers known as Clara Dunn was born in London to Irish parents and raised in Canada. They Manifestations of God. married in 1917, late in life, after their first partners had passed away. Both Hyde and Clara Dunn had embraced the Bahá'í Faith in the United States in the early years of the twentieth century. They both met ‘Abdu’l- Bahá, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, in San Francisco during His historic visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. He made an impact on them that lasted for the rest of their lives. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this brochure contains the names and images of people who have passed away. 2 3 ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA CLARA DUNN The Dunns were inspired Clara Dunn often accompanied rendered, and are still rendering, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to travel her husband in his travels, hosting to the Faith, are engraved upon across the world to establish guests and giving public talks the tablet of my heart. Nothing the Bahá'í community in herself. She also engaged in charity can efface their trace or dim their work. memory.” Australia. He supported Clara Dunn combined a charitable Following the passing of Hyde their decision to move to this nature with a gentle but Dunn in 1941, Clara continued country, writing to them determined manner. She had a to serve the growing Bahá'í following their arrival: great sense of compassion and community with great vigour, often used her nursing skills to care travelling frequently to visit and for others. Friends described her encourage Bahá'ís across the as warm, humble but self-assured, country. graceful, serene, and fun-loving. This journey is pregnant salesman for the Bacchus Marsh Both Clara and Hyde Dunn were “ Milk Company, soon acquired by In 1932 she travelled to the Holy with greater prosperity, designated Hands of the Cause, the Nestle. His work took him across Land on pilgrimage, where she met highest honour that could be given because great results the country, travelling mainly by Shoghi Effendi, with whom she and to an individual Bahá'í, in 1952. will issue therefrom. train, and by 1923 he had visited her husband had corresponded At present it is full of 225 towns. He worked for Nestle for regularly for a decade. On her Clara Dunn made her final visit to the Holy Land in 1957, in her late hardship, but later nearly 12 years, travelling to every return, Shoghi Effendi wrote: “The state and major city and town in services which both of you have eighties, to attend the gathering of on favour, comfort Australia. the Hands of the Cause following and happiness will be the passing of Shoghi Effendi. The bestowed. An engaging speaker who never following year, she played a key role ” lost his English accent, he spoke in the foundation ceremony of the about the Bahá'í teachings Bahá'í House of Worship in Sydney, wherever he went: in churches, the city where she and her husband At the time of their arrival, Hyde at events organised by social and had once lived as the only two was aged 65 and Clara 51. They had philosophical movements, and in Bahá'ís on the continent. little financial means, and knew private homes. He had a friendly no one in Australia. The qualities disposition and a distinguished, She passed away in 1960 at the age of courage, faith, persistence and upright appearance. of 91. She was buried alongside her audacity sustained them. husband at Woronora Memorial He was described by Shoghi Park in Sutherland, Sydney. Establishing a livelihood in a new Effendi, who had been appointed country and at such an age was the Guardian and head of the To the community they founded, no easy task. Initially Clara took Bahá'í Faith following the passing they will always be remembered as secretarial work until Hyde Dunn of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1921, as “great- “Mother and Father Dunn”. found employment as a travelling hearted and heroic”. 4 5 EARLY AUSTRALIAN BAHÁ'ÍS The teachings of Bahá'u'lláh conveyed by Hyde and Clara Dunn found a ready audience among those searching for spiritual alternatives in the wake of the horrors of the Great War. Many early Australian Bahá'ís heard about the Bahá'í Faith at gatherings of the New Thought movement, the Theosophical Society, and at similar settings. FIRST AUSTRALIAN BAHÁ'Í The first Australian to join the Bahá'í One of his fellow members Faith was Oswald Whitaker, an wrote: “He had a rare gift of Sydney Bahá'ís including Oswald Whitaker (standing, far left) with visiting optometrist, who met Hyde Dunn friendship, constant and deep, American Bahá'í speaker Keith Ransom-Kehler (front centre), 1931 during a business trip to Lismore. which communicated itself, even Given some Bahá'í sacred writings to strangers, as a benediction of Invited by Shoghi Effendi to Effie Baker returned to Australia in to read, he responded, “every line is goodwill. He never spared himself extend her visit, she remained in 1936, and later moved to a small flat an evidence of truth”. when duty called or the opportunity Haifa for 11 years, assisting with at the Bahá'í national headquarters of extending a helping hand photographic work and serving at Paddington, Sydney, once again Oswald Whitaker’s home in Sydney presented itself.” as hostess of the Western Pilgrim acting as hostess and taking care hosted many Bahá'í gatherings and House and the first keeper of the of archives. She passed away in visitors. He served as a member of Bahá'í International Archives. 1968 and is buried in Mona Vale the Bahá'í national governing body, EFFIE BAKER Cemetery. including as Vice Chairperson, from In 1930-31 she travelled for 1934 up to his passing in 1942. eight months in Persia to make a The second person, and the first photographic record of sites and Australian woman to become a relics associated with the origins of Bahá'í, was Euphemia (Effie) Baker the Bahá'í Faith. from Goldsborough, Victoria. She often had to take photographs She met Clara and Hyde Dunn and veiled in a cloak, and develop them became a Bahá'í in Melbourne in overnight in a makeshift darkroom, 1922. Fellow Victorian Ruby Beaver before moving on to the next became a Bahá'í soon after. destination. A pioneering female photographer, Her photographs were published Effie Baker travelled to the Holy shortly thereafter to illustrate The Land on pilgrimage in 1925, Dawn-Breakers: Nabil’s Narrative together with the first Bahá'í of the Early Days of the Bahá'í pilgrims from New Zealand. Revelation. Oswald Whitaker Effie Baker 6 7 SOME OTHER EARLY AUSTRALIAN BAHÁ'ÍS Collis Featherstone with his family, 1957 Clara Dunn (seated on chair second from right) PERCY AND MAYSIE ALMOND GRETTA LAMPRILL with Bahá'ís at Yerrinbool Bahá'í School, 1950s The first South Australian Bahá'ís were Tasmanian nurse Gretta Lamprill Percy and Maysie Almond, who heard became a Bahá'í early in 1924, after COLLIS FEATHERSTONE Hyde Dunn speaking in Adelaide in hearing a talk by Hyde Dunn in Hobart. 1923. After hearing his talk, Percy She later recalled: “Then and there, with Another outstanding early Australian turned to his wife and said: “This is it.” the whole of my inner and outer being, Bahá'í was H. Collis Featherstone, an I dedicated my life to Bahá’u’lláh and Adelaide engineer who joined the They had found teachings that the Bahá'í Faith.” Bahá'í Faith in 1944. answered their questions, and embarked upon a lifetime of service to For many years the only Tasmanian Elected to the Bahá'í national Australian society through the Bahá'í Bahá'í, she helped establish the first governing body in 1949, he served community that continued into the local Bahá'í governing body in Hobart the Bahá'í community in Australia 1960s. in 1949 and served as its inaugural and overseas with great physical and secretary. spiritual energy. Percy and Maysie helped establish the first local Bahá'í governing body in From 1942 Gretta served as a member He and his wife, Madge, met Shoghi Adelaide in December 1924. of the national Bahá'í governing body. Effendi during their pilgrimage to the In 1953, she was among five of its Holy Land in 1953. They contributed to the growth of the members who left Australia to help Bahá'í community in many localities establish Bahá'í communities in the In 1957 he became the only including Melbourne, Bowral, Murray Pacific.