# Persian Baha'is in Australia

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Graham Hassall, Persian Baha'is in Australia, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Persian Bahá'ís in Australia
> 
> Graham Hassall
> published in Religion and Ethnic Identity, An Australian Studyed. Abe Ata
> 
> Melbourne: Victoria College & Spectrum, 1989
> 
> In the Australian Bahá'í Community, the issues of religious
> and ethnic identity merit examination and explanation. Bahá'í
> beliefs, laws, and system of administration originate in the life
> and work of Mirza Husayn Ali, "Bahá'u'lláh" - who was
> born into the Persian nobility in 1817, and exiled for his
> beliefs, across the Ottoman Empire to the province of Palestine,
> modern-day Israel, where he died in Akka, near Haifa, in 1892.
> But whereas the Bahá'í Faith began in Iran in the nineteenth
> century, and acknowledges its religious and cultural heritage,
> its "worldview" is global rather than regional: it is a
> world religion, not an Eastern philosophy, nor is it a sect of
> Islam. Its basic teaching, around which all others revolve, is
> the "oneness of mankind", a belief that all peoples,
> beliefs, and values, while possessing their own integrity, share
> a common origin, purpose, and destiny. These defining statements
> suggest some parameters of the Bahá'í Faith as a religion, as
> they also suggest the issues of contention and opposition
> discussed in fundamentalist Christian and Islamic literature.
> 
> Iran is a Muslim country with a population of some 50 million,
> but its brand of Islam, Shi'a, differs from the Sunni Islam of
> the Arabic countries. The term "Iranian" derives from
> "Aryan", and indicates the Indo-European origins of the
> population, and "Persia" dates to the Greek name for
> the southern province of Fars, where the first Persian Empire
> began. Although "Farsi" is the dominant Persian
> language, the country contains numerous ethnic groups each having
> their own distinctive culture and language. The country has been
> called Iran since 1935, the people and culture continue to be
> termed Persian.
> 
> Whereas the Bahá'ís constitute the largest religious minority
> in Iran (although unrecognized by the country's constitution),
> larger Bahá'í communities exist in Asia, the Americas, and
> Africa. Persian Bahá'ís thus form a significant section of the
> Bahá'í world community, without being its most populous. This
> paper suggests that the community of Persian Bahá'ís living in
> Australia forms part of a contemporary religious diaspora,
> initiated over one hundred years ago, and dependent on religious
> forces both within the religion, and political and religious
> forces acting upon it, that have their origins in the clash
> between Shi'a Islam and the modernizing West. The flight of
> Bahá'ís from persecution in Iran since the revolution in 1979,
> although the most well-known period of their exodus, has thus
> been a continuation of a century of diaspora-formation, not
> merely an isolated instance of political/religious refugee
> resettlement.
> 
> Two factors have generated the dispersion of Persian Bahá'ís.
> First, early widespread support for the religion provoked fear in
> the Shi'a Ulama (clerics), who branded it an heretical sect of
> Islam, and worked for its elimination. Barbarous opposition to
> the prophet-founders of the Bahá'í religion, climaxing more than
> a century later in the persecutions in the revolutionary era, has
> impelled Bahá'ís to emigrate, or flee from Iran, episodically,
> and during repression of varying intensity. Christians,
> Armenians, Jews and Zoroastrians have shared a similar fate, and
> exodus.
> 
> Secondly, Bahá'ís have emigrated from Iran in order to
> propagate Bahá'í beliefs in other countries, and among diverse
> cultures. Although without clergy - the religion has an
> administrative system, devoid of clerical offices - Persian
> Bahá'ís participated, together with their co-religionists from
> other parts of the world, in programs of global dissemination of
> Bahá'í beliefs. Given this combination of persecution and
> missionary zeal, a Persian Bahá'í diaspora was inevitable: they
> were both pushed and pulled from their country of birth.
> 
> Persian Bahá'ís were not the first to bring the Bahá'í Faith
> to Australia. An English-Irish couple, Hyde and Clara Dunn,
> arrived in Sydney from San Francisco in 1920 and within a decade
> succeeded in attracting a sufficient following to establish
> "Local Assemblies" in Sydney, Adelaide and Auckland.
> Although there were as yet no Persian Bahá'ís in Australia, there
> were periodic communications between the two communities.
> Australian Bahá'ís were keen to learn of the major events of
> Bahá'í history which had unfolded in Persia, and in 1930-31 an
> Australian photographer, Effie Baker, travelled through Persia
> and Iraq photographing important historical sites and religious
> artifacts which were rapidly deteriorating. In 1932 the
> Australian Assemblies cabled to the Court of the Shah, thanking a
> court minister for removing a ban that had been unreasonably
> imposed on Bahá'í literature, and at other times, Australian
> Bahá'ís contributed to relief funds in aid of Persian Bahá'í
> communities affected by such natural disasters as floods and
> earthquakes.
> 
> Although emerging within different cultural contexts, Bahá'í
> communities in Persia and Australia, as in all other countries
> where there were Bahá'ís, established similar religious
> institutions, on the basis of identical beliefs, and
> administrative guidelines. Coincidentally, the National Spiritual
> Assemblies of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand, and of
> the Bahá'ís of Iran, were both established in 1934. Thus, by the
> 1950s, when the first Persian Bahá'í immigrants arrived in
> Australia, there was an established community of Bahá'ís in the
> antipodes ready to greet them.
> 
> PERSIAN BAHA'IS AND AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION POLICY: THE
> 1950s
> 
> Although Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith
> 1921-1957, exhorted Bahá'ís over many years to leave Iran, none
> considered Australia as a potential destination until the late
> 1940s. When, however, Persian Bahá'ís first applied for entry to
> Australia in 1948, they were classified as "Asiatic"
> rather than "European" by Australia's "White
> Australia" policy, and were denied entry. Others attempted
> but failed to meet the stringent requirements for entrance to
> Australia for tertiary study; although some successfully entered
> New Zealand, where they completed their education.
> 
> Beginning in 1951 the National Assembly attempted to identify
> sponsors for Persian Bahá'ís, but it was informed by the
> Department of Immigration in 1953 that the existing policy
> allowed no possibility for reciprocity between Iranians and the
> Australian government. Nevertheless, a number of Persians passed
> through Australia during 1953-54, en route to resettlement in New
> Zealand and several Pacific Island territories - notably the
> Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Western Samoa.
> 
> The desire by Bahá'ís to leave Iran increased following an
> outbreak of persecution in 1955, in which Bahá'í properties were
> confiscated, and the community's activities were curtailed: the
> Australian Bahá'í House of Worship, at Ingleside in Sydney, was
> constructed when the events of 1955 halted plans to build one in
> Tehran. Although entry to Australia remained difficult into the
> 1960s, small but significant numbers of Persian Bahá'ís moved to
> third countries - in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Some
> families arrived in Australia from Indonesia, where they had
> resided until all Europeans were expelled following political
> unrest there in 1965-66. Individual families also arrived at this
> time from Pakistan, India and Great Britain. At various times
> through the 1960s the National Assembly continued consultation
> with the Department of Immigration on the requirements for
> bringing further Bahá'ís into Australia, the easing of policy
> resulted in successful migration by professionals, especially
> medical doctors. On the eve of revolution, in 1978, there were
> approximately 50-60 Persian Bahá'í families in Australia.
> 
> REVOLUTION AND PERSECUTION: 1979-1988
> 
> With the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, the situation of the
> Bahá'ís in Iran deteriorated dramatically, and reports of
> persecution, imprisonment and execution gained world-wide media
> attention. In Australia, the National Assembly began alerting the
> Federal government, and a series of motions in the Australian
> parliament's upper and lower houses between 1981 and 1983,
> deploring the abuse of religious tolerance by the Iranian
> government, oriented the Australian Government's policy toward
> positive representation on behalf of the Iranian Bahá'í
> community.
> 
> The Government protested to the Iranian Charge d'Affairs in
> Australia, and supported resolutions on behalf of the Bahá'ís in
> the United Nations General Assembly, and its International
> Commission of Human Rights in Geneva. At the same time as it
> lodged these protests on humanitarian grounds, the government
> balanced its support for religious liberty with the need to
> retain good political relations with Iran, realising the
> potential that existed for the expansion of trade relations.
> 
> Thus, while maintaining diplomatic relations with Iran, the
> Australian government also made provisions for the intake of
> Iranian refugees. In 1981 Macphee, the Minister for Immigration,
> announced a Special Humanitarian Assistance (SHP) Program under
> which Iranian Bahá'ís and others were able to seek refuge in
> Australia. By 1986, 538 Persian Bahá'ís had entered Australia
> under the SHP program, and by 1988, some 2,500 had arrived in
> Australia through either SHP or Refugee Programs. Together with
> Persians already living in Australia, they constituted 38% of the
> Australian Bahá'í community.
> 
> IDENTITY ISSUES
> 
> Although Persian Bahá'ís share an ethnic and religious
> identity, aspects of both their culture and religious beliefs
> restrain the community from forming a homogenous, insular ethnic
> minority. In the first instance, the belief of Bahá'ís in an
> emerging global society and in the equality of races prevents the
> Persian Bahá'ís from establishing an ethnic community apart from
> the wider Australian society. Furthermore, their entry into the
> Australian Bahá'í community, in which Bahá'í beliefs and method
> of administration have operated in the context of Australian
> culture over a seventy-year period, has led to their dispersed
> settlement, in all states, and in both urban and rural
> environments, rather than in a small number of closely settled
> localities.
> 
> This dispersed settlement pattern has been encouraged in part
> by the distinctive nature of Bahá'í administration. The formation
> of Local Spiritual Assemblies in all local government areas in
> which nine or more Bahá'ís reside - administrative units in which
> Persians have been quickly integrated at local level, has
> enhanced the capability of the Australian Bahá'í community at the
> same time as it has allowed the system to adapt to, and respond
> to, the needs of its Persian members, newly arrived.
> 
> The integration of Persians into the non-Persian Bahá'í
> community has cultural as well as religious implications. Despite
> the tendency for scattered settlement, 1988 figures suggest that,
> nation-wide, there were more Persians than non-Persians in 59 of
> 169 Bahá'í communities that had Local Assemblies, and in 19
> Bahá'í communities, more than 75% of the members were Persian.
> With such concentrated numbers, the Australian Bahá'í community,
> particularly in metropolitan areas, has tended to appear less
> culturally diverse, and more dominantly Persian, than is actually
> the case.
> 
> THE CHALLENGES OF INTEGRATION AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY
> 
> Apart from the meta-cultural facets of the Bahá'í community,
> in which religious belief is shared by all members, separate from
> their cultural and ethnic backgrounds, the Persian segment of it
> contains its own set of permutations and cultural influences, and
> is far from homogenous. Whereas Persians who migrated prior to
> the revolution transferred much of their wealth to Australia,
> Persian refugees invariably escaped with no more than the clothes
> they wore, across the borders to either Turkey or Pakistan; and
> whereas some Persians had migrated at an earlier date to Europe,
> Britain, or North American, gained a Western education, and
> acquired Western cultural values, refugees invariably spent some
> time in squalid camps (some even in jail) and learnt basic
> English, before arriving in Australia. A further group, Bahá'ís
> of Zoroastrian background, who speak the Dari dialect, often
> spent periods in India, and are culturally linked with Indian
> customs of dress, food, and languages, as much as Persian.
> 
> Government agencies, as well as the Bahá'ís themselves, have
> observed closely the resettlement of Iranian refugees in
> Australia. One report described the Persian Bahá'ís as
> "articulate, well educated and highly motivated
> settlers": many were professionally qualified and displayed
> a determination to re-establish themselves quickly; they tended
> to remain in migrant hostels for short periods; they had high
> expectations of successful settlement, and strong career
> ambitions.
> 
> There were, on the other hand, costs involved in this period
> of migration. Principal among these were psychological
> difficulties such as stress and depression concerning the fate of
> relatives remaining in Iran; and concern at disappointment when
> high resettlement expectations were not met (for example,
> inability to gain employment of the same status as had been
> enjoyed in Iran).
> 
> Whereas Persian Bahá'ís have suffered at the hands of
> fundamentalist Muslims in Iran, relations between Persian Bahá'ís
> and Persian Muslims in Australia have been cautious, but not
> violent. Even so, separate Government translation facilities have
> been required for Muslim and Bahá'í refugees. The two communities
> left Iran for differing reasons. Many Muslims, especially those
> with Western education, and acculturation, were economically
> motivated to emigrate, since they wished to maintain their
> standard of living. Consequently, most Persian Muslims in
> Australia are well educated, with some capital. Persian Bahá'ís,
> on the other hand, fleeing persecution, came from a variety of
> economic and educational backgrounds - from land owners,
> industrialists, and merchants, to humble villagers and peasantry.
> In terms of class, therefore, the Persian Bahá'ís in Australia
> are far from homogenous culturally, economically and in degree of
> educational sophistication, and are united, rather, by religious
> belief.
> 
> For those who interpret the Iranian revolution as an attempt
> to replace Persian traditions with Islamic ones, as much as a
> revolt against Western influences, the preservation of Persian
> culture in Australia is most important. It is not clear the
> extent to which emphasis in the Bahá'í writings on the concept of
> a one-world mentality lessens dependence on the culture of birth.
> What can be argued, nonetheless, is that Persian Bahá'ís, having
> a familiar religious community to settle in to, suffer less
> home-sickness and cultural shock, than Persian Muslims. As one
> young Bahá'í commented, "Tradition weakens, but religion
> continues".
> 
> This does not mean, on the other hand, that the Persian's love
> of poetry, music, and dance is any less strong among the Persian
> Bahá'ís than among the Muslim community, and the demonstration of
> fluency in Arabic, and "High" Farsi continues to
> command respect. Of Persian customs, however, only "Naw
> Ruz" (New Year) is incorporated into the Bahá'í calendar.
> Observed on 21 March, date of the spring equinox in the Northern
> Hemisphere, (which in Australia marks the autumn equinox), Naw
> Ruz is celebrated more widely than, for example,
> "Yalda", the first night of winter, the longest night
> of the year, on which families gather and picnic on the last of
> the summer's fruit, especially watermelons and grapefruit. Other
> celebrations, such as the thirteenth day after Naw-Ruz, on which
> families hold picnics away from their homes, so as to avoid the
> visitation of bad luck there; and "Charhar Shanbe
> Suri", a fire-jumping ceremony dating to Zoroastrian times
> held on the last Wednesday of each year year, are more often
> observed by Muslim than Bahá'ís Persians, for whom they are
> cultural but not religious observances.
> 
> Because the community of Persian Bahá'ís in Australia is of
> recent origin, its second generation has as yet had little time
> to assess itself in the context of Australian society. Young
> refugees, in particular, are faced with the task of integrating
> Persian traditions into a new cultural environment. 240 of the
> refugees who entered Australia between 1983-87, were in the 15-21
> age group, and, since more young males were allowed to escape
> than females, (who presumably remain in the safety of family and
> village in Iran) there is an apparent lack of female partners for
> marriage. Whereas a 1987 survey found strong acceptance of cross
> cultural marriages - up to 85% of Persians who had been resident
> in Australia for 5 years or more favour the idea of themselves,
> or their children marrying a partner from a different cultural
> background- the Bahá'í principle of sexual equality may prove
> more adaptable to Australian than to Persian culture, and inhibit
> marriages between Persian males and non-Persian females. Apart
> from advantages that young Persian Bahá'ís have over their elders
> in acquiring competence in English, they are also usually more
> able to adapt the Persian system of politeness,
> "taroff", to Australian culture, than are older
> Persians, for whom Australian manners and culture can seem
> comparatively unsophisticated.
> 
> Although it has been suggested that the Persian Bahá'ís have
> settled successfully into Australian society through their
> universalist, rather than separatist, world-view, and by having
> an adequate support network already in existence in Australia to
> receive them, the permanence of the community cannot be taken for
> granted. Whereas some Bahá'ís migrated from Iran voluntarily in
> the period before the revolution, others were forced reluctantly
> from their homeland, and retain a strong sense of Persian
> ethnicity. Just as some Persians had Russian parents, who lived a
> life-time in Iran, waiting for the revolution in their homeland
> to subside, the possibility of some Persians waiting a life-time
> in third countries such as Australia until the Islamic Revolution
> whithers, remains. For the majority, however, the period of
> revolution, flight, and resettlement will form the stuff of myth
> and legend, and the appearance of Persian Bahá'ís in countries
> such as Australia will mark that period in their diaspora in
> which the Bahá'í religion, through the blood of its Persian
> martyrs, came out of obscurity, and more widely known.
> 
> BIBLIOGRAPHY
> 
> Davidson, John, & Marjorie Tidman (eds), Integration
> and Cultural Diversity, Association for Bahá'í
> Studies - Australia, Monograph No.1, 1988.
> 
> Department of Ethnic Affairs. Notes on the
> Settlement of Iranian Bahá'ís in Australia. March
> 1987.
> 
> Hassall, Graham, "The Bahá'í Faith", in Ian
> Gillman (ed), Many Faiths, One Nation, William
> Collins, Australia, 1988.
> 
> Sheffer, Gabrial (ed), Modern Diasporas in
> International Politics, Croom Helm, Great Britain,
> 1986.
> 
> Smith, Peter, The Babi and Bahá'í Religions: From
> Messianic Shi'ism to a World Religion, Cambridge
> University Press, Great Britain, 1987.
> 
> ENDNOTES
> 
> Note: footnote reference numbers have been lost in this online version.
> 
> .. For an adequate introduction to the origins,
> history, and beliefs, of the Bahá'í Faith, not possible here, see
> Peter Smith, The Babi and Bahá'í Religions: From Messianic
> Shi'ism to a World Religion, Cambridge University Press,
> Great Britain, 1987. A brief account of the Bahá'í Faith in
> Australia is found in Graham Hassall, "The Bahá'í
> Faith", in Ian Gillman (ed), Many Faiths, One Nation,
> William Collins, Australia, 1988.
> 
> .. Article 13 of the Iranian constitution reads
> "Iranian Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians are the only
> recognized minority religious groups which in the area of Islamic
> laws are free to perform their religious ceremonies". The
> relationship between ethnic minorities and the central government
> since the revolution is examined in Patricia J. Higgins,
> "Minority-State Relations in Contemporary Iran", Iranian
> Studies XVII, 1, Winter 1984; See also Riffat Hassan,
> "On Human Rights and the Qur'anic Perspective", Journal
> of Ecumenical Studies, VIV:3 1982.
> 
> .. Recent figures suggest a global Bahá'í
> population of near 5 million, with more than 1 million in India,
> and approximately 300,000 in Iran. Dept. of Ethnic Affairs and
> Immigration, Notes on the Settlement of Iranian Bahá'ís in
> Australia, March 1987. For discussion of the growth of the
> Indian Bahá'í community, see W. Garlington, "The Bahá'í
> Faith in Malwa", in G.A. Oddie (ed), Religion in South
> Asia, Manohar, New Delhi, 1977.
> 
> .. See, eg, "Unholy War: Assult on Iran's
> Anglicans", Time 26 May 1980.
> 
> .. Treatment of the Bahá'ís in this period is
> discussed in Shahrough Akhavi, Religion and Politics in
> Contemporary Iran: Clergy-State Relations in the Pahlavi Period,
> State University of New York Press, USA, 1980; Rose L. Greaves,
> "The Reign of Mohammad Riza Shah, 1942-1976", in
> Hossein Amirsadeghi, Twentieth Century Iran, Heinemann,
> London, 1977; see also, "Heretics in Islam", Time
> 6 June 1955, "Drift in Iran", The Economist, 25
> June 1955.
> 
> .. See, eg, Canberra Times, 15 September
> 1979, 16 July 1980; Pine and Peninsula Record, 26
> September 1979, Daily News , 18 September 1979, Sunday
> Independent, 23 September 1979; Lindsay Mackie, "Bahá'í
> Faith fears extinction in Iran after 'spy' shootings", Weekend
> Australian, 13-4 September 1980; "Alarm expressed at
> human rights violations in Iran", Canberra Times, 20
> August 1981; Alan Gill, "Iranian Bahá'ís endure campaign of
> hate", Sydney Morning Herald, 18 November 1981;
> Graham Bicknell, "Cry for help from Iran: Bahá'í members
> tortured and shot for their beliefs", Daily Telegraph,
> 4 January 1982; Tom Krause, "Khomeini moves on
> Bahá'ís", The Australian, 23 February 1982; James S.
> Murray, "Iran's intolerance takes Bahá'ís to the
> gallows", The Australian, 30 June 1983. Letters from
> Beverly Stafford, then secretary of the National Spiritual
> Assembly, include 18 January 1982, Sydney Morning Herald,
> and 18 January 1982 The Australian. An interview with the
> Iranian Charge d'Affairs at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic
> of Iran, Canberra, appeared in the Canberra Times, 16 May,
> 1982. His statement that Bahá'ís were not being killed for their
> religious beliefs was challenged in an article by John Bryant,
> "Iran 'executing' Bahá'í officials", Canberra Times,
> 24 May 1982, by a Bahá'í whose father-in-law had been executed in
> 1981, and whose mother-in-law had been in prison since 1980. The
> Charge d'Affairs repeated his government's position in a letter
> "Treatment of Bahá'ís in Iran", Canberra Times,
> 12 July 1982, which prompted further letters to the editor, 16
> August 1982. Other articles included Keith Suter, "Bahá'ís
> in Iran", National Outlook May 1982; Keith McDonald,
> "Waiting for a miracle", Daily Mirror, 9 June
> 1982; "Iran defends human rights policy", Sydney
> Morning Herald 17 July, 1982; Exchanges between the National
> Spiritual Assembly and the Iranian Charge d'Affairs appeared in The
> Bulletin, 14 October, 4 November and 18 November, 1980; other
> articles in The Bulletin included Greg Sheridan,
> "Bahá'ís victims of the Ayatollah's drive", 26 May,
> 1981; Colin Smith, "The Ayatollah's 'holy' war on Bahá'í
> religion", 12 July 1983. Following the murder in January
> 1981 of Manuchir Hakim, Professor of Medicine at the University
> of Tehran, the Australian Medical Association protested to the
> Iranian Embassy in a letter, 20 August 1981, and in 1984,
> supported the Australian governments's efforts in connection with
> the human rights situation in Iran. In September 1981 discussion
> of the persecution of Bahá'ís at the United Nations Human Rights
> Commission were reported in The Canberra Times, "Plea
> to end persecution", 11 September 1981. Other articles in
> the same month included Col Allan, "Iranians plan their own
> 'final solution'", The Australian, 21 September 1981;
> and James S. Murray, "Now Harigans turn to Islam for
> succour", The Australian, 24 September 1981. Recent
> articles include David Lester, "Defenders of the
> Faith", The Weekend Australian, 1-2 August, 1987.
> Coverage in Newsweek magazine included "The Minority
> that Iran Persecutes", 24 March 1980, "Iran's Holy War
> on Bahá'ís", 25 January 1982, "The Agony of the
> Bahá'ís", 8 March 1982. Secondary literature and overseas
> press coverage is too extensive to include in this article.
> 
> .. Parliamentary Debates, Senate Daily
> Hansard, 17 March 1981, 26 March 1981, 7 May 1981, 16
> November 1982, 25 August 1983. Parliamentary Debates, House of
> Representatives Daily Hansard, 19 August 1981, 24 March 1982,
> 8 September 1983, 28 February 1984. Reports on Bahá'í executions
> by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Tony Street, were
> included in Australian Foreign Affairs Record, January
> 1982 and July 1982. In a report on the 19 August 1981 debate in
> the House of representatives, Simon Balderstone wrote "The
> House took on a friendly, if serious, atmosphere when members
> from both sides debated - in agreement - a motion on the
> adherents of the Bahá'í Faith in Iran", The Age, 20
> August 1981. Another debate in the House of Representatives, 28
> October 1981, was reported in The Canberra Times,
> "Call to Iran to end persecutions", 29 October 1981. In
> 1981 the National Spiritual Assembly published a leaflet, Iran:
> The Facts. Significant summaries of responses by governments
> world-wide appear publications of the Bahá'í International
> Community, The Bahá'ís in Iran: A report on the Persecutions
> of a Religious Minority, June 1981, and Update,
> November 1981. Also important is Roger Cooper, The Bahá'ís of
> Iran, Minority Rights Group, Report No. 51, February 1982,
> Great Britain.
> 
> .. In September 1979 the Iranian Embassy in
> Canberra announced that the Iranian Government did not recognize
> the Bahá'í Faith as a religion and that it had not been informed
> of any acts of violence against Bahá'ís in Iran. See
> "Embassy not aware of violence to Bahá'ís", Canberra
> Times, 11 September 1979. An explanation of the Iranian
> justification for execution is given in Lyndall Crisp's interview
> with Frood Bourbour, "In defence of killing", The
> Australian, 12 September 1979.
> 
> .. See Patrick Walters, "Refugee rules
> widened: government helps minorities", Sydney Morning
> Herald, 19 November 1981.
> 
> .. John Read, "The Process of
> Resettlement", Integration, 17.
> 
> .. Aflatoon Payman, "The Iranian Crisis
> and the Australian Response", Integration, 11.
> 
> .. John Read, "The Process of
> Resettlement", in J. Davidson, Integration and Cultural
> Diversity, op.cit.
> 
> .. Muslim attacks on the Bahá'í Faith in
> Australia have been inconsequential. Most recently, an Imam (who
> is not Persian) spoke against Bahá'í, other religions, and even
> service organizations such as Rotary and Lions Clubs, in a speech
> "Islam and Judaism: can they coexist?" at the
> University of Sydney, 18 September 1988. Jeff Penberthy &
> Alan Gill, "An Outbreak of Ethnic Strife", Time,
> 5 December 1988, 56-7.
> 
> .. John Davidson, "An Emerging Identity -
> The Changing Face of the Australian Bahá'í Community", Integration,
> 29.
> 
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> — *Persian Baha'is in Australia (Used by permission of the curator)*