# Centenary of the Bahá'í Faith in Australia

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 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: Boris Handal, Centenary of the Bahá'í Faith in Australia, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Centenary of the Bahá’í Faith in Australia
> 
> The Australian Bahá’í community has its roots in the dedication of a small group of people a
> century ago.
> 
> In 1920 Englishman Hyde Dunn and his Irish wife Clara sailed to Australia and became the
> first Bahá’ís to set foot in this country. At some point in time they emigrated from the United
> Kingdom to the United States where they met and eventually married. Hyde was a salesman
> while Clara worked as a nurse. He was sixty-five years old while she was fifty when they
> landed in Sydney on 10 April 1920 after a sea journey through Hawaii.
> 
> Clara and Hyde Dunn came to spread the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of
> the Bahá’í Faith. The Bahá’í Faith is a world religion whose purpose is to unite all the races
> and peoples in one universal Cause and one common Faith. Bahá’ís are the followers of
> Bahá’u’lláh.
> The Dunns had little money and fell ill when they arrived. Clara found a job as a nurse while
> Hyde eventually recovered and obtained a position as a travelling salesman for Nestlé. This
> made possible for Clara to give up her job and follow him in his business travels around
> Australia. During those trips Hyde and Clara made a lot of friends to whom the Bahá’í Faith
> was taught. After three years Hyde had visited as many as 225 towns. Father and Mother
> Dunns, as they affectionately were called, also visited New Zealand.
> 
> Hyde and Clara Dunn in the early 1920s in       Mother Dunn crossing the Australian desert
> New Zealand
> 
> In 1922 the first Australians joined the Faith. They were Oswald Whitaker, a Sydney
> optometrist, and Effie Baker, a Melbourne photographer.
> 
> Soon Bahá’í groups sprang up around the country. By 1934 there were enough Bahá’ís to
> elect a national governing body, the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of
> Australia and New Zealand.
> 
> A Bahá’í meeting in Melbourne in 1923
> 
> In 1955 Fred Murray of South Australia was among the first Aboriginal people to become a
> Bahá’í. ‘Uncle’ Fred belonged to the Minen tribe that roamed in the Western Australia coast.
> The tribe was almost exterminated at a poisoned waterhole at the turn of the 19th century. A
> child of nine years, Fred was able to survive along with his brother eventually becoming the
> last survivor of the tribe. Many people of his race knew of the Bahá’í Faith through him. Fred
> often said of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh: "One people, one God, everybody one-that is
> good!”
> 
> Fred Murray (1884-1963)
> 
> The Faith’s numbers surged in the early 1970s as young people found in the Bahá’í teachings
> answers to spiritual questions and solutions to global issues.
> 
> The Bahá'í House of Worship in Sydney was dedicated on 17 September 1961 and opened to
> the public after four years of construction. The initial design was approved in 1957 with
> seating for six hundred people. The building is a highly visible landmark from Sydney's
> northern beaches in a natural bushland setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It's surrounded
> by gardens containing a broad variety of native fauna and flora.
> 
> Bahá'í House of Worship in Sydney
> 
> The size and diversity of the community was boosted in the 1980s when Australia opened its
> doors to those fleeing the resurgence of persecution of Bahá’í s in Iran. Their subsequent
> settlement, integration and contribution to Australian life have been a major success story.
> 
> Since the beginning the Bahá'ís of Australia have become involved and spoken out on a
> number of civic issues - from world peace initiatives to conferences on socio-economic
> development, indigenous issues, human rights and the environment. The Faith has also
> gained a higher profile through its activities for peace, interfaith harmony and gender equality
> as well as the religious education it provides in many State schools in Australia. There are
> over 17 000 Bahá’ís throughout Australia.
> 
> Bahá'ís attach great importance to the spiritual and moral education of children.
> 
> In an October 2019 letter to the Bahá’ís of Australia the Prime Minister Scott Morrison
> wrote:
> 
> The values of love, acceptance and unity, as taught by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, are a
> source of understanding, compassion and purpose that enrich our community and
> help make our multicultural, multi- faith society one of the most harmonious on earth.
> 
> A Bahá'í Conference in Sydney
> 
> For more information about the history of the Bahá’í Faith in Australia please access:
> http://vimeo.com/11590457
> 
> Written by Boris Handal
>
> — *Centenary of the Bahá'í Faith in Australia (Used by permission of the curator)*