The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
(LDS Church) in Australia began with the arrival of seventeen-year-old
missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
William James Barratt in 1840. The LDS Church's first
baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
in Australia was in 1842 when Barratt baptised Robert Beauchamp, who would later become an Australian
mission president Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). A mission president presides over a geographic area known as a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission. Depending o ...
. However, official missionary work did not begin until John Murdock, who became the first official mission president in Australia, and Charles Wandell established a mission in Sydney, Australia, on 31 October 1851. The colonies of
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
were added to the Australian
Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
in 1854, creating the Australasian Mission. In 1898, however, the Australasian Mission was divided into the New Zealand Mission and the Australian Mission. Due to many factors including the lack of missionary force, the vastness of the country, and the large scale emigration of church members in Australia throughout the nineteenth-century, the church grew slowly until the 1950s. Considered to be the turning point in the history of the LDS Church in Australia, church president David O. McKay visited Australia in 1955 and determined a need for more permanent buildings for congregations throughout Australia. In 1956, the chapel building program established 19 chapels within two years. The LDS Church in Australia began to grow at a more rapid rate after the 1950s. By 1960, there were over 7,000 LDS Church members in the country and the first Australian stake was organised in Sydney on 27 March 1960. The Sydney Australia Temple, the first
temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
in Australia, was dedicated and began operations in September 1984. Membership count include everyone that have joined the church that are still living as well as unbaptised children, regardless of current affiliation (see Membership defined). , the LDS Church reported 155,383 members in 309 congregations in Australia which is the largest body of members and congregations in Oceania. This is an increase of 30,945 members since 2009 which is the largest increase of members in Oceania. In the 2016 Australian census, 61,600 people self-identified as members of the LDS Church on an optional question. In the 2021 census, 57,868 people identified themselves as members of the church.


History


1840–1879: Beginnings

The LDS Church was introduced into Australia when William Barratt emigrated from
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in November 1840. At the age of seventeen, Barratt had been ordained an elder by George A. Smith, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who instructed him to proselyte whenever he could. Although the success of Barratt's proselyting efforts remains largely unknown, he did baptise Robert Beauchamp in 1842, who became the first Australian convert. Beauchamp would later become an Australian mission president. The next missionary in Australia was Andrew Anderson, who arrived with his family in 1842. By the end of 1844, Anderson had organised a small branch of the LDS Church with 11 members near
Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
, New South Wales. Official LDS missionary work did not begin until Americans John Murdock, who served as mission president, and Charles W. Wandell established a mission in Sydney on 31 October 1851. They printed 2,000 copies of ''Proclamation to the People of the Coasts and Islands of the Pacific'', which they successfully sold. They exerted their time and resources to proselyte using pamphlets and printed many others. It was calculated that Wandell and Murdock had distributed 24,000 tracts. Their initial proselyting strategy was preaching in public meetings, but they soon acquired a meeting hall. The earliest converts at the official opening of the mission were in December 1851. They included Emily and Joseph Popplewells, Bridget Gallimore, and nine others. The Sydney Branch, a small organised congregation of Latter-day Saints, was organised on 4 January 1852 with twelve members. By March, there were 36 members. Murdock and Wandell directed three church meetings each Sunday as well as five public proselyting meetings per week. After Murdock returned to the United States in June 1852, Wandell replaced him as mission president. By the end of 1852, there were 47 members of the LDS Church. Wandell reported that missionary work was difficult because the recent
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
had caused people to be suspicious about strangers. Additionally, Wandell reported that the locals disliked Americans, and the missionaries could not locate free food and lodging. However, the missionaries hosted well-attended church meetings every Sunday and proselyted five days a week. In 1852, there were five missionaries and two local members performing full-time missionary service and
Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
areas were opened for proselyting. By March 1853, church membership had reached 100. After the departure of Wandell, John Jones became mission president. Upon Wandell's departure, a Latter-day Saint periodical called ''Zion's Watchman'' was in publication from 13 August 1853 until April 1856. Despite the growth of the church in Australia, numbers of its members in the country dwindled. This was because the early LDS Church encouraged emigration to the United States to gather members together into a physical " Zion". Consequently, groups of LDS Church members began to leave Australia. From 1853 to 1859, more than 500 LDS Church members emigrated to Utah and around 200 to 300 members emigrated from 1859 to 1900. It was expensive and dangerous to travel to the United States from Australia by boat. When the boat ''Julia Ann'' hit a coral reef in the Society Islands in 1855, two women and three children drowned. More missionaries arrived in 1853, with Augustus Farnham replacing Jones as mission president. In 1854, missionary work was organised in New Zealand and Tasmania, leading to the creation of the Australasian Mission which included all of the territories in Australia and New Zealand. Missionary work was opened in Hunter River,
Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
in
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...
, and Adelaide. At this time, missionaries experienced the greatest amount of success in southeastern Australia. Robert Owen initiated missionary work in Tasmania, but it was unsuccessful. By 1856, all missionaries had left Australia with church members emigrating to the United States. Absolom Dowdle became the new mission president. By the end of 1856, 16 missionaries had replaced the missionaries that left Australia. In 1858, due to the
Utah War The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...
, missionaries left Australia to return home and fight in the war, leaving the local members in charge of ecclesiastical leadership of the small, church congregations. However, it did not last, and by 1863, leadership had been largely disbanded with the only 200 church members remaining in Australia, scattered across the country. Robert Beauchamp assumed the position of mission president in 1867, but the church was left in disarray when he resigned in 1874. During the first 18 months of Beauchamp's presidency, there had been over 150 baptisms. After Beauchamp resigned, William Geddes became mission president for a year. Elijah F. Peace became president of the Australasian Mission in 1879, moving headquarters to New Zealand.


1880–1954: Mission division and slow growth

Beginning in 1857, missionary work in Australia was determined unsuccessful and the focus was turned to New Zealand. However, on 1 January 1898, the Australasian Mission was divided into the Australian Mission and the New Zealand Mission, allowing for more effort to be put into missionary work in Australia. Previously, from the 1860s until 1898, church leaders in Utah gave Australia little attention, and missionary work was not contiguous. There were three or four operating branches in Australia between 1879 and 1898. Andrew Smith was appointed the president of the new Australian mission. In 1890, the first converts were baptised in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
and the East Brisbane Branch, the first branch in Brisbane, was organised on 1 September 1896. By 1898, it was not only the branch with the most complete leadership and organisation but also the largest in the country, with 79 members. By 1898, there were around 200 members in Australia and 21 missionaries in 1900. Because the LDS Church began encouraging church members to stay in their homelands rather than emigrate, church membership from 1910 to 1925 doubled from 600 to 1,169. The first LDS chapel building in Australia was established in 1904 in Brisbane. During the first quarter of the century, growth in the LDS Church in Australia was slow. Despite the fact that the LDS Church reversed its emigration policy at the turn of the century, the policy remained culturally ingrained in the LDS Church for some time. Consequently, from 1900 to about 1925, around 15 church members emigrated from Australia each year. While missionary work in Australia was successful, there were too few missionaries in the country. Between 1910 and 1925, there was an average of 31 missionaries in the country. Generally, there were only four missionaries per district in Australia, and the vastness of the country made it difficult to travel from one side to another for conferences and visits with the mission president. Additionally, proselyting methods were underdeveloped with outdated teaching plans and the lack of challenges for interested individuals. Some missionaries believed that their most effective proselyting tool at the time was street meetings. Tracting was ineffective, and the
Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...
was rarely used as a proselyting tool. Moreover, due to
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
pulling men away from home to serve in the war, local congregations were left without sufficient leadership. Furthermore, the war caused the number of missionaries in Australia to be divided nearly in half. Despite issues with circulating anti-Mormon literature, by 1923 the LDS Church was officially declared a "religious denomination" in Australia. In 1924, the Australian government allowed the LDS Church to raise the number of missionaries to 40. By 1925, church membership in Australia was around 1,200, with the largest congregation being in Sydney, consisting of about 300 members. Charles H. Hyde served as mission president from 1911 to 1913 and 1924 to 1928. During his second term, he sought to open new mission areas but found himself limited by the number of missionaries in the country. Clarence H. Tingey succeeded Hyde as mission president, but during his presidency the number of missionaries in Australia declined due to the Great Depression in the United States. Sons and fathers were unable to leave their families during the difficult financial times. Despite these challenges, Tingey achieved great success by turning over leadership in individual congregations from missionaries to local members, which allowed missionaries to focus on proselyting rather than the administrative duties of local congregations. Moreover, Tingey developed a personal relationship with each missionary by exchanging letters and instituted fast days in order to distribute more copies of the Book of Mormon. He also established a missionary publication in 1930 called ''Austral Star'', which was published until 1955. In 1930, Horace H. Woodford and J. Kenneth Rule were the first Australians to serve as missionaries in their country. Additionally, Tingey created genealogical organisations in 1931 to teach members about temple work and genealogical research. During this time, the average number of converts increased to 3.1 in 1931 with an average rate of 2.6 between 1933 and 1934. He also assigned 11 local members to serve two-year part-time missions to aid the full-time missionaries. From 1926 to 1951, church membership increased from 1,169 to 2,187 with an average of 58 baptisms per year. Following World War I and the Great Depression, church membership in Australia increased. Missionary presence in Australia from 1935 to 1940 was the highest in the history of the LDS church in Australia. However, with the beginning of World War II, president of the LDS Church
Heber J. Grant Heber Jeddy Grant (November 22, 1856 – May 14, 1945) was an American religious leader who served as the seventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Grant worked as a bookkeeper and a cashier, then wa ...
instructed all missionaries to return home, requiring church leadership positions that were previously held by missionaries to be held by local church members. However, this was difficult because many of the Australian church members were joining the Australian Army. The church in Australia did not recover in time for the Korean War. Historian
Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...
argued that the factors that contributed to the slow growth of the LDS Church in Australia during the twentieth century were due to war, small missionary forces, and the vastness of the country. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the women in the Relief Societies in Australia volunteered for the
Australian Red Cross The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cro ...
to provide aid during the war.


1955–1987: Church expansion

Church growth increased when David O. McKay authorised the building of chapels for congregations in 1955. This has been referred to as "the turning point for the Church in Australia". The South Australian Mission was established in 1955, headquartered in Melbourne. In 1956, the chapel building program was initiated in Australia. The program lasted for two years and resulted in 19 new chapels and plans for 15 more. By 1960, there were over 7,000 LDS Church members in Australia. In order to better organise the members, the first Australian stake was created in Sydney on 27 March 1960. This was the third stake organised outside North America, behind Oahu, Hawaii, and Auckland, New Zealand. Originally called the Sydney Stake, it was later named the Sydney Australia Greenwich Stake. In October 1960, stakes were organised in Brisbane and Melbourne. The organisation of stakes contributed to the growth of the church in Australia because it relieved the workloads of mission presidents and transferred some of the responsibility to local leadership. The Sydney Distribution Centre was created in late 1960, which allowed for the distribution of teaching materials, equipment, and various other materials necessary for maintaining wards and branches. By 1962, the missionary force was 700 missionaries; the number of missionaries had expanded sevenfold in seven years. In 1968, the Australian West Mission (now the Australia Adelaide Mission) was established with Milton J. Hess as president. Before the end of 1969, there were seven stakes in Australia. In 1969, the first international seminary and institute program, religious learning groups for high school and college-aged students respectively, were established in Brisbane. In 1973, the Australia Northwest Mission (now the Australia Brisbane Mission) was created with J. Martell Bird as president. In 1972, Australia was chosen to pilot a new missionary program called ''Uniform System for Teaching Families''. In 1974, to accommodate Latin-American immigrants to Australia, a Spanish-speaking branch was opened Sydney, with two more Spanish-speaking branches established ten years later. The first area conference in Australia was held in February 1976 in the Sydney Opera House. The conference ignited growth in convert baptisms and the number of stakes doubled from eight to sixteen within four years. Bruce J. Opie was the first Australian to serve as an Australian mission president. He served as president of the newly created Australian Perth Mission from 1975 to 1978. The first congregation for Aboriginal Australians was organised in 1896 in Elliott in the Northern Territory. In April 1980, the church's
First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...
announced that a temple would be built in Sydney. Prior to the dedication of the temple in Sydney, church members in Australia travelled to the New Zealand Temple, often at great financial cost. The church's first temple in Australia was the Sydney Australia Temple in the suburb of Carlingford, which was dedicated in September 1984. The temple was initially constructed and dedicated without an Angel Moroni statue, common for the majority of the church's temples, due to local building restrictions. However, the church was granted permission to add the statue one year later.


1988–Present: Recent developments

Robert E. Sackley became the first Australian general authority on 2 April 1988. Additionally, in summer 1988, the Tabernacle Choir performed for the first time in Australia for the celebration of Australia's bicentennial; the choir was named an official cultural representative of the United States for the celebration. By 1990, Sydney became the headquarters of the Pacific
Area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...
and church membership was 73,200. The
Melbourne Australia Temple The Melbourne Australia Temple is the 90th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). History On 30 October 1998 the LDS Church First Presidency announced that a temple would be built in Melbourne, Austral ...
was dedicated on 12 June 2000, with the temple in
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, the third in Australia, dedicated three days later. The fourth and fifth temples in Australia, in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
and
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, were dedicated on 1 October 2000 and 20 May 2001, respectively. The LDS Church provided extensive humanitarian services and resources to Australian after
Cyclone Larry Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in Australia during the 2005–06 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season. Larry originated as a low pressure system over the eastern Coral Sea on 16 March 2006, and wa ...
in 2006. In March 2020, the LDS Church cancelled services and other public gatherings worldwide indefinitely in response to the spread of the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
. Services were recommenced as government restrictions allowed later in 2020, however the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in 2021 led to services being suspended again in some states. In 2022, the LDS Church's charitable practices attracted media coverage from ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
'', '' Sydney Morning Herald'',
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
, ''60 Minutes'', and ''
Crikey Crikey is an Australian electronic magazine comprising a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. Crikey was described by the former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in '' T ...
''. Since religious donations and tithes are not tax deductible under Australian taxation law, the LDS Church had created a
shell corporation A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...
called LDS Charities Australia for the purpose of ensuring tax deductible status for church donations and tithes. LDS Charities Australia had no paid employees, Australian website, and infrastructure, and appeared to be run by the Utah-based Latter Day Saints Charities. As of 2021, the charity had incurred just A$6070 in administrative expenses while donating A$93 million that year. By 2022, the church had generated A$400 million in tax deductions. Under Australian law, charities have to be based in Australia to qualify for tax deductibility status. Barrister and former LDS leader Neville Rochow accused the LDS Church in Australia of pressuring members to pay tithe, circumventing Australian tax law and called for the Australian Government to investigate the church's financial practices. In response to media coverage, an LDS Church spokesperson denied that the church was a financial or profit-making institution but was using its resources for "its divinely appointed mission".


Challenges to missionary work

The LDS Church and its missionaries in Australia experienced setbacks in the early 1900s due to opposition from missionaries of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS). Many LDS Church members converted to the RLDS church. In early 1900, some members of the LDS Church received RLDS literature and began circulating it in the large Brisbane branch. 15 LDS Church members were baptised into the RLDS church and were thusly
excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
for
apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...
. Despite the loss of members, new members were baptised and one missionary viewed the apostasy as "cleaning out the tares". Additionally, after an LDS missionary street meeting in Adelaide in 1913, RLDS missionaries began speaking ill of the LDS Church to the public, causing mobs and breakups of street meetings. Adelaide police forbid LDS missionaries from holding street meetings after these disturbances. There were a series of public debates in Brisbane between LDS and RLDS missionaries, the most prominent of which included the 1906 debate and the 1918 debate. The LDS missionary was considered the winner of the 1906 debate with inquiries of baptism to follow. The RLDS side won the 1918 debate, causing 12 LDS Church members to leave and join the RLDS church. The 12 members were excommunicated. No further debates were reported. After these incidents, LDS missionaries avoided contact with RLDS missionaries and church members. After World War I, the number of missionaries in Australia dropped from 30 to 18. Consequently, in 1919, the LDS Church prepared to send more missionaries to Australia; however, a policy from the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
prevented them from entering Australia. This also contributed to the slow growth of the LDS Church in Australia from 1900 to 1925; however, the ban was lifted in 1920. Additionally, the film '' A Mormon Maid'', largely considered to be an anti-Mormon propaganda film, was shown in theatres throughout Australia. Anti-Mormon materials popularly distributed in England by Winifred Graham began circulating in Australia. Other Christian denominations attempted to prevent the LDS Church from building more chapels and attempted to force the church out of Australia. Negative feelings about the practice of polygamy represented another manner in which anti-Mormon attitudes prevented the growth of the LDS Church in Australia.


Cultural obstacles

According to author Marjorie Newton, there are several cultural factors that have prevented the growth of the LDS Church in Australia. The first cultural obstacle between Australia and the LDS Church is Australia–U.S. tensions. Since World War II, tensions between the United States and Australia have run higher due to United States involvement in various wars such as the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
and the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. Additionally, Australia has criticised the United States for not becoming involved in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the late 1900s. Finally, the United States is Australia's greatest trade competitor. Since the LDS Church was established in the United States and a great number of missionaries in Australia were from the United States, Australians did not always favourably view American missionaries. In addition, Australian society is largely secular, not religious. The Australian ideal is anti-authoritarian and anti-institutional, thus there is an underlying apprehension to the growth of any type of major institution, particularly a religious institution. Furthermore, church attendance and Sabbath-day observance in Australia is low. A 1991 survey found that 17% of Australians reported attending church monthly, compared to 34% in the United States. Moreover, discussing religion in Australia is often considered taboo, even for those who consider themselves religious. Another obstacle to missionary work in Australia is the long-standing distaste for the LDS Church due to extremely aggressive proselyting tactics in the late 1970s due to a pilot program Australia participated in. The missionary lessons were condensed into one presentation and the baptismal font was filled before the investigators arrived. According to Newton, there were reports that apprehensive Australians were pressured into classrooms and told to pray for testimony with rumours that classroom doors were locked and "prayer sessions" were excessively long. Missionaries tracted for 90 hours per week, approaching front doors at extremely early or late hours. In order to maintain "stats", missionaries were required to tract in the same neighbourhoods multiple times per week, which bothered residents. Despite the fact that church membership was growing quickly, retention rates were low.


Statistics and other information

As of 31 December 2018, the LDS Church reported 152,948 members, 41 stakes, nine districts, 224 wards, 79
branches A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually r ...
, 147 family history centres, and five missions. There are five temples in Australia, located in the cities of
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, and Sydney. The membership reported by the church in Australia is approximately 0.57% of the country's population.Australian Bureau of statistics
list a population of 21,874,900 or claim of 0.57% and 0.24% of the population by the LDS church and Australian Bureau of statistics respectively.
However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics census in 2011 had only 59,770 who described themselves as Latter-day Saints or 0.28% of the population. LDS Church membership statistics are different from self-reported statistics mainly because the LDS Church does not remove an individual’s name from its membership rolls based on inactivity in the church. In 2016 census 60,867 self identified as being members of the church religion.


Missions

As of October 2016, there were 800 missionaries serving in the church's five missions in Australia.


Temples

The Sydney Australia Temple was the first LDS temple built in Australia; it was dedicated on 20 September 1984. Four additional temples were dedicated between 2000 and 2003.


See also

* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics (South Pacific) *
Religion in Australia Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, though its share of total population has declined significantly over the past several decades. Section 116 of the Constitution of Australia of 1901 states, "The Commonwealth shall not make any ...


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Official website
:The official Australian website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Australia Mormon Newsroom
:Church news publication in Australia
First Mormons down under, MSS 4120
L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library,
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
:A manuscript history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 19th century Australia including missionary experiences {{DEFAULTSORT:Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Louisiana, The Christian denominations in Australia 1840 in Christianity 1840 establishments in Australia Harold B. Lee Library-related Americana articles