Bahá'í Faith in Oceania

Australia

The Bahá'í Faith in Australia has a long history beginning with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, in 1916 following which United Kingdom/American emigrants John and Clara Dunn came to Australia in 1920. They found people willing to convert to the Bahá'í Faith in several cities while further immigrant Bahá'ís also arrived. The first Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in Melbourne followed by the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1934.

When persecution of Bahá'ís intensified in Iran in 1955, Shoghi Effendi, then head of the religion, suspended plans for a Bahá'í House of Worship in Tehran, and in its place commissioned the Kampala Bahá'í House of Worship and the Sydney Bahá'í House of Worship. According to Jennifer Taylor, a historian at Sydney University, the latter was among Sydney's four most significant religious buildings constructed in the twentieth century. It was the world's fourth Bahá'í House of Worship to be completed, dedicated in 1961. Shoghi Effendi, head of the Bahá'í Faith when the House of Worship was designed, called it the "Mother Temple of the whole Pacific area" and the "Mother Temple of the Antipodes."

Though they had been denied entry in 1948, Iranian Bahá'ís began to be admitted in 1973 where persecution again rose. Since the 1980s the Bahá'ís of Australia have become involved and spoken out on a number of civic issues – from interfaith initiative such as Soul Food to conferences on indigenous issues and national policies of equal rights and pay for work. The community was counted by census in 2001 to be about 11,000 individuals and includes some well-known people (see Bahá'í Faith in Australia – National exposure.)

Kiribati

The only substantial non-Christian population is of the Bahá'í Faith. The Bahá'í Faith in Kiribati begins after 1916 with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, that Bahá'ís should take the religion to the Gilbert Islands which form part of modern Kiribati. The first Bahá'ís pioneered to the island of Abaiang(aka Charlotte Island, of the Gilbert Islands), on 4 March 1954. They encountered serious opposition from some Catholics on the islands and were eventually deported and the first convert banished to his home island. However, in one year there was a community of more than 200 Bahá'ís and a Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly. Three years later the island where the first convert was sent to was found to now have 10 Bahá'ís. By 1963 there were 14 assemblies. As the Ellice Islands gained independence as Tuvalu and the Gilbert Islands and others formed Kiribati, the communities of Bahá'ís also reformed into separate institutions of National Spiritual Assemblies in 1981. The Bahá'ís had established a number schools by 1963 and there are still such today – indeed the Ootan Marawa Bahá'í Vocational Institute being the only teacher training institution for pre-school teachers in Kiribati. The census figures are consistently between 2 and 3% for the Bahá'ís while the Bahá'ís claim numbers above 17%. All together the Bahá'ís now claim more than 10,000 local people have joined the religion over the last 50 years and there are 38 local spiritual assemblies.

Marshall Islands

The Bahá'í Faith in the Marshall Islands begins after 1916 with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, that Bahá'ís should take the religion there. The first Bahá'í to pioneer there arrived in August 1954 however she could only stay until March 1955. Nevertheless, with successive pioneers and converts the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in 1967 in Majuro. The community continued to grow and in 1977 elected its first National Spiritual Assembly. Before 1992 the Bahá'ís began to operate state schools under contract with the government. Middle estimates of the Bahá'í population are just over 1,000, or 1.50% in 2000.

New Caledonia

The Bahá'í Faith in New Caledonia was first mentioned by `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1916, though the first Bahá'í arrived in 1952 during a temporary visit because of restrictive policies on English-speaking visitors. In 1961 Jeannette Outhey was the first New Caledonian to join the religion and with other converts and pioneers elected the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Nouméa. The Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of New Caledonia was elected in 1977. Multiplying its involvements through to today, the 2001 population was reported at 1,070 and growing.

New Zealand

While the first mention of events related to the history of the Bahá'í Faith in New Zealand was in 1846 continuous contact began around 1904 when one individual after another came in contact with Bahá'ís and some of them published articles in print media in New Zealand as early as 1908. The first Bahá'í in the Antipodes was Dorothea Spinney who had just arrived from New York in Auckland in 1912. Shortly thereafter there were two converts about 1913 – Robert Felkin who had met `Abdu'l-Bahá in London in 1911 and moved to New Zealand in 1912 and is considered a Bahá'í by 1914 and Margaret Stevenson who first heard of the religion in 1911 and by her own testimony was a Bahá'í in 1913. After `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote the Tablets of the Divine Plan which mentions New Zealand the community grew quickly so that the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of the country was attempted in 1923 or 1924 and then succeeded in 1926. The Bahá'ís of New Zealand elected their first independent National Spiritual Assembly in 1957. By 1963 there were four Assemblies, and 18 localities with smaller groups of Bahá'ís. The 2006 census reports about 2800 Bahá'ís in some 45 local assemblies and about 20 smaller groups of Bahá'ís though the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated there were some 7,000 Bahá'ís in 2005.

Papua New Guinea

The Bahá'í Faith in Papua New Guinea begins after 1916 with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, that Bahá'ís should take the religion there. The first Bahá'ís move there (what Bahá'ís mean by "pioneering",) in Papua New Guinea arrived there in 1954. With local converts the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1958. The first National Spiritual Assembly was then elected in 1969. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying onWorld Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 60000 or 0.9% of the nation were Bahá'ís in 2005 though the 2012 CIA Factbook estimated 1/3rd of that citing national census figures from 2000. Either way it is the largest minority religion in Papua New Guinea, if a small one.

Tonga

The Bahá'í Faith in Tonga started after being set as a goal to introduce the religion in 1953, and Bahá'ís arrived in 1954. With conversions and pioneers the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1958. From 1959 the Bahá'ís of Tonga and their local institutions were members of a Regional Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific. By 1963 there were five local assemblies. Less than forty years later, in 1996, the Bahá'ís of Tonga established their paramount Bahá'í school in the form of the Ocean of Light International School. Around 2004 there were 29 local spiritual assemblies and about 5% of the national population were members of the Bahá'í Faith though the Tonga Broadcasting Commission maintained a policy that does not allow discussions by members of the Baha'i Faith of its founder, Bahá'u'lláh on its radio broadcasts.

Samoa

The Bahá'í Faith in Samoa and American Samoa begins with the then head of the religion, `Abdu'l-Bahá, mentioning the islands in 1916, inspiring Bahá'ís on their way to Australia to stop in Samoa in 1920. Thirty four years later another Bahá'í from Australia pioneered to Samoa in 1954. With the first converts the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1961, and the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1970. Following the conversion of the then Head of State of Samoa, King Malietoa Tanumafili II, the first Bahá'í House of Worship of the Pacific Islands was finished in 1984 and the Bahá'í community reached a population of over 3,000 in about the year 2000.