Letter of 4 September, 1949

Letter of 4 September, 1949N.S.A. of Australia and New Zealand, Mrs. Mariette Bolton, Secretary.4 September, 1949.Dear Bahá’í Sister:This is just a little note to ask you, on behalf of our beloved Guardian, to please make the following corrections in a quotation of his words, published in the August number of your Bahá’í News Bulletin, on page 5: “As the processes impelling” (not “in filling”); in the sentence lower down, reading: “the deepening of the faith, understanding and spiritual life...” both “faith” and “spiritual” should not be capitalized, but be printed as I have written them above; after the words “this historic evolution” there should be a period, as it is the end of the sentence.Hoping you received the long letter recently mailed you, and with loving Bahá’í greetings,Yours,R. Rabbani.P.S. He wishes to thank you and dear Mr. Bolton for the loving gift of Bolton Place to the Bahá’í Community of Australia. This is an excellent example, and befitting gesture, for it has many associations with the spread and development of the Faith in Australia, and has further enriched the record of your historic services to the Faith.Letter of June 28, 1950The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand.June 28, 1950.Dear Bahá’í Friends:Your letters of August 9, 19; September 14, 22; November 7, 10, 21; of 1949; January 19; February 28; March 8, 31; April 11; May 2 (two), 1950, have been received by our beloved Guardian and he has instructed me to answer them on his behalf. The many enclosures and material forwarded have, likewise, been safely received.It has been impossible for our Guardian to keep abreast of his correspondence and other work this Winter and Spring. It is only during the last week that he has been able to turn to the mountain of mail, representing the correspondence of the various National Assemblies, and commence replying. The reason for this regrettable delay is that in order to get the arcade of the Shrine of the Báb finished in time for the centenary of His Martyrdom he had to undertake extensive excavations into the solid rock of the mountain behind the Shrine—the new edifice being much larger than the precious original building it is designed to enshrine and protect. This work he personally supervised in order to ensure the Shrine was in no way damaged, and to see the cost was kept within bounds. You can imagine this was a very exacting and tiring ordeal for him.Then, just as he had hoped to take up his overburdening correspondence, Mr. Maxwell, the architect of the Shrine, at the beginning of April became desperately ill, and for ten weeks absorbed the anxious care and attention of us all, as his condition was seemingly hopeless. Thanks to the Mercy of Bahá’u’lláh and the determination of the Guardian, he is recovering, and our lives are getting back to normal routine.The Guardian regrets very much the conduct of Mr. ...; it seems now fairly clear that he is a former Bahá’í from India who misconducted himself there over a period of years and then showed up, under a different name, in Australia. No one who conducts himself as he has can remain a voting member of the Bahá’í Community for—in spite of his wide knowledge of the Faith and his belief in it—his acts are contrary to its teachings and bring not only confusion into the Community and create inharmony, but disgrace the Cause in the eyes of non-Bahá’ís.The Guardian fully realizes that the process of splitting up large communities into smaller ones, each existing within its own civil units, has been difficult for the Australian friends. What they do not seem to fully appreciate is that this has been done in Canada and the United States as well, and is only in order to organize the assemblies on a logical basis, and one with a firmer legal foundation. The fact that this may create more assemblies in the end, and that it sometimes breaks up existing ones, is only incidental; the important point is to consolidate the communities on a sound basis, i.e. every assembly within the limits of the Municipality its members reside in.As Mrs Axford requested Mrs Thomas to write about her Bahá’í life there is every reason to respect her wishes. This in no way precludes the New Zealand Community from writing about her services and life and keeping this record in the National archives. The Guardian feels the Auckland Assembly should be consulted, as her, (Mrs Axford’s), home community, by Mrs Thomas. He hopes this In Memoriam article, about so dear and tireless a servant of the Faith, will produce a spirit of love and co-operation amongst all concerned.The gift by Miss Perks of an additional piece of land to the Yerrinbool School is deeply appreciated. It enriches the endowments already held by your Assembly. Please thank Miss Perks, on behalf of the Guardian, for this generous contribution, to the institutions of the Faith in Australia, and tell her he does not feel any name should be given the property other that of Yerrinbool School, of which it will form a part, and that she will always be remembered as the donor of it.The acquisition of the site for the New Zealand Summer School was a great step forward in the progress of the Faith there, and he was very pleased about it. He was also delighted to hear of the formation of the Devonport Assembly, and he hopes next year there will be still more.I would also like to answer here a question raised in Mrs Bolton’s letter of March 8: the Guardian feels that no annual fixed pilgrimage should be made to the grave of Father Dunn. The friends will naturally always want to go there, when and how they like, but it must not become a ceremony, otherwise it will contitute a precedent for similar things in the future.It is premature, and will weaken the national and local work, for delegates to be elected by State elections rather than by assemblies. There is no question involved about believers losing their voting rights: all the time believers are gaining and losing their voting rights by becoming members of communities with assemblies or moving out into places where they are isolated believers. The friends should not dwell on these minor details, but concentrate on teaching the Cause and exemplifying the Bahá’í life. Voting is a purely administrative detail, but teaching and serving are vital spiritual obligations. Regarding the change of the By-Laws: the Guardian considers the letter he wrote you about this subject is final. He is considerably surprised by the fact that of all the National Bodies in the Bahá’í World, operating under these By-Laws, it is only the Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, evidently acting under pressure from their legal committee, that constantly raises the question of changing them. This he considers is going too far, and is not necessary. He holds very bright hopes for the future of your work, and urges you, and through you all the believers, to concentrate on your glorious teaching tasks and forge ahead to win new victories for the beloved Faith.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. Your letter of June 9 has been received, and the Guardian deeply appreciates the contribution you sent. Please find receipt enclosed. The map you forwarded will be published in the next volume of “Bahá’í World” as the progress it shows will be of great interest to all readers.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The remarkable progress achieved by the Bahá’í communities in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania in promoting the Plan, designed to further the interests of the Faith in the Antipodes, is most encouraging, and will, when consummated, mark the opening of a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Faith in that continent. The varied and welcome evidences of the steady extension in the range of the manifold activities of these communities, the multiplication of Bahá’í institutions and their rapid consolidation, are particularly gratifying and merit the highest praise.The territories in which these communities conduct their meritorious, strenuous and highly promising activities with such diligence, resolution, fidelity and devotion, are admittedly vast and constitute a direct challenge to those who are called upon to diffuse the light of the Faith, and lay an unassailable foundation for its rising administrative Order, throughout the length and breadth of these territories.The Plan, now operating with increasing momentum in that far-off continent, is designed to enable its prosecutors to lay the first foundations of the structure which the members of these communities must rear in the years to come. As these primary pillars of a divinely ordained steadily evolving, spiritually propelled order are successively erected and sufficiently consolidated, and the agencies designed for the launching of a systematic campaign aiming at the future proclamation of the Faith to the masses inhabiting these far-flung territories multiply, a simultaneous effort should be exerted, and measures should be carefully devised, by the national elected representatives of these same communities, for the launching of the initial enterprises destined to carry the Message of the Faith, beyond the confines of these territories, to the Islands of the Pacific, lying in their immediate neighbourhood.For whatever may be the nature of the future successive crusades which the American and Canadian Bahá’í communities, may, under the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, launch in the course of the opening decades of the second Bahá’í century, and however extensive the range of their operations, and no matter how far-reaching the future campaigns which the Bahá’í community, centered in the heart of the British Isles, may undertake throughout the widely-scattered dependencies of the British Crown, the responsibility devolving upon the National elected representatives of the Bahá’ís of the Australasian continent for the introduction of the Faith and its initial establishment in the Islands of the Pacific, linking them, on the one hand, with their sister communities in the American continents and on the other hand, with the communities in South-Eastern Asia, remains clear and inescapable.As the various Bahá’í national communities, labouring directly as well as indirectly, under the impulse of a Divine Plan, broaden and consolidate the base of their operations in their respective homelands, and acquire the potentialities that will empower them to lend, in an ever-increasing measure, their share, and participate in the world-wide propagation of the Faith, the Australian and New Zealand believers must, for their part, contribute worthily to the overseas teaching activities and accomplishments of these communities. Already the Bahá’í community in the Great Republic of the West, the vanguard of the irresistibly marching army of Bahá’u’lláh, has launched its twin crusades in Latin America and the continent of Europe. Its collaborator in the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, the Canadian Bahá’í community is busily engaged in establishing the Faith beyond the Canadian mainland and further north in the vast territory of Greenland. The Persian and Iraqi Bahá’í communities are, moreover, assiduously labouring in the adjacent territories of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, while their sister-communities in the sub-continent of India are pushing the frontiers of the Faith as far as Ceylon in the South and Siam and Indonesia to the North and Southeast of that subcontinent. More recently the members of the British Bahá’í community, having brought to a successful conclusion their first historic Plan, are devising the necessary measures for the launching of a teaching enterprise in the heart of Africa, supplementing the work already accomplished by the Egyptian Bahá’í community in that continent. Shortly, and at its appointed time, yet another national community, already established in the heart of the European continent, will, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, and its internal activities are sufficiently consolidated, embark on a campaign, beyond the borders of its homeland, that will carry the light of the Faith to the adjoining Balkan territories, the Baltic states and, across the eastern frontiers of Europe, into Asia.In this stupendous and laudable collective enterprise, world-wide in its range, divinely propelled, world-redemptive in its purpose, in which National Bahá’í communities, already sufficiently consolidated from within, are participating, each in accordance with the provisions of its own specific plan and constituting, in its proportions and potentialities, the mightiest spiritual crusade launched since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith,—in such an enterprise the Bahá’í communities of Australia and New Zealand can neither afford to remain inactive or play a negligible part. The situation they occupy, the unnumbered virgin territories lying in their neighbourhood, the vitality and adventurous spirit the members of these communities have so strikingly manifested—all demand that they arise, as soon as the process of internal consolidation is sufficiently advanced, to play their part in this world-encompassing crusade now unfolding itself in, and constituting the brightest feature of, the opening years of the second Bahá’í century.With this glorious vision before them, assured that a full measure of Divine guidance and sustenance will be vouchsafed to them when they embark on the second stage of their collective activities, let them concentrate, in the years immediately ahead, on the tasks that require their earnest and undivided attention. The prosecution of the Plan, in all its aspects, is their primary obligation. Whatever contributes to the broadening and reinforcement of the Administrative Base, designed to guide, coordinate and extend the ramifications of their future enterprises overseas, should be unhesitatingly welcomed and carried out at the present hour and during the opening phase of their collective unified endeavour in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.May they seize every opportunity that presents itself, surmount every obstacle that may confront them in the future, and pave the way for a befitting inauguration of the subsequent phase of their historic and rapidly unfolding mission.Shoghi.Letter of 11 September, 195011 September, 1950Dear Bahá’í Sister:Under separate cover the Guardian is mailing to you two enlargements of the finished Arcade of the Báb’s Shrine. These are a gift from him to the N.S.A. and believers, and he would like you to have them circulated as widely as possible, for the friends to see them, and them hang them in the National Headquarters.Please cable receipt of these photos, so he will know they reached you safely.Also please inform the friends in the News Letter that copies of one of these views may be purchased through the American N.S.A., to whom he has sent the original film.With loving greetings,R. Rabbani.Letter of Nov. 14, 1950Nov. 14, 1950Dear Bahá’í Sister:I am replying to your letter of September 21 apart from other N.S.A. correspondence, as the beloved Guardian wishes to assure the Assembly that the contribution for the Shrine of the Báb has been received. (A receipt is herewith enclosed.)He was very touched by the exemplary sense of duty and devotion to the interests of the Faith which this sum represents. Please, on his behalf, thank all the donors to the Yerrinbool Dormitory Fund for their prompt response to his appeal regarding the Holy Shrine.Already the contract for the stone-work of the Octagon has been placed in Italy, and he hopes soon the preliminary arrangements locally can be made for continuing the work.With loving Bahá’í greetings to all the Assembly members from the Guardian,Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Assuring you of my deepfelt and abiding appreciation of the contribution of the Australian and New Zealand believers for so great and historic an enterprise, and of my loving and ardent prayers for their spiritual advancement and the steady expansion and consolidation of the great and historic work in which they are so devotedly engaged.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of Jan. 21, -51Haifa, Israel,Jan. 21, -51National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand;The beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge on his behalf the Nov. issue of your Bahá’í News. He is well pleased with it and commends you.He would like to call your attention to the statement on page 3, paragraph 3, under “Anniversaries and Festivals”, and clarify it.The Day of the Covenant Nov. 26th, and the Day of the Ascension, Nov. 28th, anniversaries of the birth and the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be observed by the friends coming together, but work is not prohibited. In other words the friends must regard observance of these two anniversaries as obligatory—but suspension of work not to be regarded as obligatory.He assures you of his deep interest in all your efforts and offers prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines.With warmest love,Sincerely yours,Amelia Collins.Letter of March 1, 1951Haifa, Israel,March 1, 1951National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New ZealandC/- Mrs. Mariette G. Bolton, SecretaryDear Bahá’í Friends:Your letters addressed to our beloved Guardian, and dated June 22, August 4 and 22, November 10 and December 5 and 11, of 1950 and January 30 and Feb. 20, 22, 26, of 1951, together with their enclosures, have been received; and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.In regard to the various matters raised in your letters:It is indeed a great tragedy that ... should have such an utterly despicable character, and the ability to be a teacher. He has undoubtedly dealt with the greatest injustice with the friends in Fiji who wrote to Mr. Blum; and the Guardian was extremely sorry to hear that this man, attracted to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and evidently a sincere and decent person, should have been duped by the very man who gave him this glorious Message. It was very wise to send Mr. Blum out there; and he hopes that your Assembly will keep in close contact with the friends who were attracted, it would seem almost miraculously under the circumstances, to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in those distant islands.It might interest your Assembly to know that since leaving Fiji, ... went to the United States, and himself admitted in a letter to the Guardian that he had seen Ahmad Sohrab.The Guardian assures your Assembly, and, through you, all the believers throughout Australasia, that he has been deeply touched by the spirit of loyalty which you have all shown at this difficult time for him, and also the devotion to every work which is undertaken here at the International Center of the Faith.The support you have given to the construction of the Shrine of the Báb has been deeply appreciated; and he hopes that in the not distant future it will be possible for the doors of pilgrimage to be opened once more; and then the believers can see with their own eyes what their sacrificial contributions have helped to erect, on Mount Carmel. It will interest the friends to hear that we are at present busy with the preliminary work required prior to the erection of the second story of the Holy Tomb, in other words, the octagonal portion, which will be built on top of the roof of the original Shrine building erected by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. The stones have been ordered from Italy for this next stage in our undertaking, and soon will be coming to Haifa another 300 tons of granite, some of it with beautiful carved ornamentation.The Guardian would like you to please convey to the Adelaide Spiritual Assembly his deep appreciation of the contribution they made through your Body to the Shrine Fund here in Haifa, a contribution which represents the sum of their Property Fund. They showed in this matter an exemplary spirit, and placed the major issue in its true perspective, forgetting their local hopes and aspirations in order that the work on the glorious Shrine of the Báb might be carried forward more speedily.In regard to your question concerning the Centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission: The Guardian, at a later date, will give instructions concerning this commemoration to the entire Bahá’í world.He has been particularly pleased to note, during the past year, the increase in pioneer activity going on under your jurisdiction. As you know, he attaches the greatest importance to this type of Bahá’í service; and he hopes that more of the believers will arise and go forth into the field, establishing new centers and groups, and broadcasting the Message of Bahá’u’lláh over the face of that vast continent.This is at once their greatest duty and privilege, and one which will attract the blessings of Bahá’u’lláh, and enrich, not only each individual who arises to serve, but the entire Community of which he forms a part.Whenever the friends feel that they are small in number, and the effort required, truly colossal, they should remember what the British Bahá’ís accomplished during the Six Year Plan; and how, after the long and exhaustive years of the war and all its restrictions, they succeeded, at the point of utter exhaustion, one might say, in achieving every single goal gloriously. The Australian and New Zealand friends, who have not been subjected to such rigors during the last decade, who are a young and fresh nation, so to speak, can surely accomplish as much, and one would imagine more, than their British brethren, who labored under such great handicaps.He assures you all that he will remember you in his prayers at the Holy Threshold, and supplicate that your Assembly, and the Community of believers whom you represent, may achieve great things during the coming Bahá’í year and arise to new heights of self-sacrifice and service.With warm Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. I would like to add that the Guardian does not consider that it is advisable for New Zealand to be separated in the near future from Australia, and come under the jurisdiction of an independent National Assembly. He considers that the present arrangement is the best one until such time as there are more assemblies flourishing in New Zealand, and he would consider the basis for a National Assembly strong enough there to support such an institution.Regarding the question of Mr. ..., the Guardian was considerably surprised at his temerity in getting in touch with the Bahá’ís. He belongs to an old family of Covenant-breakers from the days of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was later pardoned by the Guardian, and a number of years ago, flagrantly disobeyed the Guardian, and was put out of our local Community here. We all know that he has been in constant association with the Covenant-breakers ever since, and he even admits it in his own letter! Needless to say, the Bahá’ís should consider him a Covenant-breaker, and shun him entirely. The harm that he could do a Community if treated otherwise, would be very great indeed.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The manifold and ever multiplying activities in which the Australian, New Zealand and Tasmanian Bahá’í communities are so devotedly and unitedly engaged are the object of my constant solicitude, and evoke, as they steadily expand, feelings of gratitude and admiration in my heart. Though unavoidably prevented from communicating more frequently with their elected national representatives, who are directing with exemplary loyalty, unrelaxing vigilance, inflexible resolve, unsparing devotion and commendable foresight, the course of these highly meritorious and promising activities, I follow, through the perusal of the various reports and news letters I receive from them, every development in the unfoldment of their work, and surround them as they labour so assiduously for their Cause, with my fervent prayers, offered on their behalf in the holy Shrines.The assistance they have so spontaneously and enthusiastically extended to the newly established centre in the Fiji Islands, constituting the opening phase of the crusade destined to be systematically launched by them in the Pacific Islands—a territory with which their spiritual destiny is irrevocably linked—has been particularly gratifying and merits unstinted praise. To have undertaken this additional task, with such determination and fervour, while immersed in the labours associated with the prosecution of their Plan, is surely an evidence of their youthful vitality, their unbounded devotion to the interests of the Faith, and their eager desire to emulate the example of their sister-communities which have initiated, over and above their prescribed tasks, enterprises beyond the confines of their respective homelands.While this historic undertaking is being carried forward by their elected national representatives, these communities must concentrate their attention on the pressing and inescapable requirements of the Plan to which they stand committed. The process of extending the range of their administrative activities through the formation of groups and the multiplication of assemblies must continue unabated until this particular objective of the Plan is fully achieved. The proper incorporation of the national and local assemblies, so vital and urgent at the present stage of their evolution, must be hastened by every means in their power. The measures required to ensure the recognition of the Faith, of its laws regarding matters of personal status, as well as its Holy Days, by the civil authorities, in both Australia and New Zealand, must be carefully considered, and promptly adopted. The institutions of summer and winter schools, so vital and beneficial at the present stage in the development of the Faith must be continually expanded enriched and consolidated. The national and local Funds, on which the prosperity and unfoldment of a rising Administrative System must ultimately depend, should be assured of an ever-increasing measure of support, whilst the contributions of the believers for the raising of the superstructure of the Báb’s Holy Sepulchre, constituting a sacred and added responsibility at this present critical hour, should be constantly borne in mind and steadily maintained. The deepening and enrichment of the spiritual life of the individual believer, his increasing comprehension of the essential verities underlying this Faith, his training in its administrative processes, his understanding of the fundamentals of the Covenants established by its Author and the authorised Interpreter of its teachings should be made the supreme objectives of the national representatives responsible for the edification, the progress and consolidation of these communities.This two fold task, both at home and abroad, confronting the members of these communities, labouring so valiantly, and holding aloft so courageously the banner of the Most Great Name in the Antipodes, at so crucial a stage in the evolution of the human race on this planet, can neither be shirked nor be treated lightly for one moment. The hour is too critical, time is too short, the requirements of an infant Faith are too pressing, the resources at the disposal of the few into whose hands its care has been entrusted are too circumscribed to suffer any time to be lost in procrastination or through complacency or neglect. The prizes destined for the heroic warriors, battling for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Southern Hemisphere, and particularly Australasia, are glorious beyond compare. The assistance to be vouchsafed to them from on high in their struggle for its establishment to recognition and triumph is ready to be poured forth in astonishing abundance. Action immediate and whole-hearted, coupled with unswerving fidelity and dogged perseverance, will no doubt enable those who participate in this double crusade, to attract the full measure of these blessings and to attain these glorious goals.Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of March 8th, 1951Haifa, Israel,March 8th, 1951Beloved Friends:In answer to your letter of Feb. 22nd, the beloved Guardian has instructed me to assure you that the statement made in my letter to you Jan. 21st was quite correct.You quote from page 537 “Bahá’í World” words written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,—further down on the same page you will find the following “As a corollary of this Tablet (above) it follows the anniversaries of the birth and the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are not to be regarded as days on which work is prohibited. The celebration of these two days is however obligatory”.—These are the words of the Guardian. We really have eleven Holy Days but as stated, work is only prohibited on the first nine mentioned in the Tablet.He follows your work with deep interest and assures you of his loving prayers.With warmest love,Faithfully Yours,Amelia Collins.Letter of Sept. 7, 1951Sept. 7, 1951Dear Bahá’í Sister:Your letter of July 19 has been received, as well as the contribution of the believers to the Shrine, and the beloved Guardian sends you herewith his receipt.He wishes to thank all the friends, communities, and assemblies who have contributed so lovingly to this Holy undertaking. Surely such gifts, representing both sincere love and often real sacrifice, will add to the preciousness of a Shrine already so dear to all Bahá’í hearts.He wishes you every success in your own devoted services to the Cause.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Assuring you of my loving prayers for your success in the service of our beloved Faith,Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of Sept. 29, 1951Sept. 29, 1951Dear Bahá’í Sister:Your letter of August 12 has been received, and I am enclosing a receipt from the beloved Guardian for the sum you forwarded.He was deeply touched by this further evidence of the interest shown by the believers in Australia and New Zealand in the Holy task now going ahead at the World Center. Please thank all the contributors on his behalf.He sends you and all the members of the N.S.A. his loving greetings,With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]May the Almighty bless and reward all those who have so devotedly and spontaneously contributed for the promotion of so holy an enterprise, and aid them to win great and memorable victories in the service of His glorious Faith.Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of Nov. 20, 1951Dear Bahá’í Friends: Nov. 20, 1951Your letters to the beloved Guardian, dated April 3rd (two) 4th and 26th; May 4th and 25th; July 13th; and Oct. 16, with various enclosures, have been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.Regarding various matters raised in your letters: The Guardian feels that as Mr. Audenwood clearly signified his belief in Bahá’u’lláh before his passing, his name should by all means be registered in your records as a believer. Please assure his wife of the Guardian’s prayers for the progress and happiness of his soul, and for her own services to the Faith to be richly blessed.Shoghi Effendi feels it is better not to put the Greatest Name on Bahá’í graves. It is not forbidden to do so, but inappropriate.Regarding Mr. ... and Mr. ... we all regret exceedingly the loss he afflicted this believer with. Your Assembly, if you have not already done so, should write both the Persian and Indian Assemblies exposing him, and asking if there is no way he can be reached and made to pay his debt. The last news the Guardian had of him he was in Cyprus and planned (?) to go on to Iran or India. It is most extaordinary to see the way this man, who breaks all the laws of his Faith and disobeys both the Guardian and the Assemblies, has been able to plant a firm faith in the hearts of sincere souls in Fiji, who are now devoted believers! Your Assembly should give this small community every aid and encouragement you can, for its members were born with a terrific test, enough to shake the belief of old and tried Bahá’ís.The Guardian was very pleased to see the Racing Conference courteously changed the name of that horse which had been called Bahá’u’lláh.He is also very glad you are in touch with dear, faithful Mr. Auskauli. You should keep up this contact and when you write please assure him of the Guardian’s appreciation of his steadfastness and of his loving prayers. He advises you to keep for your library the books sent you.The Guardian has noted a new spirit of love and unity amongst the Australian and New Zealand Bahá’ís, which pleases him very much, as the atmosphere of harmony amongst the friends will attract the Divine Blessings and enable them to achieve a great deal more for the Faith.He strongly feels that the time has come for the believers of Australia and New Zealand to arise as a conquering army and ensure the attainment of their goals under their Six Year Plan. They now constitute one of the strongest bodies of believers in the world, ranking with such active and well established communities as those of Canada, Great Britain and India. Their period of adolescence in the Faith has passed; they are now adults, and they must face the problems involved in fulfilling their Plan squarely and with maturity. The pleasant period of youthful irresponsibility, when they could look on the work of the American and Persian Communities as the feats of the strong, which they were not called upon to emulate, being too young, is now passed forever. They must sacrifice, concentrate on their tasks, plan their actions and carry on their pioneer work with determination, realizing they will have no one to blame for any failures, except themselves! The Guardian feels they are entirely capable of fulfilling their Plan. He is proud of the progress they have made and confident they can succeed if they really try.He assures you all of his loving prayers for your guidance and for the success of your work, the progress of which he follows with the keenest interest.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. I am enclosing a receipt herein. I do not think this sum has been previously acknowledged, but if there is any duplication, please destroy it.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The Six-Year Plan, formulated by the elected representatives of the valiant Bahá’í communities in Australasia, is now entering its final and most critical stage. If successfully terminated it will mark the conclusion of a memorable chapter in the evolution of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the Antipodes, and will at the same time herald the opening of the initial phase in the establishment of the institutions of that Faith, beyond the borders of that far-off continent, in the numerous diversified and widely scattered Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It will in fact signalize the third stage in the evolution of the Faith in that newly opened, highly promising, far-flung continent—an evolution which commenced, during the concluding decade of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ministry and of the Heroic Age of the Faith, with the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, and which was subsequently accelerated through the formulation during the opening years of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, of two successive Plans, designed to broaden and reinforce the foundations of that nascent Order in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. The inauguration of the third and most glorious phase in this historic and momentous development must now depend on the consummation of the tasks willingly shouldered by this youthful, this virile and greatly beloved community, which, despite its physical remoteness from the heart and world centre of the Faith, the smallness of its size, its limited resources and the vastness of the field under the jurisdiction of its elected representatives, has made such great strides since its inception, has shown such exemplary devotion and loyalty, and has preserved and reinforced so nobly the solidity of its foundations.This Community, which owes its birth to the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, must now brace itself, during the fleeting months that lie ahead, for a supreme, a concerted and sustained effort to ensure the attainment of the objectives of the present Plan, and thereby acquire the spiritual potentialities essential to the launching of a mighty Crusade, in collaboration with the Trustees of the Plan, conceived by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, and with its neighbouring sister communities in Latin America and in the Indian Sub-continent, destined to culminate in the fullness of time in the Spiritual conquest of the multitudinous islands of the South Pacific Ocean.So exalted a mission, so strenuous a task, so weighty a responsibility call for, while the Present Preparatory Plan speeds to its end, an unprecedented demonstration on the part of young and old, or both men and women, whether administrators or teachers, veterans or neophytes, of solidarity, determination, zeal and constancy, a still greater display of self-sacrifice, a wider dispersion of forces, a more energetic discharge of duty, a clearer vision, a firmer grasp, of the requirements of the present hour, and a more complete dedication to the purposes of the present-day enterprise.The steady multiplication of Bahá’í Administrative institutions; the rapid consolidation of these basic agencies on which the speedy expansion of the community beyond its borders must ultimately depend; the early incorporation of all steadily functioning assemblies as a means of further reinforcing a newly erected administrative structure; the systematic and vigorous dissemination of Bahá’í literature, and the gradual proclamation of the Faith through the Press and Radio; the initiation of measures designed to forge friendly links between these newly-fledged assemblies and local civil authorities, and a parallel effort aimed at the strengthening of the ties binding the Bahá’í Supreme Administrative Body with both the Federal and State authorities—above all the constant deepening of the spiritual life of the individual believers, the enrichment of community life, the promotion of greater unity, harmony and cooperation among the rank and file of the followers of the Faith—these are the essential prerequisites to which special attention should be directed in preparation for the great campaign destined to be launched in that remote corner of the globe, by one of the most youthful and promising Bahá’í national communities, on the morrow of the world-wide celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission.Afire with the vision that now opens before their eyes; conscious of the substantial share of responsibility they must assume, in conjunction with the Indian, the Pakistani, the North American, and the Latin American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, in uplifting the banner of the Most Great Name amidst the dwellers of these scattered, distant and in some cases isolated, Islands of the South, and in drawing them into the orbit of His constantly evolving Administrative Order; fortified by the magnificent progress they themselves have achieved in their own homelands; and confident of the irresistible and mysterious power instilled by the Hand of Providence in every agency associated with His Most Holy Name, let the members of these rapidly maturing, fast evolving, soundly established, Bahá’í communities throughout Australasia arise, as they have never heretofore done, and during the concluding phase of their present fate-laden Plan, to seal their high endeavours with total and complete victory, and thereby open a chapter of undreamt-of glory that will add an imperishable lustre to the annals of an immortal Faith.Just as their first collective enterprise, through its resounding success, contributed its particular share of tribute to the memory of the Herald of their Faith, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of His Revelation, may their present collective enterprise, through its consummation, qualify and empower them to play a distinctive role in the celebration of the Great Jubilee that will mark the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic Mission.A great opportunity lies before them. Much of their present mighty task still remains to be achieved. Immense virgin fields stretch before them, flanked, on the one side, by a sister community in the South American continent, and on the other by another sister community in the vast Indian sub-continent, both ready and eager to extend their help in prosecuting a memorable, a gigantic and supremely arduous task. May they, when the hour strikes, be found ready and well equipped to assume the onerous responsibilities that will fall to their share.Shoghi.

Letter of 4 September, 1949N.S.A. of Australia and New Zealand, Mrs. Mariette Bolton, Secretary.4 September, 1949.Dear Bahá’í Sister:This is just a little note to ask you, on behalf of our beloved Guardian, to please make the following corrections in a quotation of his words, published in the August number of your Bahá’í News Bulletin, on page 5: “As the processes impelling” (not “in filling”); in the sentence lower down, reading: “the deepening of the faith, understanding and spiritual life...” both “faith” and “spiritual” should not be capitalized, but be printed as I have written them above; after the words “this historic evolution” there should be a period, as it is the end of the sentence.Hoping you received the long letter recently mailed you, and with loving Bahá’í greetings,Yours,R. Rabbani.P.S. He wishes to thank you and dear Mr. Bolton for the loving gift of Bolton Place to the Bahá’í Community of Australia. This is an excellent example, and befitting gesture, for it has many associations with the spread and development of the Faith in Australia, and has further enriched the record of your historic services to the Faith.Letter of June 28, 1950The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand.June 28, 1950.Dear Bahá’í Friends:Your letters of August 9, 19; September 14, 22; November 7, 10, 21; of 1949; January 19; February 28; March 8, 31; April 11; May 2 (two), 1950, have been received by our beloved Guardian and he has instructed me to answer them on his behalf. The many enclosures and material forwarded have, likewise, been safely received.It has been impossible for our Guardian to keep abreast of his correspondence and other work this Winter and Spring. It is only during the last week that he has been able to turn to the mountain of mail, representing the correspondence of the various National Assemblies, and commence replying. The reason for this regrettable delay is that in order to get the arcade of the Shrine of the Báb finished in time for the centenary of His Martyrdom he had to undertake extensive excavations into the solid rock of the mountain behind the Shrine—the new edifice being much larger than the precious original building it is designed to enshrine and protect. This work he personally supervised in order to ensure the Shrine was in no way damaged, and to see the cost was kept within bounds. You can imagine this was a very exacting and tiring ordeal for him.Then, just as he had hoped to take up his overburdening correspondence, Mr. Maxwell, the architect of the Shrine, at the beginning of April became desperately ill, and for ten weeks absorbed the anxious care and attention of us all, as his condition was seemingly hopeless. Thanks to the Mercy of Bahá’u’lláh and the determination of the Guardian, he is recovering, and our lives are getting back to normal routine.The Guardian regrets very much the conduct of Mr. ...; it seems now fairly clear that he is a former Bahá’í from India who misconducted himself there over a period of years and then showed up, under a different name, in Australia. No one who conducts himself as he has can remain a voting member of the Bahá’í Community for—in spite of his wide knowledge of the Faith and his belief in it—his acts are contrary to its teachings and bring not only confusion into the Community and create inharmony, but disgrace the Cause in the eyes of non-Bahá’ís.The Guardian fully realizes that the process of splitting up large communities into smaller ones, each existing within its own civil units, has been difficult for the Australian friends. What they do not seem to fully appreciate is that this has been done in Canada and the United States as well, and is only in order to organize the assemblies on a logical basis, and one with a firmer legal foundation. The fact that this may create more assemblies in the end, and that it sometimes breaks up existing ones, is only incidental; the important point is to consolidate the communities on a sound basis, i.e. every assembly within the limits of the Municipality its members reside in.As Mrs Axford requested Mrs Thomas to write about her Bahá’í life there is every reason to respect her wishes. This in no way precludes the New Zealand Community from writing about her services and life and keeping this record in the National archives. The Guardian feels the Auckland Assembly should be consulted, as her, (Mrs Axford’s), home community, by Mrs Thomas. He hopes this In Memoriam article, about so dear and tireless a servant of the Faith, will produce a spirit of love and co-operation amongst all concerned.The gift by Miss Perks of an additional piece of land to the Yerrinbool School is deeply appreciated. It enriches the endowments already held by your Assembly. Please thank Miss Perks, on behalf of the Guardian, for this generous contribution, to the institutions of the Faith in Australia, and tell her he does not feel any name should be given the property other that of Yerrinbool School, of which it will form a part, and that she will always be remembered as the donor of it.The acquisition of the site for the New Zealand Summer School was a great step forward in the progress of the Faith there, and he was very pleased about it. He was also delighted to hear of the formation of the Devonport Assembly, and he hopes next year there will be still more.I would also like to answer here a question raised in Mrs Bolton’s letter of March 8: the Guardian feels that no annual fixed pilgrimage should be made to the grave of Father Dunn. The friends will naturally always want to go there, when and how they like, but it must not become a ceremony, otherwise it will contitute a precedent for similar things in the future.It is premature, and will weaken the national and local work, for delegates to be elected by State elections rather than by assemblies. There is no question involved about believers losing their voting rights: all the time believers are gaining and losing their voting rights by becoming members of communities with assemblies or moving out into places where they are isolated believers. The friends should not dwell on these minor details, but concentrate on teaching the Cause and exemplifying the Bahá’í life. Voting is a purely administrative detail, but teaching and serving are vital spiritual obligations. Regarding the change of the By-Laws: the Guardian considers the letter he wrote you about this subject is final. He is considerably surprised by the fact that of all the National Bodies in the Bahá’í World, operating under these By-Laws, it is only the Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, evidently acting under pressure from their legal committee, that constantly raises the question of changing them. This he considers is going too far, and is not necessary. He holds very bright hopes for the future of your work, and urges you, and through you all the believers, to concentrate on your glorious teaching tasks and forge ahead to win new victories for the beloved Faith.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. Your letter of June 9 has been received, and the Guardian deeply appreciates the contribution you sent. Please find receipt enclosed. The map you forwarded will be published in the next volume of “Bahá’í World” as the progress it shows will be of great interest to all readers.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The remarkable progress achieved by the Bahá’í communities in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania in promoting the Plan, designed to further the interests of the Faith in the Antipodes, is most encouraging, and will, when consummated, mark the opening of a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Faith in that continent. The varied and welcome evidences of the steady extension in the range of the manifold activities of these communities, the multiplication of Bahá’í institutions and their rapid consolidation, are particularly gratifying and merit the highest praise.The territories in which these communities conduct their meritorious, strenuous and highly promising activities with such diligence, resolution, fidelity and devotion, are admittedly vast and constitute a direct challenge to those who are called upon to diffuse the light of the Faith, and lay an unassailable foundation for its rising administrative Order, throughout the length and breadth of these territories.The Plan, now operating with increasing momentum in that far-off continent, is designed to enable its prosecutors to lay the first foundations of the structure which the members of these communities must rear in the years to come. As these primary pillars of a divinely ordained steadily evolving, spiritually propelled order are successively erected and sufficiently consolidated, and the agencies designed for the launching of a systematic campaign aiming at the future proclamation of the Faith to the masses inhabiting these far-flung territories multiply, a simultaneous effort should be exerted, and measures should be carefully devised, by the national elected representatives of these same communities, for the launching of the initial enterprises destined to carry the Message of the Faith, beyond the confines of these territories, to the Islands of the Pacific, lying in their immediate neighbourhood.For whatever may be the nature of the future successive crusades which the American and Canadian Bahá’í communities, may, under the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, launch in the course of the opening decades of the second Bahá’í century, and however extensive the range of their operations, and no matter how far-reaching the future campaigns which the Bahá’í community, centered in the heart of the British Isles, may undertake throughout the widely-scattered dependencies of the British Crown, the responsibility devolving upon the National elected representatives of the Bahá’ís of the Australasian continent for the introduction of the Faith and its initial establishment in the Islands of the Pacific, linking them, on the one hand, with their sister communities in the American continents and on the other hand, with the communities in South-Eastern Asia, remains clear and inescapable.As the various Bahá’í national communities, labouring directly as well as indirectly, under the impulse of a Divine Plan, broaden and consolidate the base of their operations in their respective homelands, and acquire the potentialities that will empower them to lend, in an ever-increasing measure, their share, and participate in the world-wide propagation of the Faith, the Australian and New Zealand believers must, for their part, contribute worthily to the overseas teaching activities and accomplishments of these communities. Already the Bahá’í community in the Great Republic of the West, the vanguard of the irresistibly marching army of Bahá’u’lláh, has launched its twin crusades in Latin America and the continent of Europe. Its collaborator in the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, the Canadian Bahá’í community is busily engaged in establishing the Faith beyond the Canadian mainland and further north in the vast territory of Greenland. The Persian and Iraqi Bahá’í communities are, moreover, assiduously labouring in the adjacent territories of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, while their sister-communities in the sub-continent of India are pushing the frontiers of the Faith as far as Ceylon in the South and Siam and Indonesia to the North and Southeast of that subcontinent. More recently the members of the British Bahá’í community, having brought to a successful conclusion their first historic Plan, are devising the necessary measures for the launching of a teaching enterprise in the heart of Africa, supplementing the work already accomplished by the Egyptian Bahá’í community in that continent. Shortly, and at its appointed time, yet another national community, already established in the heart of the European continent, will, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, and its internal activities are sufficiently consolidated, embark on a campaign, beyond the borders of its homeland, that will carry the light of the Faith to the adjoining Balkan territories, the Baltic states and, across the eastern frontiers of Europe, into Asia.In this stupendous and laudable collective enterprise, world-wide in its range, divinely propelled, world-redemptive in its purpose, in which National Bahá’í communities, already sufficiently consolidated from within, are participating, each in accordance with the provisions of its own specific plan and constituting, in its proportions and potentialities, the mightiest spiritual crusade launched since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith,—in such an enterprise the Bahá’í communities of Australia and New Zealand can neither afford to remain inactive or play a negligible part. The situation they occupy, the unnumbered virgin territories lying in their neighbourhood, the vitality and adventurous spirit the members of these communities have so strikingly manifested—all demand that they arise, as soon as the process of internal consolidation is sufficiently advanced, to play their part in this world-encompassing crusade now unfolding itself in, and constituting the brightest feature of, the opening years of the second Bahá’í century.With this glorious vision before them, assured that a full measure of Divine guidance and sustenance will be vouchsafed to them when they embark on the second stage of their collective activities, let them concentrate, in the years immediately ahead, on the tasks that require their earnest and undivided attention. The prosecution of the Plan, in all its aspects, is their primary obligation. Whatever contributes to the broadening and reinforcement of the Administrative Base, designed to guide, coordinate and extend the ramifications of their future enterprises overseas, should be unhesitatingly welcomed and carried out at the present hour and during the opening phase of their collective unified endeavour in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.May they seize every opportunity that presents itself, surmount every obstacle that may confront them in the future, and pave the way for a befitting inauguration of the subsequent phase of their historic and rapidly unfolding mission.Shoghi.Letter of 11 September, 195011 September, 1950Dear Bahá’í Sister:Under separate cover the Guardian is mailing to you two enlargements of the finished Arcade of the Báb’s Shrine. These are a gift from him to the N.S.A. and believers, and he would like you to have them circulated as widely as possible, for the friends to see them, and them hang them in the National Headquarters.Please cable receipt of these photos, so he will know they reached you safely.Also please inform the friends in the News Letter that copies of one of these views may be purchased through the American N.S.A., to whom he has sent the original film.With loving greetings,R. Rabbani.Letter of Nov. 14, 1950Nov. 14, 1950Dear Bahá’í Sister:I am replying to your letter of September 21 apart from other N.S.A. correspondence, as the beloved Guardian wishes to assure the Assembly that the contribution for the Shrine of the Báb has been received. (A receipt is herewith enclosed.)He was very touched by the exemplary sense of duty and devotion to the interests of the Faith which this sum represents. Please, on his behalf, thank all the donors to the Yerrinbool Dormitory Fund for their prompt response to his appeal regarding the Holy Shrine.Already the contract for the stone-work of the Octagon has been placed in Italy, and he hopes soon the preliminary arrangements locally can be made for continuing the work.With loving Bahá’í greetings to all the Assembly members from the Guardian,Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Assuring you of my deepfelt and abiding appreciation of the contribution of the Australian and New Zealand believers for so great and historic an enterprise, and of my loving and ardent prayers for their spiritual advancement and the steady expansion and consolidation of the great and historic work in which they are so devotedly engaged.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of Jan. 21, -51Haifa, Israel,Jan. 21, -51National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand;The beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge on his behalf the Nov. issue of your Bahá’í News. He is well pleased with it and commends you.He would like to call your attention to the statement on page 3, paragraph 3, under “Anniversaries and Festivals”, and clarify it.The Day of the Covenant Nov. 26th, and the Day of the Ascension, Nov. 28th, anniversaries of the birth and the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be observed by the friends coming together, but work is not prohibited. In other words the friends must regard observance of these two anniversaries as obligatory—but suspension of work not to be regarded as obligatory.He assures you of his deep interest in all your efforts and offers prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines.With warmest love,Sincerely yours,Amelia Collins.Letter of March 1, 1951Haifa, Israel,March 1, 1951National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New ZealandC/- Mrs. Mariette G. Bolton, SecretaryDear Bahá’í Friends:Your letters addressed to our beloved Guardian, and dated June 22, August 4 and 22, November 10 and December 5 and 11, of 1950 and January 30 and Feb. 20, 22, 26, of 1951, together with their enclosures, have been received; and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.In regard to the various matters raised in your letters:It is indeed a great tragedy that ... should have such an utterly despicable character, and the ability to be a teacher. He has undoubtedly dealt with the greatest injustice with the friends in Fiji who wrote to Mr. Blum; and the Guardian was extremely sorry to hear that this man, attracted to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and evidently a sincere and decent person, should have been duped by the very man who gave him this glorious Message. It was very wise to send Mr. Blum out there; and he hopes that your Assembly will keep in close contact with the friends who were attracted, it would seem almost miraculously under the circumstances, to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in those distant islands.It might interest your Assembly to know that since leaving Fiji, ... went to the United States, and himself admitted in a letter to the Guardian that he had seen Ahmad Sohrab.The Guardian assures your Assembly, and, through you, all the believers throughout Australasia, that he has been deeply touched by the spirit of loyalty which you have all shown at this difficult time for him, and also the devotion to every work which is undertaken here at the International Center of the Faith.The support you have given to the construction of the Shrine of the Báb has been deeply appreciated; and he hopes that in the not distant future it will be possible for the doors of pilgrimage to be opened once more; and then the believers can see with their own eyes what their sacrificial contributions have helped to erect, on Mount Carmel. It will interest the friends to hear that we are at present busy with the preliminary work required prior to the erection of the second story of the Holy Tomb, in other words, the octagonal portion, which will be built on top of the roof of the original Shrine building erected by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. The stones have been ordered from Italy for this next stage in our undertaking, and soon will be coming to Haifa another 300 tons of granite, some of it with beautiful carved ornamentation.The Guardian would like you to please convey to the Adelaide Spiritual Assembly his deep appreciation of the contribution they made through your Body to the Shrine Fund here in Haifa, a contribution which represents the sum of their Property Fund. They showed in this matter an exemplary spirit, and placed the major issue in its true perspective, forgetting their local hopes and aspirations in order that the work on the glorious Shrine of the Báb might be carried forward more speedily.In regard to your question concerning the Centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission: The Guardian, at a later date, will give instructions concerning this commemoration to the entire Bahá’í world.He has been particularly pleased to note, during the past year, the increase in pioneer activity going on under your jurisdiction. As you know, he attaches the greatest importance to this type of Bahá’í service; and he hopes that more of the believers will arise and go forth into the field, establishing new centers and groups, and broadcasting the Message of Bahá’u’lláh over the face of that vast continent.This is at once their greatest duty and privilege, and one which will attract the blessings of Bahá’u’lláh, and enrich, not only each individual who arises to serve, but the entire Community of which he forms a part.Whenever the friends feel that they are small in number, and the effort required, truly colossal, they should remember what the British Bahá’ís accomplished during the Six Year Plan; and how, after the long and exhaustive years of the war and all its restrictions, they succeeded, at the point of utter exhaustion, one might say, in achieving every single goal gloriously. The Australian and New Zealand friends, who have not been subjected to such rigors during the last decade, who are a young and fresh nation, so to speak, can surely accomplish as much, and one would imagine more, than their British brethren, who labored under such great handicaps.He assures you all that he will remember you in his prayers at the Holy Threshold, and supplicate that your Assembly, and the Community of believers whom you represent, may achieve great things during the coming Bahá’í year and arise to new heights of self-sacrifice and service.With warm Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. I would like to add that the Guardian does not consider that it is advisable for New Zealand to be separated in the near future from Australia, and come under the jurisdiction of an independent National Assembly. He considers that the present arrangement is the best one until such time as there are more assemblies flourishing in New Zealand, and he would consider the basis for a National Assembly strong enough there to support such an institution.Regarding the question of Mr. ..., the Guardian was considerably surprised at his temerity in getting in touch with the Bahá’ís. He belongs to an old family of Covenant-breakers from the days of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was later pardoned by the Guardian, and a number of years ago, flagrantly disobeyed the Guardian, and was put out of our local Community here. We all know that he has been in constant association with the Covenant-breakers ever since, and he even admits it in his own letter! Needless to say, the Bahá’ís should consider him a Covenant-breaker, and shun him entirely. The harm that he could do a Community if treated otherwise, would be very great indeed.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The manifold and ever multiplying activities in which the Australian, New Zealand and Tasmanian Bahá’í communities are so devotedly and unitedly engaged are the object of my constant solicitude, and evoke, as they steadily expand, feelings of gratitude and admiration in my heart. Though unavoidably prevented from communicating more frequently with their elected national representatives, who are directing with exemplary loyalty, unrelaxing vigilance, inflexible resolve, unsparing devotion and commendable foresight, the course of these highly meritorious and promising activities, I follow, through the perusal of the various reports and news letters I receive from them, every development in the unfoldment of their work, and surround them as they labour so assiduously for their Cause, with my fervent prayers, offered on their behalf in the holy Shrines.The assistance they have so spontaneously and enthusiastically extended to the newly established centre in the Fiji Islands, constituting the opening phase of the crusade destined to be systematically launched by them in the Pacific Islands—a territory with which their spiritual destiny is irrevocably linked—has been particularly gratifying and merits unstinted praise. To have undertaken this additional task, with such determination and fervour, while immersed in the labours associated with the prosecution of their Plan, is surely an evidence of their youthful vitality, their unbounded devotion to the interests of the Faith, and their eager desire to emulate the example of their sister-communities which have initiated, over and above their prescribed tasks, enterprises beyond the confines of their respective homelands.While this historic undertaking is being carried forward by their elected national representatives, these communities must concentrate their attention on the pressing and inescapable requirements of the Plan to which they stand committed. The process of extending the range of their administrative activities through the formation of groups and the multiplication of assemblies must continue unabated until this particular objective of the Plan is fully achieved. The proper incorporation of the national and local assemblies, so vital and urgent at the present stage of their evolution, must be hastened by every means in their power. The measures required to ensure the recognition of the Faith, of its laws regarding matters of personal status, as well as its Holy Days, by the civil authorities, in both Australia and New Zealand, must be carefully considered, and promptly adopted. The institutions of summer and winter schools, so vital and beneficial at the present stage in the development of the Faith must be continually expanded enriched and consolidated. The national and local Funds, on which the prosperity and unfoldment of a rising Administrative System must ultimately depend, should be assured of an ever-increasing measure of support, whilst the contributions of the believers for the raising of the superstructure of the Báb’s Holy Sepulchre, constituting a sacred and added responsibility at this present critical hour, should be constantly borne in mind and steadily maintained. The deepening and enrichment of the spiritual life of the individual believer, his increasing comprehension of the essential verities underlying this Faith, his training in its administrative processes, his understanding of the fundamentals of the Covenants established by its Author and the authorised Interpreter of its teachings should be made the supreme objectives of the national representatives responsible for the edification, the progress and consolidation of these communities.This two fold task, both at home and abroad, confronting the members of these communities, labouring so valiantly, and holding aloft so courageously the banner of the Most Great Name in the Antipodes, at so crucial a stage in the evolution of the human race on this planet, can neither be shirked nor be treated lightly for one moment. The hour is too critical, time is too short, the requirements of an infant Faith are too pressing, the resources at the disposal of the few into whose hands its care has been entrusted are too circumscribed to suffer any time to be lost in procrastination or through complacency or neglect. The prizes destined for the heroic warriors, battling for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Southern Hemisphere, and particularly Australasia, are glorious beyond compare. The assistance to be vouchsafed to them from on high in their struggle for its establishment to recognition and triumph is ready to be poured forth in astonishing abundance. Action immediate and whole-hearted, coupled with unswerving fidelity and dogged perseverance, will no doubt enable those who participate in this double crusade, to attract the full measure of these blessings and to attain these glorious goals.Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of March 8th, 1951Haifa, Israel,March 8th, 1951Beloved Friends:In answer to your letter of Feb. 22nd, the beloved Guardian has instructed me to assure you that the statement made in my letter to you Jan. 21st was quite correct.You quote from page 537 “Bahá’í World” words written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,—further down on the same page you will find the following “As a corollary of this Tablet (above) it follows the anniversaries of the birth and the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are not to be regarded as days on which work is prohibited. The celebration of these two days is however obligatory”.—These are the words of the Guardian. We really have eleven Holy Days but as stated, work is only prohibited on the first nine mentioned in the Tablet.He follows your work with deep interest and assures you of his loving prayers.With warmest love,Faithfully Yours,Amelia Collins.Letter of Sept. 7, 1951Sept. 7, 1951Dear Bahá’í Sister:Your letter of July 19 has been received, as well as the contribution of the believers to the Shrine, and the beloved Guardian sends you herewith his receipt.He wishes to thank all the friends, communities, and assemblies who have contributed so lovingly to this Holy undertaking. Surely such gifts, representing both sincere love and often real sacrifice, will add to the preciousness of a Shrine already so dear to all Bahá’í hearts.He wishes you every success in your own devoted services to the Cause.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Assuring you of my loving prayers for your success in the service of our beloved Faith,Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of Sept. 29, 1951Sept. 29, 1951Dear Bahá’í Sister:Your letter of August 12 has been received, and I am enclosing a receipt from the beloved Guardian for the sum you forwarded.He was deeply touched by this further evidence of the interest shown by the believers in Australia and New Zealand in the Holy task now going ahead at the World Center. Please thank all the contributors on his behalf.He sends you and all the members of the N.S.A. his loving greetings,With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]May the Almighty bless and reward all those who have so devotedly and spontaneously contributed for the promotion of so holy an enterprise, and aid them to win great and memorable victories in the service of His glorious Faith.Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of Nov. 20, 1951Dear Bahá’í Friends: Nov. 20, 1951Your letters to the beloved Guardian, dated April 3rd (two) 4th and 26th; May 4th and 25th; July 13th; and Oct. 16, with various enclosures, have been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.Regarding various matters raised in your letters: The Guardian feels that as Mr. Audenwood clearly signified his belief in Bahá’u’lláh before his passing, his name should by all means be registered in your records as a believer. Please assure his wife of the Guardian’s prayers for the progress and happiness of his soul, and for her own services to the Faith to be richly blessed.Shoghi Effendi feels it is better not to put the Greatest Name on Bahá’í graves. It is not forbidden to do so, but inappropriate.Regarding Mr. ... and Mr. ... we all regret exceedingly the loss he afflicted this believer with. Your Assembly, if you have not already done so, should write both the Persian and Indian Assemblies exposing him, and asking if there is no way he can be reached and made to pay his debt. The last news the Guardian had of him he was in Cyprus and planned (?) to go on to Iran or India. It is most extaordinary to see the way this man, who breaks all the laws of his Faith and disobeys both the Guardian and the Assemblies, has been able to plant a firm faith in the hearts of sincere souls in Fiji, who are now devoted believers! Your Assembly should give this small community every aid and encouragement you can, for its members were born with a terrific test, enough to shake the belief of old and tried Bahá’ís.The Guardian was very pleased to see the Racing Conference courteously changed the name of that horse which had been called Bahá’u’lláh.He is also very glad you are in touch with dear, faithful Mr. Auskauli. You should keep up this contact and when you write please assure him of the Guardian’s appreciation of his steadfastness and of his loving prayers. He advises you to keep for your library the books sent you.The Guardian has noted a new spirit of love and unity amongst the Australian and New Zealand Bahá’ís, which pleases him very much, as the atmosphere of harmony amongst the friends will attract the Divine Blessings and enable them to achieve a great deal more for the Faith.He strongly feels that the time has come for the believers of Australia and New Zealand to arise as a conquering army and ensure the attainment of their goals under their Six Year Plan. They now constitute one of the strongest bodies of believers in the world, ranking with such active and well established communities as those of Canada, Great Britain and India. Their period of adolescence in the Faith has passed; they are now adults, and they must face the problems involved in fulfilling their Plan squarely and with maturity. The pleasant period of youthful irresponsibility, when they could look on the work of the American and Persian Communities as the feats of the strong, which they were not called upon to emulate, being too young, is now passed forever. They must sacrifice, concentrate on their tasks, plan their actions and carry on their pioneer work with determination, realizing they will have no one to blame for any failures, except themselves! The Guardian feels they are entirely capable of fulfilling their Plan. He is proud of the progress they have made and confident they can succeed if they really try.He assures you all of his loving prayers for your guidance and for the success of your work, the progress of which he follows with the keenest interest.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. I am enclosing a receipt herein. I do not think this sum has been previously acknowledged, but if there is any duplication, please destroy it.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The Six-Year Plan, formulated by the elected representatives of the valiant Bahá’í communities in Australasia, is now entering its final and most critical stage. If successfully terminated it will mark the conclusion of a memorable chapter in the evolution of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the Antipodes, and will at the same time herald the opening of the initial phase in the establishment of the institutions of that Faith, beyond the borders of that far-off continent, in the numerous diversified and widely scattered Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It will in fact signalize the third stage in the evolution of the Faith in that newly opened, highly promising, far-flung continent—an evolution which commenced, during the concluding decade of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ministry and of the Heroic Age of the Faith, with the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, and which was subsequently accelerated through the formulation during the opening years of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, of two successive Plans, designed to broaden and reinforce the foundations of that nascent Order in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. The inauguration of the third and most glorious phase in this historic and momentous development must now depend on the consummation of the tasks willingly shouldered by this youthful, this virile and greatly beloved community, which, despite its physical remoteness from the heart and world centre of the Faith, the smallness of its size, its limited resources and the vastness of the field under the jurisdiction of its elected representatives, has made such great strides since its inception, has shown such exemplary devotion and loyalty, and has preserved and reinforced so nobly the solidity of its foundations.This Community, which owes its birth to the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, must now brace itself, during the fleeting months that lie ahead, for a supreme, a concerted and sustained effort to ensure the attainment of the objectives of the present Plan, and thereby acquire the spiritual potentialities essential to the launching of a mighty Crusade, in collaboration with the Trustees of the Plan, conceived by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, and with its neighbouring sister communities in Latin America and in the Indian Sub-continent, destined to culminate in the fullness of time in the Spiritual conquest of the multitudinous islands of the South Pacific Ocean.So exalted a mission, so strenuous a task, so weighty a responsibility call for, while the Present Preparatory Plan speeds to its end, an unprecedented demonstration on the part of young and old, or both men and women, whether administrators or teachers, veterans or neophytes, of solidarity, determination, zeal and constancy, a still greater display of self-sacrifice, a wider dispersion of forces, a more energetic discharge of duty, a clearer vision, a firmer grasp, of the requirements of the present hour, and a more complete dedication to the purposes of the present-day enterprise.The steady multiplication of Bahá’í Administrative institutions; the rapid consolidation of these basic agencies on which the speedy expansion of the community beyond its borders must ultimately depend; the early incorporation of all steadily functioning assemblies as a means of further reinforcing a newly erected administrative structure; the systematic and vigorous dissemination of Bahá’í literature, and the gradual proclamation of the Faith through the Press and Radio; the initiation of measures designed to forge friendly links between these newly-fledged assemblies and local civil authorities, and a parallel effort aimed at the strengthening of the ties binding the Bahá’í Supreme Administrative Body with both the Federal and State authorities—above all the constant deepening of the spiritual life of the individual believers, the enrichment of community life, the promotion of greater unity, harmony and cooperation among the rank and file of the followers of the Faith—these are the essential prerequisites to which special attention should be directed in preparation for the great campaign destined to be launched in that remote corner of the globe, by one of the most youthful and promising Bahá’í national communities, on the morrow of the world-wide celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission.Afire with the vision that now opens before their eyes; conscious of the substantial share of responsibility they must assume, in conjunction with the Indian, the Pakistani, the North American, and the Latin American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, in uplifting the banner of the Most Great Name amidst the dwellers of these scattered, distant and in some cases isolated, Islands of the South, and in drawing them into the orbit of His constantly evolving Administrative Order; fortified by the magnificent progress they themselves have achieved in their own homelands; and confident of the irresistible and mysterious power instilled by the Hand of Providence in every agency associated with His Most Holy Name, let the members of these rapidly maturing, fast evolving, soundly established, Bahá’í communities throughout Australasia arise, as they have never heretofore done, and during the concluding phase of their present fate-laden Plan, to seal their high endeavours with total and complete victory, and thereby open a chapter of undreamt-of glory that will add an imperishable lustre to the annals of an immortal Faith.Just as their first collective enterprise, through its resounding success, contributed its particular share of tribute to the memory of the Herald of their Faith, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of His Revelation, may their present collective enterprise, through its consummation, qualify and empower them to play a distinctive role in the celebration of the Great Jubilee that will mark the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic Mission.A great opportunity lies before them. Much of their present mighty task still remains to be achieved. Immense virgin fields stretch before them, flanked, on the one side, by a sister community in the South American continent, and on the other by another sister community in the vast Indian sub-continent, both ready and eager to extend their help in prosecuting a memorable, a gigantic and supremely arduous task. May they, when the hour strikes, be found ready and well equipped to assume the onerous responsibilities that will fall to their share.Shoghi.

Letter of 4 September, 1949N.S.A. of Australia and New Zealand, Mrs. Mariette Bolton, Secretary.4 September, 1949.Dear Bahá’í Sister:This is just a little note to ask you, on behalf of our beloved Guardian, to please make the following corrections in a quotation of his words, published in the August number of your Bahá’í News Bulletin, on page 5: “As the processes impelling” (not “in filling”); in the sentence lower down, reading: “the deepening of the faith, understanding and spiritual life...” both “faith” and “spiritual” should not be capitalized, but be printed as I have written them above; after the words “this historic evolution” there should be a period, as it is the end of the sentence.Hoping you received the long letter recently mailed you, and with loving Bahá’í greetings,Yours,R. Rabbani.P.S. He wishes to thank you and dear Mr. Bolton for the loving gift of Bolton Place to the Bahá’í Community of Australia. This is an excellent example, and befitting gesture, for it has many associations with the spread and development of the Faith in Australia, and has further enriched the record of your historic services to the Faith.

N.S.A. of Australia and New Zealand, Mrs. Mariette Bolton, Secretary.

4 September, 1949.

Dear Bahá’í Sister:

This is just a little note to ask you, on behalf of our beloved Guardian, to please make the following corrections in a quotation of his words, published in the August number of your Bahá’í News Bulletin, on page 5: “As the processes impelling” (not “in filling”); in the sentence lower down, reading: “the deepening of the faith, understanding and spiritual life...” both “faith” and “spiritual” should not be capitalized, but be printed as I have written them above; after the words “this historic evolution” there should be a period, as it is the end of the sentence.

Hoping you received the long letter recently mailed you, and with loving Bahá’í greetings,

Yours,R. Rabbani.

P.S. He wishes to thank you and dear Mr. Bolton for the loving gift of Bolton Place to the Bahá’í Community of Australia. This is an excellent example, and befitting gesture, for it has many associations with the spread and development of the Faith in Australia, and has further enriched the record of your historic services to the Faith.

Letter of June 28, 1950The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand.June 28, 1950.Dear Bahá’í Friends:Your letters of August 9, 19; September 14, 22; November 7, 10, 21; of 1949; January 19; February 28; March 8, 31; April 11; May 2 (two), 1950, have been received by our beloved Guardian and he has instructed me to answer them on his behalf. The many enclosures and material forwarded have, likewise, been safely received.It has been impossible for our Guardian to keep abreast of his correspondence and other work this Winter and Spring. It is only during the last week that he has been able to turn to the mountain of mail, representing the correspondence of the various National Assemblies, and commence replying. The reason for this regrettable delay is that in order to get the arcade of the Shrine of the Báb finished in time for the centenary of His Martyrdom he had to undertake extensive excavations into the solid rock of the mountain behind the Shrine—the new edifice being much larger than the precious original building it is designed to enshrine and protect. This work he personally supervised in order to ensure the Shrine was in no way damaged, and to see the cost was kept within bounds. You can imagine this was a very exacting and tiring ordeal for him.Then, just as he had hoped to take up his overburdening correspondence, Mr. Maxwell, the architect of the Shrine, at the beginning of April became desperately ill, and for ten weeks absorbed the anxious care and attention of us all, as his condition was seemingly hopeless. Thanks to the Mercy of Bahá’u’lláh and the determination of the Guardian, he is recovering, and our lives are getting back to normal routine.The Guardian regrets very much the conduct of Mr. ...; it seems now fairly clear that he is a former Bahá’í from India who misconducted himself there over a period of years and then showed up, under a different name, in Australia. No one who conducts himself as he has can remain a voting member of the Bahá’í Community for—in spite of his wide knowledge of the Faith and his belief in it—his acts are contrary to its teachings and bring not only confusion into the Community and create inharmony, but disgrace the Cause in the eyes of non-Bahá’ís.The Guardian fully realizes that the process of splitting up large communities into smaller ones, each existing within its own civil units, has been difficult for the Australian friends. What they do not seem to fully appreciate is that this has been done in Canada and the United States as well, and is only in order to organize the assemblies on a logical basis, and one with a firmer legal foundation. The fact that this may create more assemblies in the end, and that it sometimes breaks up existing ones, is only incidental; the important point is to consolidate the communities on a sound basis, i.e. every assembly within the limits of the Municipality its members reside in.As Mrs Axford requested Mrs Thomas to write about her Bahá’í life there is every reason to respect her wishes. This in no way precludes the New Zealand Community from writing about her services and life and keeping this record in the National archives. The Guardian feels the Auckland Assembly should be consulted, as her, (Mrs Axford’s), home community, by Mrs Thomas. He hopes this In Memoriam article, about so dear and tireless a servant of the Faith, will produce a spirit of love and co-operation amongst all concerned.The gift by Miss Perks of an additional piece of land to the Yerrinbool School is deeply appreciated. It enriches the endowments already held by your Assembly. Please thank Miss Perks, on behalf of the Guardian, for this generous contribution, to the institutions of the Faith in Australia, and tell her he does not feel any name should be given the property other that of Yerrinbool School, of which it will form a part, and that she will always be remembered as the donor of it.The acquisition of the site for the New Zealand Summer School was a great step forward in the progress of the Faith there, and he was very pleased about it. He was also delighted to hear of the formation of the Devonport Assembly, and he hopes next year there will be still more.I would also like to answer here a question raised in Mrs Bolton’s letter of March 8: the Guardian feels that no annual fixed pilgrimage should be made to the grave of Father Dunn. The friends will naturally always want to go there, when and how they like, but it must not become a ceremony, otherwise it will contitute a precedent for similar things in the future.It is premature, and will weaken the national and local work, for delegates to be elected by State elections rather than by assemblies. There is no question involved about believers losing their voting rights: all the time believers are gaining and losing their voting rights by becoming members of communities with assemblies or moving out into places where they are isolated believers. The friends should not dwell on these minor details, but concentrate on teaching the Cause and exemplifying the Bahá’í life. Voting is a purely administrative detail, but teaching and serving are vital spiritual obligations. Regarding the change of the By-Laws: the Guardian considers the letter he wrote you about this subject is final. He is considerably surprised by the fact that of all the National Bodies in the Bahá’í World, operating under these By-Laws, it is only the Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, evidently acting under pressure from their legal committee, that constantly raises the question of changing them. This he considers is going too far, and is not necessary. He holds very bright hopes for the future of your work, and urges you, and through you all the believers, to concentrate on your glorious teaching tasks and forge ahead to win new victories for the beloved Faith.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. Your letter of June 9 has been received, and the Guardian deeply appreciates the contribution you sent. Please find receipt enclosed. The map you forwarded will be published in the next volume of “Bahá’í World” as the progress it shows will be of great interest to all readers.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The remarkable progress achieved by the Bahá’í communities in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania in promoting the Plan, designed to further the interests of the Faith in the Antipodes, is most encouraging, and will, when consummated, mark the opening of a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Faith in that continent. The varied and welcome evidences of the steady extension in the range of the manifold activities of these communities, the multiplication of Bahá’í institutions and their rapid consolidation, are particularly gratifying and merit the highest praise.The territories in which these communities conduct their meritorious, strenuous and highly promising activities with such diligence, resolution, fidelity and devotion, are admittedly vast and constitute a direct challenge to those who are called upon to diffuse the light of the Faith, and lay an unassailable foundation for its rising administrative Order, throughout the length and breadth of these territories.The Plan, now operating with increasing momentum in that far-off continent, is designed to enable its prosecutors to lay the first foundations of the structure which the members of these communities must rear in the years to come. As these primary pillars of a divinely ordained steadily evolving, spiritually propelled order are successively erected and sufficiently consolidated, and the agencies designed for the launching of a systematic campaign aiming at the future proclamation of the Faith to the masses inhabiting these far-flung territories multiply, a simultaneous effort should be exerted, and measures should be carefully devised, by the national elected representatives of these same communities, for the launching of the initial enterprises destined to carry the Message of the Faith, beyond the confines of these territories, to the Islands of the Pacific, lying in their immediate neighbourhood.For whatever may be the nature of the future successive crusades which the American and Canadian Bahá’í communities, may, under the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, launch in the course of the opening decades of the second Bahá’í century, and however extensive the range of their operations, and no matter how far-reaching the future campaigns which the Bahá’í community, centered in the heart of the British Isles, may undertake throughout the widely-scattered dependencies of the British Crown, the responsibility devolving upon the National elected representatives of the Bahá’ís of the Australasian continent for the introduction of the Faith and its initial establishment in the Islands of the Pacific, linking them, on the one hand, with their sister communities in the American continents and on the other hand, with the communities in South-Eastern Asia, remains clear and inescapable.As the various Bahá’í national communities, labouring directly as well as indirectly, under the impulse of a Divine Plan, broaden and consolidate the base of their operations in their respective homelands, and acquire the potentialities that will empower them to lend, in an ever-increasing measure, their share, and participate in the world-wide propagation of the Faith, the Australian and New Zealand believers must, for their part, contribute worthily to the overseas teaching activities and accomplishments of these communities. Already the Bahá’í community in the Great Republic of the West, the vanguard of the irresistibly marching army of Bahá’u’lláh, has launched its twin crusades in Latin America and the continent of Europe. Its collaborator in the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, the Canadian Bahá’í community is busily engaged in establishing the Faith beyond the Canadian mainland and further north in the vast territory of Greenland. The Persian and Iraqi Bahá’í communities are, moreover, assiduously labouring in the adjacent territories of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, while their sister-communities in the sub-continent of India are pushing the frontiers of the Faith as far as Ceylon in the South and Siam and Indonesia to the North and Southeast of that subcontinent. More recently the members of the British Bahá’í community, having brought to a successful conclusion their first historic Plan, are devising the necessary measures for the launching of a teaching enterprise in the heart of Africa, supplementing the work already accomplished by the Egyptian Bahá’í community in that continent. Shortly, and at its appointed time, yet another national community, already established in the heart of the European continent, will, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, and its internal activities are sufficiently consolidated, embark on a campaign, beyond the borders of its homeland, that will carry the light of the Faith to the adjoining Balkan territories, the Baltic states and, across the eastern frontiers of Europe, into Asia.In this stupendous and laudable collective enterprise, world-wide in its range, divinely propelled, world-redemptive in its purpose, in which National Bahá’í communities, already sufficiently consolidated from within, are participating, each in accordance with the provisions of its own specific plan and constituting, in its proportions and potentialities, the mightiest spiritual crusade launched since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith,—in such an enterprise the Bahá’í communities of Australia and New Zealand can neither afford to remain inactive or play a negligible part. The situation they occupy, the unnumbered virgin territories lying in their neighbourhood, the vitality and adventurous spirit the members of these communities have so strikingly manifested—all demand that they arise, as soon as the process of internal consolidation is sufficiently advanced, to play their part in this world-encompassing crusade now unfolding itself in, and constituting the brightest feature of, the opening years of the second Bahá’í century.With this glorious vision before them, assured that a full measure of Divine guidance and sustenance will be vouchsafed to them when they embark on the second stage of their collective activities, let them concentrate, in the years immediately ahead, on the tasks that require their earnest and undivided attention. The prosecution of the Plan, in all its aspects, is their primary obligation. Whatever contributes to the broadening and reinforcement of the Administrative Base, designed to guide, coordinate and extend the ramifications of their future enterprises overseas, should be unhesitatingly welcomed and carried out at the present hour and during the opening phase of their collective unified endeavour in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.May they seize every opportunity that presents itself, surmount every obstacle that may confront them in the future, and pave the way for a befitting inauguration of the subsequent phase of their historic and rapidly unfolding mission.Shoghi.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand.

June 28, 1950.

Dear Bahá’í Friends:

Your letters of August 9, 19; September 14, 22; November 7, 10, 21; of 1949; January 19; February 28; March 8, 31; April 11; May 2 (two), 1950, have been received by our beloved Guardian and he has instructed me to answer them on his behalf. The many enclosures and material forwarded have, likewise, been safely received.

It has been impossible for our Guardian to keep abreast of his correspondence and other work this Winter and Spring. It is only during the last week that he has been able to turn to the mountain of mail, representing the correspondence of the various National Assemblies, and commence replying. The reason for this regrettable delay is that in order to get the arcade of the Shrine of the Báb finished in time for the centenary of His Martyrdom he had to undertake extensive excavations into the solid rock of the mountain behind the Shrine—the new edifice being much larger than the precious original building it is designed to enshrine and protect. This work he personally supervised in order to ensure the Shrine was in no way damaged, and to see the cost was kept within bounds. You can imagine this was a very exacting and tiring ordeal for him.

Then, just as he had hoped to take up his overburdening correspondence, Mr. Maxwell, the architect of the Shrine, at the beginning of April became desperately ill, and for ten weeks absorbed the anxious care and attention of us all, as his condition was seemingly hopeless. Thanks to the Mercy of Bahá’u’lláh and the determination of the Guardian, he is recovering, and our lives are getting back to normal routine.

The Guardian regrets very much the conduct of Mr. ...; it seems now fairly clear that he is a former Bahá’í from India who misconducted himself there over a period of years and then showed up, under a different name, in Australia. No one who conducts himself as he has can remain a voting member of the Bahá’í Community for—in spite of his wide knowledge of the Faith and his belief in it—his acts are contrary to its teachings and bring not only confusion into the Community and create inharmony, but disgrace the Cause in the eyes of non-Bahá’ís.

The Guardian fully realizes that the process of splitting up large communities into smaller ones, each existing within its own civil units, has been difficult for the Australian friends. What they do not seem to fully appreciate is that this has been done in Canada and the United States as well, and is only in order to organize the assemblies on a logical basis, and one with a firmer legal foundation. The fact that this may create more assemblies in the end, and that it sometimes breaks up existing ones, is only incidental; the important point is to consolidate the communities on a sound basis, i.e. every assembly within the limits of the Municipality its members reside in.

As Mrs Axford requested Mrs Thomas to write about her Bahá’í life there is every reason to respect her wishes. This in no way precludes the New Zealand Community from writing about her services and life and keeping this record in the National archives. The Guardian feels the Auckland Assembly should be consulted, as her, (Mrs Axford’s), home community, by Mrs Thomas. He hopes this In Memoriam article, about so dear and tireless a servant of the Faith, will produce a spirit of love and co-operation amongst all concerned.

The gift by Miss Perks of an additional piece of land to the Yerrinbool School is deeply appreciated. It enriches the endowments already held by your Assembly. Please thank Miss Perks, on behalf of the Guardian, for this generous contribution, to the institutions of the Faith in Australia, and tell her he does not feel any name should be given the property other that of Yerrinbool School, of which it will form a part, and that she will always be remembered as the donor of it.

The acquisition of the site for the New Zealand Summer School was a great step forward in the progress of the Faith there, and he was very pleased about it. He was also delighted to hear of the formation of the Devonport Assembly, and he hopes next year there will be still more.

I would also like to answer here a question raised in Mrs Bolton’s letter of March 8: the Guardian feels that no annual fixed pilgrimage should be made to the grave of Father Dunn. The friends will naturally always want to go there, when and how they like, but it must not become a ceremony, otherwise it will contitute a precedent for similar things in the future.

It is premature, and will weaken the national and local work, for delegates to be elected by State elections rather than by assemblies. There is no question involved about believers losing their voting rights: all the time believers are gaining and losing their voting rights by becoming members of communities with assemblies or moving out into places where they are isolated believers. The friends should not dwell on these minor details, but concentrate on teaching the Cause and exemplifying the Bahá’í life. Voting is a purely administrative detail, but teaching and serving are vital spiritual obligations. Regarding the change of the By-Laws: the Guardian considers the letter he wrote you about this subject is final. He is considerably surprised by the fact that of all the National Bodies in the Bahá’í World, operating under these By-Laws, it is only the Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, evidently acting under pressure from their legal committee, that constantly raises the question of changing them. This he considers is going too far, and is not necessary. He holds very bright hopes for the future of your work, and urges you, and through you all the believers, to concentrate on your glorious teaching tasks and forge ahead to win new victories for the beloved Faith.

With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.

P.S. Your letter of June 9 has been received, and the Guardian deeply appreciates the contribution you sent. Please find receipt enclosed. The map you forwarded will be published in the next volume of “Bahá’í World” as the progress it shows will be of great interest to all readers.

[From the Guardian:]

Dear and valued co-workers:

The remarkable progress achieved by the Bahá’í communities in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania in promoting the Plan, designed to further the interests of the Faith in the Antipodes, is most encouraging, and will, when consummated, mark the opening of a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Faith in that continent. The varied and welcome evidences of the steady extension in the range of the manifold activities of these communities, the multiplication of Bahá’í institutions and their rapid consolidation, are particularly gratifying and merit the highest praise.

The territories in which these communities conduct their meritorious, strenuous and highly promising activities with such diligence, resolution, fidelity and devotion, are admittedly vast and constitute a direct challenge to those who are called upon to diffuse the light of the Faith, and lay an unassailable foundation for its rising administrative Order, throughout the length and breadth of these territories.

The Plan, now operating with increasing momentum in that far-off continent, is designed to enable its prosecutors to lay the first foundations of the structure which the members of these communities must rear in the years to come. As these primary pillars of a divinely ordained steadily evolving, spiritually propelled order are successively erected and sufficiently consolidated, and the agencies designed for the launching of a systematic campaign aiming at the future proclamation of the Faith to the masses inhabiting these far-flung territories multiply, a simultaneous effort should be exerted, and measures should be carefully devised, by the national elected representatives of these same communities, for the launching of the initial enterprises destined to carry the Message of the Faith, beyond the confines of these territories, to the Islands of the Pacific, lying in their immediate neighbourhood.

For whatever may be the nature of the future successive crusades which the American and Canadian Bahá’í communities, may, under the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, launch in the course of the opening decades of the second Bahá’í century, and however extensive the range of their operations, and no matter how far-reaching the future campaigns which the Bahá’í community, centered in the heart of the British Isles, may undertake throughout the widely-scattered dependencies of the British Crown, the responsibility devolving upon the National elected representatives of the Bahá’ís of the Australasian continent for the introduction of the Faith and its initial establishment in the Islands of the Pacific, linking them, on the one hand, with their sister communities in the American continents and on the other hand, with the communities in South-Eastern Asia, remains clear and inescapable.

As the various Bahá’í national communities, labouring directly as well as indirectly, under the impulse of a Divine Plan, broaden and consolidate the base of their operations in their respective homelands, and acquire the potentialities that will empower them to lend, in an ever-increasing measure, their share, and participate in the world-wide propagation of the Faith, the Australian and New Zealand believers must, for their part, contribute worthily to the overseas teaching activities and accomplishments of these communities. Already the Bahá’í community in the Great Republic of the West, the vanguard of the irresistibly marching army of Bahá’u’lláh, has launched its twin crusades in Latin America and the continent of Europe. Its collaborator in the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, the Canadian Bahá’í community is busily engaged in establishing the Faith beyond the Canadian mainland and further north in the vast territory of Greenland. The Persian and Iraqi Bahá’í communities are, moreover, assiduously labouring in the adjacent territories of the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, while their sister-communities in the sub-continent of India are pushing the frontiers of the Faith as far as Ceylon in the South and Siam and Indonesia to the North and Southeast of that subcontinent. More recently the members of the British Bahá’í community, having brought to a successful conclusion their first historic Plan, are devising the necessary measures for the launching of a teaching enterprise in the heart of Africa, supplementing the work already accomplished by the Egyptian Bahá’í community in that continent. Shortly, and at its appointed time, yet another national community, already established in the heart of the European continent, will, as soon as the present obstacles are removed, and its internal activities are sufficiently consolidated, embark on a campaign, beyond the borders of its homeland, that will carry the light of the Faith to the adjoining Balkan territories, the Baltic states and, across the eastern frontiers of Europe, into Asia.

In this stupendous and laudable collective enterprise, world-wide in its range, divinely propelled, world-redemptive in its purpose, in which National Bahá’í communities, already sufficiently consolidated from within, are participating, each in accordance with the provisions of its own specific plan and constituting, in its proportions and potentialities, the mightiest spiritual crusade launched since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith,—in such an enterprise the Bahá’í communities of Australia and New Zealand can neither afford to remain inactive or play a negligible part. The situation they occupy, the unnumbered virgin territories lying in their neighbourhood, the vitality and adventurous spirit the members of these communities have so strikingly manifested—all demand that they arise, as soon as the process of internal consolidation is sufficiently advanced, to play their part in this world-encompassing crusade now unfolding itself in, and constituting the brightest feature of, the opening years of the second Bahá’í century.

With this glorious vision before them, assured that a full measure of Divine guidance and sustenance will be vouchsafed to them when they embark on the second stage of their collective activities, let them concentrate, in the years immediately ahead, on the tasks that require their earnest and undivided attention. The prosecution of the Plan, in all its aspects, is their primary obligation. Whatever contributes to the broadening and reinforcement of the Administrative Base, designed to guide, coordinate and extend the ramifications of their future enterprises overseas, should be unhesitatingly welcomed and carried out at the present hour and during the opening phase of their collective unified endeavour in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

May they seize every opportunity that presents itself, surmount every obstacle that may confront them in the future, and pave the way for a befitting inauguration of the subsequent phase of their historic and rapidly unfolding mission.

Shoghi.

Letter of 11 September, 195011 September, 1950Dear Bahá’í Sister:Under separate cover the Guardian is mailing to you two enlargements of the finished Arcade of the Báb’s Shrine. These are a gift from him to the N.S.A. and believers, and he would like you to have them circulated as widely as possible, for the friends to see them, and them hang them in the National Headquarters.Please cable receipt of these photos, so he will know they reached you safely.Also please inform the friends in the News Letter that copies of one of these views may be purchased through the American N.S.A., to whom he has sent the original film.With loving greetings,R. Rabbani.

11 September, 1950

Dear Bahá’í Sister:

Under separate cover the Guardian is mailing to you two enlargements of the finished Arcade of the Báb’s Shrine. These are a gift from him to the N.S.A. and believers, and he would like you to have them circulated as widely as possible, for the friends to see them, and them hang them in the National Headquarters.

Please cable receipt of these photos, so he will know they reached you safely.

Also please inform the friends in the News Letter that copies of one of these views may be purchased through the American N.S.A., to whom he has sent the original film.

With loving greetings,R. Rabbani.

Letter of Nov. 14, 1950Nov. 14, 1950Dear Bahá’í Sister:I am replying to your letter of September 21 apart from other N.S.A. correspondence, as the beloved Guardian wishes to assure the Assembly that the contribution for the Shrine of the Báb has been received. (A receipt is herewith enclosed.)He was very touched by the exemplary sense of duty and devotion to the interests of the Faith which this sum represents. Please, on his behalf, thank all the donors to the Yerrinbool Dormitory Fund for their prompt response to his appeal regarding the Holy Shrine.Already the contract for the stone-work of the Octagon has been placed in Italy, and he hopes soon the preliminary arrangements locally can be made for continuing the work.With loving Bahá’í greetings to all the Assembly members from the Guardian,Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Assuring you of my deepfelt and abiding appreciation of the contribution of the Australian and New Zealand believers for so great and historic an enterprise, and of my loving and ardent prayers for their spiritual advancement and the steady expansion and consolidation of the great and historic work in which they are so devotedly engaged.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.

Nov. 14, 1950

Dear Bahá’í Sister:

I am replying to your letter of September 21 apart from other N.S.A. correspondence, as the beloved Guardian wishes to assure the Assembly that the contribution for the Shrine of the Báb has been received. (A receipt is herewith enclosed.)

He was very touched by the exemplary sense of duty and devotion to the interests of the Faith which this sum represents. Please, on his behalf, thank all the donors to the Yerrinbool Dormitory Fund for their prompt response to his appeal regarding the Holy Shrine.

Already the contract for the stone-work of the Octagon has been placed in Italy, and he hopes soon the preliminary arrangements locally can be made for continuing the work.

With loving Bahá’í greetings to all the Assembly members from the Guardian,

Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.

[From the Guardian:]

Assuring you of my deepfelt and abiding appreciation of the contribution of the Australian and New Zealand believers for so great and historic an enterprise, and of my loving and ardent prayers for their spiritual advancement and the steady expansion and consolidation of the great and historic work in which they are so devotedly engaged.

Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.

Letter of Jan. 21, -51Haifa, Israel,Jan. 21, -51National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand;The beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge on his behalf the Nov. issue of your Bahá’í News. He is well pleased with it and commends you.He would like to call your attention to the statement on page 3, paragraph 3, under “Anniversaries and Festivals”, and clarify it.The Day of the Covenant Nov. 26th, and the Day of the Ascension, Nov. 28th, anniversaries of the birth and the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be observed by the friends coming together, but work is not prohibited. In other words the friends must regard observance of these two anniversaries as obligatory—but suspension of work not to be regarded as obligatory.He assures you of his deep interest in all your efforts and offers prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines.With warmest love,Sincerely yours,Amelia Collins.

Haifa, Israel,Jan. 21, -51

National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand;

The beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge on his behalf the Nov. issue of your Bahá’í News. He is well pleased with it and commends you.

He would like to call your attention to the statement on page 3, paragraph 3, under “Anniversaries and Festivals”, and clarify it.

The Day of the Covenant Nov. 26th, and the Day of the Ascension, Nov. 28th, anniversaries of the birth and the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be observed by the friends coming together, but work is not prohibited. In other words the friends must regard observance of these two anniversaries as obligatory—but suspension of work not to be regarded as obligatory.

He assures you of his deep interest in all your efforts and offers prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines.

With warmest love,

Sincerely yours,Amelia Collins.

Letter of March 1, 1951Haifa, Israel,March 1, 1951National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New ZealandC/- Mrs. Mariette G. Bolton, SecretaryDear Bahá’í Friends:Your letters addressed to our beloved Guardian, and dated June 22, August 4 and 22, November 10 and December 5 and 11, of 1950 and January 30 and Feb. 20, 22, 26, of 1951, together with their enclosures, have been received; and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.In regard to the various matters raised in your letters:It is indeed a great tragedy that ... should have such an utterly despicable character, and the ability to be a teacher. He has undoubtedly dealt with the greatest injustice with the friends in Fiji who wrote to Mr. Blum; and the Guardian was extremely sorry to hear that this man, attracted to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and evidently a sincere and decent person, should have been duped by the very man who gave him this glorious Message. It was very wise to send Mr. Blum out there; and he hopes that your Assembly will keep in close contact with the friends who were attracted, it would seem almost miraculously under the circumstances, to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in those distant islands.It might interest your Assembly to know that since leaving Fiji, ... went to the United States, and himself admitted in a letter to the Guardian that he had seen Ahmad Sohrab.The Guardian assures your Assembly, and, through you, all the believers throughout Australasia, that he has been deeply touched by the spirit of loyalty which you have all shown at this difficult time for him, and also the devotion to every work which is undertaken here at the International Center of the Faith.The support you have given to the construction of the Shrine of the Báb has been deeply appreciated; and he hopes that in the not distant future it will be possible for the doors of pilgrimage to be opened once more; and then the believers can see with their own eyes what their sacrificial contributions have helped to erect, on Mount Carmel. It will interest the friends to hear that we are at present busy with the preliminary work required prior to the erection of the second story of the Holy Tomb, in other words, the octagonal portion, which will be built on top of the roof of the original Shrine building erected by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. The stones have been ordered from Italy for this next stage in our undertaking, and soon will be coming to Haifa another 300 tons of granite, some of it with beautiful carved ornamentation.The Guardian would like you to please convey to the Adelaide Spiritual Assembly his deep appreciation of the contribution they made through your Body to the Shrine Fund here in Haifa, a contribution which represents the sum of their Property Fund. They showed in this matter an exemplary spirit, and placed the major issue in its true perspective, forgetting their local hopes and aspirations in order that the work on the glorious Shrine of the Báb might be carried forward more speedily.In regard to your question concerning the Centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission: The Guardian, at a later date, will give instructions concerning this commemoration to the entire Bahá’í world.He has been particularly pleased to note, during the past year, the increase in pioneer activity going on under your jurisdiction. As you know, he attaches the greatest importance to this type of Bahá’í service; and he hopes that more of the believers will arise and go forth into the field, establishing new centers and groups, and broadcasting the Message of Bahá’u’lláh over the face of that vast continent.This is at once their greatest duty and privilege, and one which will attract the blessings of Bahá’u’lláh, and enrich, not only each individual who arises to serve, but the entire Community of which he forms a part.Whenever the friends feel that they are small in number, and the effort required, truly colossal, they should remember what the British Bahá’ís accomplished during the Six Year Plan; and how, after the long and exhaustive years of the war and all its restrictions, they succeeded, at the point of utter exhaustion, one might say, in achieving every single goal gloriously. The Australian and New Zealand friends, who have not been subjected to such rigors during the last decade, who are a young and fresh nation, so to speak, can surely accomplish as much, and one would imagine more, than their British brethren, who labored under such great handicaps.He assures you all that he will remember you in his prayers at the Holy Threshold, and supplicate that your Assembly, and the Community of believers whom you represent, may achieve great things during the coming Bahá’í year and arise to new heights of self-sacrifice and service.With warm Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. I would like to add that the Guardian does not consider that it is advisable for New Zealand to be separated in the near future from Australia, and come under the jurisdiction of an independent National Assembly. He considers that the present arrangement is the best one until such time as there are more assemblies flourishing in New Zealand, and he would consider the basis for a National Assembly strong enough there to support such an institution.Regarding the question of Mr. ..., the Guardian was considerably surprised at his temerity in getting in touch with the Bahá’ís. He belongs to an old family of Covenant-breakers from the days of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was later pardoned by the Guardian, and a number of years ago, flagrantly disobeyed the Guardian, and was put out of our local Community here. We all know that he has been in constant association with the Covenant-breakers ever since, and he even admits it in his own letter! Needless to say, the Bahá’ís should consider him a Covenant-breaker, and shun him entirely. The harm that he could do a Community if treated otherwise, would be very great indeed.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The manifold and ever multiplying activities in which the Australian, New Zealand and Tasmanian Bahá’í communities are so devotedly and unitedly engaged are the object of my constant solicitude, and evoke, as they steadily expand, feelings of gratitude and admiration in my heart. Though unavoidably prevented from communicating more frequently with their elected national representatives, who are directing with exemplary loyalty, unrelaxing vigilance, inflexible resolve, unsparing devotion and commendable foresight, the course of these highly meritorious and promising activities, I follow, through the perusal of the various reports and news letters I receive from them, every development in the unfoldment of their work, and surround them as they labour so assiduously for their Cause, with my fervent prayers, offered on their behalf in the holy Shrines.The assistance they have so spontaneously and enthusiastically extended to the newly established centre in the Fiji Islands, constituting the opening phase of the crusade destined to be systematically launched by them in the Pacific Islands—a territory with which their spiritual destiny is irrevocably linked—has been particularly gratifying and merits unstinted praise. To have undertaken this additional task, with such determination and fervour, while immersed in the labours associated with the prosecution of their Plan, is surely an evidence of their youthful vitality, their unbounded devotion to the interests of the Faith, and their eager desire to emulate the example of their sister-communities which have initiated, over and above their prescribed tasks, enterprises beyond the confines of their respective homelands.While this historic undertaking is being carried forward by their elected national representatives, these communities must concentrate their attention on the pressing and inescapable requirements of the Plan to which they stand committed. The process of extending the range of their administrative activities through the formation of groups and the multiplication of assemblies must continue unabated until this particular objective of the Plan is fully achieved. The proper incorporation of the national and local assemblies, so vital and urgent at the present stage of their evolution, must be hastened by every means in their power. The measures required to ensure the recognition of the Faith, of its laws regarding matters of personal status, as well as its Holy Days, by the civil authorities, in both Australia and New Zealand, must be carefully considered, and promptly adopted. The institutions of summer and winter schools, so vital and beneficial at the present stage in the development of the Faith must be continually expanded enriched and consolidated. The national and local Funds, on which the prosperity and unfoldment of a rising Administrative System must ultimately depend, should be assured of an ever-increasing measure of support, whilst the contributions of the believers for the raising of the superstructure of the Báb’s Holy Sepulchre, constituting a sacred and added responsibility at this present critical hour, should be constantly borne in mind and steadily maintained. The deepening and enrichment of the spiritual life of the individual believer, his increasing comprehension of the essential verities underlying this Faith, his training in its administrative processes, his understanding of the fundamentals of the Covenants established by its Author and the authorised Interpreter of its teachings should be made the supreme objectives of the national representatives responsible for the edification, the progress and consolidation of these communities.This two fold task, both at home and abroad, confronting the members of these communities, labouring so valiantly, and holding aloft so courageously the banner of the Most Great Name in the Antipodes, at so crucial a stage in the evolution of the human race on this planet, can neither be shirked nor be treated lightly for one moment. The hour is too critical, time is too short, the requirements of an infant Faith are too pressing, the resources at the disposal of the few into whose hands its care has been entrusted are too circumscribed to suffer any time to be lost in procrastination or through complacency or neglect. The prizes destined for the heroic warriors, battling for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Southern Hemisphere, and particularly Australasia, are glorious beyond compare. The assistance to be vouchsafed to them from on high in their struggle for its establishment to recognition and triumph is ready to be poured forth in astonishing abundance. Action immediate and whole-hearted, coupled with unswerving fidelity and dogged perseverance, will no doubt enable those who participate in this double crusade, to attract the full measure of these blessings and to attain these glorious goals.Your true brother,Shoghi.

Haifa, Israel,March 1, 1951

National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand

C/- Mrs. Mariette G. Bolton, Secretary

Dear Bahá’í Friends:

Your letters addressed to our beloved Guardian, and dated June 22, August 4 and 22, November 10 and December 5 and 11, of 1950 and January 30 and Feb. 20, 22, 26, of 1951, together with their enclosures, have been received; and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

In regard to the various matters raised in your letters:

It is indeed a great tragedy that ... should have such an utterly despicable character, and the ability to be a teacher. He has undoubtedly dealt with the greatest injustice with the friends in Fiji who wrote to Mr. Blum; and the Guardian was extremely sorry to hear that this man, attracted to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and evidently a sincere and decent person, should have been duped by the very man who gave him this glorious Message. It was very wise to send Mr. Blum out there; and he hopes that your Assembly will keep in close contact with the friends who were attracted, it would seem almost miraculously under the circumstances, to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in those distant islands.

It might interest your Assembly to know that since leaving Fiji, ... went to the United States, and himself admitted in a letter to the Guardian that he had seen Ahmad Sohrab.

The Guardian assures your Assembly, and, through you, all the believers throughout Australasia, that he has been deeply touched by the spirit of loyalty which you have all shown at this difficult time for him, and also the devotion to every work which is undertaken here at the International Center of the Faith.

The support you have given to the construction of the Shrine of the Báb has been deeply appreciated; and he hopes that in the not distant future it will be possible for the doors of pilgrimage to be opened once more; and then the believers can see with their own eyes what their sacrificial contributions have helped to erect, on Mount Carmel. It will interest the friends to hear that we are at present busy with the preliminary work required prior to the erection of the second story of the Holy Tomb, in other words, the octagonal portion, which will be built on top of the roof of the original Shrine building erected by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. The stones have been ordered from Italy for this next stage in our undertaking, and soon will be coming to Haifa another 300 tons of granite, some of it with beautiful carved ornamentation.

The Guardian would like you to please convey to the Adelaide Spiritual Assembly his deep appreciation of the contribution they made through your Body to the Shrine Fund here in Haifa, a contribution which represents the sum of their Property Fund. They showed in this matter an exemplary spirit, and placed the major issue in its true perspective, forgetting their local hopes and aspirations in order that the work on the glorious Shrine of the Báb might be carried forward more speedily.

In regard to your question concerning the Centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission: The Guardian, at a later date, will give instructions concerning this commemoration to the entire Bahá’í world.

He has been particularly pleased to note, during the past year, the increase in pioneer activity going on under your jurisdiction. As you know, he attaches the greatest importance to this type of Bahá’í service; and he hopes that more of the believers will arise and go forth into the field, establishing new centers and groups, and broadcasting the Message of Bahá’u’lláh over the face of that vast continent.

This is at once their greatest duty and privilege, and one which will attract the blessings of Bahá’u’lláh, and enrich, not only each individual who arises to serve, but the entire Community of which he forms a part.

Whenever the friends feel that they are small in number, and the effort required, truly colossal, they should remember what the British Bahá’ís accomplished during the Six Year Plan; and how, after the long and exhaustive years of the war and all its restrictions, they succeeded, at the point of utter exhaustion, one might say, in achieving every single goal gloriously. The Australian and New Zealand friends, who have not been subjected to such rigors during the last decade, who are a young and fresh nation, so to speak, can surely accomplish as much, and one would imagine more, than their British brethren, who labored under such great handicaps.

He assures you all that he will remember you in his prayers at the Holy Threshold, and supplicate that your Assembly, and the Community of believers whom you represent, may achieve great things during the coming Bahá’í year and arise to new heights of self-sacrifice and service.

With warm Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.

P.S. I would like to add that the Guardian does not consider that it is advisable for New Zealand to be separated in the near future from Australia, and come under the jurisdiction of an independent National Assembly. He considers that the present arrangement is the best one until such time as there are more assemblies flourishing in New Zealand, and he would consider the basis for a National Assembly strong enough there to support such an institution.

Regarding the question of Mr. ..., the Guardian was considerably surprised at his temerity in getting in touch with the Bahá’ís. He belongs to an old family of Covenant-breakers from the days of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was later pardoned by the Guardian, and a number of years ago, flagrantly disobeyed the Guardian, and was put out of our local Community here. We all know that he has been in constant association with the Covenant-breakers ever since, and he even admits it in his own letter! Needless to say, the Bahá’ís should consider him a Covenant-breaker, and shun him entirely. The harm that he could do a Community if treated otherwise, would be very great indeed.

[From the Guardian:]

Dear and valued co-workers:

The manifold and ever multiplying activities in which the Australian, New Zealand and Tasmanian Bahá’í communities are so devotedly and unitedly engaged are the object of my constant solicitude, and evoke, as they steadily expand, feelings of gratitude and admiration in my heart. Though unavoidably prevented from communicating more frequently with their elected national representatives, who are directing with exemplary loyalty, unrelaxing vigilance, inflexible resolve, unsparing devotion and commendable foresight, the course of these highly meritorious and promising activities, I follow, through the perusal of the various reports and news letters I receive from them, every development in the unfoldment of their work, and surround them as they labour so assiduously for their Cause, with my fervent prayers, offered on their behalf in the holy Shrines.

The assistance they have so spontaneously and enthusiastically extended to the newly established centre in the Fiji Islands, constituting the opening phase of the crusade destined to be systematically launched by them in the Pacific Islands—a territory with which their spiritual destiny is irrevocably linked—has been particularly gratifying and merits unstinted praise. To have undertaken this additional task, with such determination and fervour, while immersed in the labours associated with the prosecution of their Plan, is surely an evidence of their youthful vitality, their unbounded devotion to the interests of the Faith, and their eager desire to emulate the example of their sister-communities which have initiated, over and above their prescribed tasks, enterprises beyond the confines of their respective homelands.

While this historic undertaking is being carried forward by their elected national representatives, these communities must concentrate their attention on the pressing and inescapable requirements of the Plan to which they stand committed. The process of extending the range of their administrative activities through the formation of groups and the multiplication of assemblies must continue unabated until this particular objective of the Plan is fully achieved. The proper incorporation of the national and local assemblies, so vital and urgent at the present stage of their evolution, must be hastened by every means in their power. The measures required to ensure the recognition of the Faith, of its laws regarding matters of personal status, as well as its Holy Days, by the civil authorities, in both Australia and New Zealand, must be carefully considered, and promptly adopted. The institutions of summer and winter schools, so vital and beneficial at the present stage in the development of the Faith must be continually expanded enriched and consolidated. The national and local Funds, on which the prosperity and unfoldment of a rising Administrative System must ultimately depend, should be assured of an ever-increasing measure of support, whilst the contributions of the believers for the raising of the superstructure of the Báb’s Holy Sepulchre, constituting a sacred and added responsibility at this present critical hour, should be constantly borne in mind and steadily maintained. The deepening and enrichment of the spiritual life of the individual believer, his increasing comprehension of the essential verities underlying this Faith, his training in its administrative processes, his understanding of the fundamentals of the Covenants established by its Author and the authorised Interpreter of its teachings should be made the supreme objectives of the national representatives responsible for the edification, the progress and consolidation of these communities.

This two fold task, both at home and abroad, confronting the members of these communities, labouring so valiantly, and holding aloft so courageously the banner of the Most Great Name in the Antipodes, at so crucial a stage in the evolution of the human race on this planet, can neither be shirked nor be treated lightly for one moment. The hour is too critical, time is too short, the requirements of an infant Faith are too pressing, the resources at the disposal of the few into whose hands its care has been entrusted are too circumscribed to suffer any time to be lost in procrastination or through complacency or neglect. The prizes destined for the heroic warriors, battling for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Southern Hemisphere, and particularly Australasia, are glorious beyond compare. The assistance to be vouchsafed to them from on high in their struggle for its establishment to recognition and triumph is ready to be poured forth in astonishing abundance. Action immediate and whole-hearted, coupled with unswerving fidelity and dogged perseverance, will no doubt enable those who participate in this double crusade, to attract the full measure of these blessings and to attain these glorious goals.

Your true brother,Shoghi.

Letter of March 8th, 1951Haifa, Israel,March 8th, 1951Beloved Friends:In answer to your letter of Feb. 22nd, the beloved Guardian has instructed me to assure you that the statement made in my letter to you Jan. 21st was quite correct.You quote from page 537 “Bahá’í World” words written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,—further down on the same page you will find the following “As a corollary of this Tablet (above) it follows the anniversaries of the birth and the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are not to be regarded as days on which work is prohibited. The celebration of these two days is however obligatory”.—These are the words of the Guardian. We really have eleven Holy Days but as stated, work is only prohibited on the first nine mentioned in the Tablet.He follows your work with deep interest and assures you of his loving prayers.With warmest love,Faithfully Yours,Amelia Collins.

Haifa, Israel,March 8th, 1951

Beloved Friends:

In answer to your letter of Feb. 22nd, the beloved Guardian has instructed me to assure you that the statement made in my letter to you Jan. 21st was quite correct.

You quote from page 537 “Bahá’í World” words written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,—further down on the same page you will find the following “As a corollary of this Tablet (above) it follows the anniversaries of the birth and the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are not to be regarded as days on which work is prohibited. The celebration of these two days is however obligatory”.—These are the words of the Guardian. We really have eleven Holy Days but as stated, work is only prohibited on the first nine mentioned in the Tablet.

He follows your work with deep interest and assures you of his loving prayers.

With warmest love,

Faithfully Yours,Amelia Collins.

Letter of Sept. 7, 1951Sept. 7, 1951Dear Bahá’í Sister:Your letter of July 19 has been received, as well as the contribution of the believers to the Shrine, and the beloved Guardian sends you herewith his receipt.He wishes to thank all the friends, communities, and assemblies who have contributed so lovingly to this Holy undertaking. Surely such gifts, representing both sincere love and often real sacrifice, will add to the preciousness of a Shrine already so dear to all Bahá’í hearts.He wishes you every success in your own devoted services to the Cause.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Assuring you of my loving prayers for your success in the service of our beloved Faith,Your true brother,Shoghi.

Sept. 7, 1951

Dear Bahá’í Sister:

Your letter of July 19 has been received, as well as the contribution of the believers to the Shrine, and the beloved Guardian sends you herewith his receipt.

He wishes to thank all the friends, communities, and assemblies who have contributed so lovingly to this Holy undertaking. Surely such gifts, representing both sincere love and often real sacrifice, will add to the preciousness of a Shrine already so dear to all Bahá’í hearts.

He wishes you every success in your own devoted services to the Cause.

With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.

[From the Guardian:]

Assuring you of my loving prayers for your success in the service of our beloved Faith,

Your true brother,Shoghi.

Letter of Sept. 29, 1951Sept. 29, 1951Dear Bahá’í Sister:Your letter of August 12 has been received, and I am enclosing a receipt from the beloved Guardian for the sum you forwarded.He was deeply touched by this further evidence of the interest shown by the believers in Australia and New Zealand in the Holy task now going ahead at the World Center. Please thank all the contributors on his behalf.He sends you and all the members of the N.S.A. his loving greetings,With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]May the Almighty bless and reward all those who have so devotedly and spontaneously contributed for the promotion of so holy an enterprise, and aid them to win great and memorable victories in the service of His glorious Faith.Your true brother,Shoghi.

Sept. 29, 1951

Dear Bahá’í Sister:

Your letter of August 12 has been received, and I am enclosing a receipt from the beloved Guardian for the sum you forwarded.

He was deeply touched by this further evidence of the interest shown by the believers in Australia and New Zealand in the Holy task now going ahead at the World Center. Please thank all the contributors on his behalf.

He sends you and all the members of the N.S.A. his loving greetings,

With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.

[From the Guardian:]

May the Almighty bless and reward all those who have so devotedly and spontaneously contributed for the promotion of so holy an enterprise, and aid them to win great and memorable victories in the service of His glorious Faith.

Your true brother,Shoghi.

Letter of Nov. 20, 1951Dear Bahá’í Friends: Nov. 20, 1951Your letters to the beloved Guardian, dated April 3rd (two) 4th and 26th; May 4th and 25th; July 13th; and Oct. 16, with various enclosures, have been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.Regarding various matters raised in your letters: The Guardian feels that as Mr. Audenwood clearly signified his belief in Bahá’u’lláh before his passing, his name should by all means be registered in your records as a believer. Please assure his wife of the Guardian’s prayers for the progress and happiness of his soul, and for her own services to the Faith to be richly blessed.Shoghi Effendi feels it is better not to put the Greatest Name on Bahá’í graves. It is not forbidden to do so, but inappropriate.Regarding Mr. ... and Mr. ... we all regret exceedingly the loss he afflicted this believer with. Your Assembly, if you have not already done so, should write both the Persian and Indian Assemblies exposing him, and asking if there is no way he can be reached and made to pay his debt. The last news the Guardian had of him he was in Cyprus and planned (?) to go on to Iran or India. It is most extaordinary to see the way this man, who breaks all the laws of his Faith and disobeys both the Guardian and the Assemblies, has been able to plant a firm faith in the hearts of sincere souls in Fiji, who are now devoted believers! Your Assembly should give this small community every aid and encouragement you can, for its members were born with a terrific test, enough to shake the belief of old and tried Bahá’ís.The Guardian was very pleased to see the Racing Conference courteously changed the name of that horse which had been called Bahá’u’lláh.He is also very glad you are in touch with dear, faithful Mr. Auskauli. You should keep up this contact and when you write please assure him of the Guardian’s appreciation of his steadfastness and of his loving prayers. He advises you to keep for your library the books sent you.The Guardian has noted a new spirit of love and unity amongst the Australian and New Zealand Bahá’ís, which pleases him very much, as the atmosphere of harmony amongst the friends will attract the Divine Blessings and enable them to achieve a great deal more for the Faith.He strongly feels that the time has come for the believers of Australia and New Zealand to arise as a conquering army and ensure the attainment of their goals under their Six Year Plan. They now constitute one of the strongest bodies of believers in the world, ranking with such active and well established communities as those of Canada, Great Britain and India. Their period of adolescence in the Faith has passed; they are now adults, and they must face the problems involved in fulfilling their Plan squarely and with maturity. The pleasant period of youthful irresponsibility, when they could look on the work of the American and Persian Communities as the feats of the strong, which they were not called upon to emulate, being too young, is now passed forever. They must sacrifice, concentrate on their tasks, plan their actions and carry on their pioneer work with determination, realizing they will have no one to blame for any failures, except themselves! The Guardian feels they are entirely capable of fulfilling their Plan. He is proud of the progress they have made and confident they can succeed if they really try.He assures you all of his loving prayers for your guidance and for the success of your work, the progress of which he follows with the keenest interest.With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.P.S. I am enclosing a receipt herein. I do not think this sum has been previously acknowledged, but if there is any duplication, please destroy it.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The Six-Year Plan, formulated by the elected representatives of the valiant Bahá’í communities in Australasia, is now entering its final and most critical stage. If successfully terminated it will mark the conclusion of a memorable chapter in the evolution of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the Antipodes, and will at the same time herald the opening of the initial phase in the establishment of the institutions of that Faith, beyond the borders of that far-off continent, in the numerous diversified and widely scattered Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It will in fact signalize the third stage in the evolution of the Faith in that newly opened, highly promising, far-flung continent—an evolution which commenced, during the concluding decade of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ministry and of the Heroic Age of the Faith, with the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, and which was subsequently accelerated through the formulation during the opening years of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, of two successive Plans, designed to broaden and reinforce the foundations of that nascent Order in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. The inauguration of the third and most glorious phase in this historic and momentous development must now depend on the consummation of the tasks willingly shouldered by this youthful, this virile and greatly beloved community, which, despite its physical remoteness from the heart and world centre of the Faith, the smallness of its size, its limited resources and the vastness of the field under the jurisdiction of its elected representatives, has made such great strides since its inception, has shown such exemplary devotion and loyalty, and has preserved and reinforced so nobly the solidity of its foundations.This Community, which owes its birth to the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, must now brace itself, during the fleeting months that lie ahead, for a supreme, a concerted and sustained effort to ensure the attainment of the objectives of the present Plan, and thereby acquire the spiritual potentialities essential to the launching of a mighty Crusade, in collaboration with the Trustees of the Plan, conceived by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, and with its neighbouring sister communities in Latin America and in the Indian Sub-continent, destined to culminate in the fullness of time in the Spiritual conquest of the multitudinous islands of the South Pacific Ocean.So exalted a mission, so strenuous a task, so weighty a responsibility call for, while the Present Preparatory Plan speeds to its end, an unprecedented demonstration on the part of young and old, or both men and women, whether administrators or teachers, veterans or neophytes, of solidarity, determination, zeal and constancy, a still greater display of self-sacrifice, a wider dispersion of forces, a more energetic discharge of duty, a clearer vision, a firmer grasp, of the requirements of the present hour, and a more complete dedication to the purposes of the present-day enterprise.The steady multiplication of Bahá’í Administrative institutions; the rapid consolidation of these basic agencies on which the speedy expansion of the community beyond its borders must ultimately depend; the early incorporation of all steadily functioning assemblies as a means of further reinforcing a newly erected administrative structure; the systematic and vigorous dissemination of Bahá’í literature, and the gradual proclamation of the Faith through the Press and Radio; the initiation of measures designed to forge friendly links between these newly-fledged assemblies and local civil authorities, and a parallel effort aimed at the strengthening of the ties binding the Bahá’í Supreme Administrative Body with both the Federal and State authorities—above all the constant deepening of the spiritual life of the individual believers, the enrichment of community life, the promotion of greater unity, harmony and cooperation among the rank and file of the followers of the Faith—these are the essential prerequisites to which special attention should be directed in preparation for the great campaign destined to be launched in that remote corner of the globe, by one of the most youthful and promising Bahá’í national communities, on the morrow of the world-wide celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission.Afire with the vision that now opens before their eyes; conscious of the substantial share of responsibility they must assume, in conjunction with the Indian, the Pakistani, the North American, and the Latin American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, in uplifting the banner of the Most Great Name amidst the dwellers of these scattered, distant and in some cases isolated, Islands of the South, and in drawing them into the orbit of His constantly evolving Administrative Order; fortified by the magnificent progress they themselves have achieved in their own homelands; and confident of the irresistible and mysterious power instilled by the Hand of Providence in every agency associated with His Most Holy Name, let the members of these rapidly maturing, fast evolving, soundly established, Bahá’í communities throughout Australasia arise, as they have never heretofore done, and during the concluding phase of their present fate-laden Plan, to seal their high endeavours with total and complete victory, and thereby open a chapter of undreamt-of glory that will add an imperishable lustre to the annals of an immortal Faith.Just as their first collective enterprise, through its resounding success, contributed its particular share of tribute to the memory of the Herald of their Faith, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of His Revelation, may their present collective enterprise, through its consummation, qualify and empower them to play a distinctive role in the celebration of the Great Jubilee that will mark the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic Mission.A great opportunity lies before them. Much of their present mighty task still remains to be achieved. Immense virgin fields stretch before them, flanked, on the one side, by a sister community in the South American continent, and on the other by another sister community in the vast Indian sub-continent, both ready and eager to extend their help in prosecuting a memorable, a gigantic and supremely arduous task. May they, when the hour strikes, be found ready and well equipped to assume the onerous responsibilities that will fall to their share.Shoghi.

Dear Bahá’í Friends: Nov. 20, 1951

Your letters to the beloved Guardian, dated April 3rd (two) 4th and 26th; May 4th and 25th; July 13th; and Oct. 16, with various enclosures, have been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.

Regarding various matters raised in your letters: The Guardian feels that as Mr. Audenwood clearly signified his belief in Bahá’u’lláh before his passing, his name should by all means be registered in your records as a believer. Please assure his wife of the Guardian’s prayers for the progress and happiness of his soul, and for her own services to the Faith to be richly blessed.

Shoghi Effendi feels it is better not to put the Greatest Name on Bahá’í graves. It is not forbidden to do so, but inappropriate.

Regarding Mr. ... and Mr. ... we all regret exceedingly the loss he afflicted this believer with. Your Assembly, if you have not already done so, should write both the Persian and Indian Assemblies exposing him, and asking if there is no way he can be reached and made to pay his debt. The last news the Guardian had of him he was in Cyprus and planned (?) to go on to Iran or India. It is most extaordinary to see the way this man, who breaks all the laws of his Faith and disobeys both the Guardian and the Assemblies, has been able to plant a firm faith in the hearts of sincere souls in Fiji, who are now devoted believers! Your Assembly should give this small community every aid and encouragement you can, for its members were born with a terrific test, enough to shake the belief of old and tried Bahá’ís.

The Guardian was very pleased to see the Racing Conference courteously changed the name of that horse which had been called Bahá’u’lláh.

He is also very glad you are in touch with dear, faithful Mr. Auskauli. You should keep up this contact and when you write please assure him of the Guardian’s appreciation of his steadfastness and of his loving prayers. He advises you to keep for your library the books sent you.

The Guardian has noted a new spirit of love and unity amongst the Australian and New Zealand Bahá’ís, which pleases him very much, as the atmosphere of harmony amongst the friends will attract the Divine Blessings and enable them to achieve a great deal more for the Faith.

He strongly feels that the time has come for the believers of Australia and New Zealand to arise as a conquering army and ensure the attainment of their goals under their Six Year Plan. They now constitute one of the strongest bodies of believers in the world, ranking with such active and well established communities as those of Canada, Great Britain and India. Their period of adolescence in the Faith has passed; they are now adults, and they must face the problems involved in fulfilling their Plan squarely and with maturity. The pleasant period of youthful irresponsibility, when they could look on the work of the American and Persian Communities as the feats of the strong, which they were not called upon to emulate, being too young, is now passed forever. They must sacrifice, concentrate on their tasks, plan their actions and carry on their pioneer work with determination, realizing they will have no one to blame for any failures, except themselves! The Guardian feels they are entirely capable of fulfilling their Plan. He is proud of the progress they have made and confident they can succeed if they really try.

He assures you all of his loving prayers for your guidance and for the success of your work, the progress of which he follows with the keenest interest.

With Bahá’í love,R. Rabbani.

P.S. I am enclosing a receipt herein. I do not think this sum has been previously acknowledged, but if there is any duplication, please destroy it.

[From the Guardian:]

Dear and valued co-workers:

The Six-Year Plan, formulated by the elected representatives of the valiant Bahá’í communities in Australasia, is now entering its final and most critical stage. If successfully terminated it will mark the conclusion of a memorable chapter in the evolution of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the Antipodes, and will at the same time herald the opening of the initial phase in the establishment of the institutions of that Faith, beyond the borders of that far-off continent, in the numerous diversified and widely scattered Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It will in fact signalize the third stage in the evolution of the Faith in that newly opened, highly promising, far-flung continent—an evolution which commenced, during the concluding decade of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ministry and of the Heroic Age of the Faith, with the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, and which was subsequently accelerated through the formulation during the opening years of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, of two successive Plans, designed to broaden and reinforce the foundations of that nascent Order in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. The inauguration of the third and most glorious phase in this historic and momentous development must now depend on the consummation of the tasks willingly shouldered by this youthful, this virile and greatly beloved community, which, despite its physical remoteness from the heart and world centre of the Faith, the smallness of its size, its limited resources and the vastness of the field under the jurisdiction of its elected representatives, has made such great strides since its inception, has shown such exemplary devotion and loyalty, and has preserved and reinforced so nobly the solidity of its foundations.

This Community, which owes its birth to the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, must now brace itself, during the fleeting months that lie ahead, for a supreme, a concerted and sustained effort to ensure the attainment of the objectives of the present Plan, and thereby acquire the spiritual potentialities essential to the launching of a mighty Crusade, in collaboration with the Trustees of the Plan, conceived by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, and with its neighbouring sister communities in Latin America and in the Indian Sub-continent, destined to culminate in the fullness of time in the Spiritual conquest of the multitudinous islands of the South Pacific Ocean.

So exalted a mission, so strenuous a task, so weighty a responsibility call for, while the Present Preparatory Plan speeds to its end, an unprecedented demonstration on the part of young and old, or both men and women, whether administrators or teachers, veterans or neophytes, of solidarity, determination, zeal and constancy, a still greater display of self-sacrifice, a wider dispersion of forces, a more energetic discharge of duty, a clearer vision, a firmer grasp, of the requirements of the present hour, and a more complete dedication to the purposes of the present-day enterprise.

The steady multiplication of Bahá’í Administrative institutions; the rapid consolidation of these basic agencies on which the speedy expansion of the community beyond its borders must ultimately depend; the early incorporation of all steadily functioning assemblies as a means of further reinforcing a newly erected administrative structure; the systematic and vigorous dissemination of Bahá’í literature, and the gradual proclamation of the Faith through the Press and Radio; the initiation of measures designed to forge friendly links between these newly-fledged assemblies and local civil authorities, and a parallel effort aimed at the strengthening of the ties binding the Bahá’í Supreme Administrative Body with both the Federal and State authorities—above all the constant deepening of the spiritual life of the individual believers, the enrichment of community life, the promotion of greater unity, harmony and cooperation among the rank and file of the followers of the Faith—these are the essential prerequisites to which special attention should be directed in preparation for the great campaign destined to be launched in that remote corner of the globe, by one of the most youthful and promising Bahá’í national communities, on the morrow of the world-wide celebrations of the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission.

Afire with the vision that now opens before their eyes; conscious of the substantial share of responsibility they must assume, in conjunction with the Indian, the Pakistani, the North American, and the Latin American followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, in uplifting the banner of the Most Great Name amidst the dwellers of these scattered, distant and in some cases isolated, Islands of the South, and in drawing them into the orbit of His constantly evolving Administrative Order; fortified by the magnificent progress they themselves have achieved in their own homelands; and confident of the irresistible and mysterious power instilled by the Hand of Providence in every agency associated with His Most Holy Name, let the members of these rapidly maturing, fast evolving, soundly established, Bahá’í communities throughout Australasia arise, as they have never heretofore done, and during the concluding phase of their present fate-laden Plan, to seal their high endeavours with total and complete victory, and thereby open a chapter of undreamt-of glory that will add an imperishable lustre to the annals of an immortal Faith.

Just as their first collective enterprise, through its resounding success, contributed its particular share of tribute to the memory of the Herald of their Faith, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of His Revelation, may their present collective enterprise, through its consummation, qualify and empower them to play a distinctive role in the celebration of the Great Jubilee that will mark the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic Mission.

A great opportunity lies before them. Much of their present mighty task still remains to be achieved. Immense virgin fields stretch before them, flanked, on the one side, by a sister community in the South American continent, and on the other by another sister community in the vast Indian sub-continent, both ready and eager to extend their help in prosecuting a memorable, a gigantic and supremely arduous task. May they, when the hour strikes, be found ready and well equipped to assume the onerous responsibilities that will fall to their share.

Shoghi.

Back to IndexNext