Adelaide Australia Temple
The Adelaide Australia Temple is the 89th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Plans to build a Mormon temple in Adelaide Australia were announced on March 17, 1999. The Mormon members of the area up until this time had to travel between fifteen and twenty hours one-way to visit the closest temple in Sydney. The Mormon Church has seen extremely rapid growth in Australia in recent years. In 1955 there were only 3,000 members in Australia, today there are more than 100,000 members. Census statistics show that the Mormon Church is the fastest-growing Christian faith in Australia. This rapid growth prompted the leaders of the Church to announce three new Mormon temples in Australia: one in Melbourne, one in Brisbane, and one in Adelaide.
A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication were held on May 29, 1999. Vaughn J. Featherstone, a member of the Seventy, led the ceremony and offered the site dedication prayer. Elder Featherstone was, at the time, the president of the Australia/New Zealand area. Despite heavy rains, more than 500 people gathered to witness the groundbreaking and site dedication. Talks were given in a nearby Mormon meetinghouse, and as those in attendance began to go outside for the groundbreaking, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared. Many were involved in the groundbreaking ceremony, including the Mayor of Adelaide, other government officials, and children.
The Mormon temple is situated on 6.94 acres just a few miles away from the center of the city of Adelaide. The temple is built of the finest materials, including an exterior finish of snow-white granite from Campolonghi, Italy. Throughout the construction of the temple, members in the area were highly involved, and many expressed that the building of the temple gave them opportunities to talk with their friends about the Mormon Church. The community was very interested in the progress on the temple, and numerous stories were printed in the media.
The Adelaide Australia Temple was opened to the public June 3rd through the 10th, 2000. On the first day of the open house, more than 5,000 people visited the temple, and it continued to be busy; nearly 50,000 people were able to take a tour through the Adelaide temple before it was dedicated.
The temple was dedicated for Church use on June 15, 2000, by Gordon B. Hinckley, the President of the Mormon Church. President Hinckley dedicated four temples in the same trip—the first time this had ever occurred in Mormon history. The Adelaide temple was the third temple to be dedicated on this trip. Four sessions were held, which allowed for more than 2,500 members to be present at the temple's dedication.
The Adelaide Australia Temple is comprised of a total of 10,700 square feet, two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.
Other Temples in Australia
See also
External links
- Official LDS Adelaide Australia Temple page
- Adelaide Australia Temple page
- Adelaide Australia Temple page
- Mormon Temple Worship - BBC Religion & Ethics
- Mormon Temples - Wikipedia
- Mormon Temples and Secrecy
- Early Christianity and Mormonism: The LDS Temple Endowment: An Introduction
- Mormon Missionary Work - Lightplanet
- Joseph Smith - American Prophet
