The Adelaide Australia Temple is the 89th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Plans to build an LDS temple in Adelaide, Australia were announced on 17 March 1999. LDS 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 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has seen extremely rapid growth in Australia in the last few years. In 1955 there were only 3,000 members in Australia, today there are more than 100,000 members. Census statistics show that the LDS 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 the one in Adelaide.
A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication were held on 29 May 1999. Vaughn J. Featherstone, a member of the Seventy, led the ceremony and gave the site dedication prayer. Despite heavy rains, more than 500 people gathered to witness the groundbreaking and site dedication. Many were involved in the groundbreaking including the Mayor of Adelaide, other government officials, and children.
The Latter-day Saint temple sits on 6.94 acres (28,100 m2) just a few miles away from the centre of the city of Adelaide. The temple was built of the finest materials including an exterior finish of snow-white granite from Campolonghi, Italy. The community was very interested in the progress on the temple and numerous stories were printed in the media.
The Adelaide Australia Temple was open to the public 3 June 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.
The temple was dedicated for Church use on 15 June 2000 by Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Hinckley dedicated four different 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 has a total of 10,700 square feet (990 m2), two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.
Famous quotes containing the words australia and/or temple:
“I like Australia less and less. The hateful newness, the democratic conceit, every man a little pope of perfection.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“The divinity in man is the true vestal fire of the temple which is never permitted to go out, but burns as steadily and with as pure a flame on the obscure provincial altar as in Numa’s temple at Rome.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)