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The Bahá'í Faith has a long history in Australia. The first known mention of events related to the history of the religion was several reports in Australian newspapers in 1846. After sporadic mentions a turning point was a mention of Australia by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, in 1916 following which United Kingdom/American emigrants John and Clara Dunn came to Australia in 1920. They found people willing to convert to the Bahá'í Faith in several cities while further immigrant Bahá'ís also arrived.〔(William Miller (b. Glasgow 1875) and Annie Miller (b. Aberdeen 1877) - The First Believers in Western Australia ) The Scottish Bahá'í No.33 – Autumn, 2003〕 The first Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in Melbourne followed by the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1934.〔( The Bahá'í Faith: 1844-1963: Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963 ), Compiled by Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land, pages 22 and 46.〕 Iranian Bahá'ís had first tried to emigrate to Australia in 1948 but were rejected as "Asiatic" by Australia's White Australia policy. Though the situation was eased in the 1960s and 70s, on the eve of Iranian revolution, in 1978, there were approximately 50-60 Persian Bahá'í families in Australia. Persians, including Bahá'ís, arrived in number following the revolution. See persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran. Since the 1980s the Bahá'ís of Australia have become involved and spoken out on a number of civic issues - from interfaith initiative such as ''Soul Food'' to conferences on indigenous issues and national policies of equal rights and pay for work. The community was counted by census in 2001 to be about 11000 individuals〔(A Practical Reference to Religious Diversity for Operational Police and Emergency Services "2nd" edition )〕 and includes some well known people (see below - National exposure.) The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on ''World Christian Encyclopedia'') estimated some 17,700 Bahá'ís in 2005, and over 19,300 in 2010. ==Earliest history== The first known mention of events related to the history of the religion was several reports in Australian newspapers in 1846: * Morning Chronicle(later renamed) out of Sydney; 4 April * South Australian out of Adelaide; 7 April * South Australian Register out of Adelaide; 11 April These were reprints of an 1845 article in the London ''Times'' which relied on Muslim reactions to the new religion. The next known news story covering events in Bahá'í history was in The Argus, 4 November 1850 in Melbourne which briefly mentions it. In 1853 there was an event with caused great suffering among the Babís (whom Bahá'ís regard as spiritual precursors of their religion.) The Babís were blamed for an attempted assassination of the Shah of Persia. Recent scholarship has identified a fringe element distinct from all the major aspects of the religion, its community and leadership at the time, as actually being responsible.〔(The Attempted Assassination of Nasir al Din Shah in 1852: Millennialism and Violence ), by Moojan Momen, 2004-03-23〕 Nevertheless, coverage in newspapers at the time often echoed the Persian government's view blaming the Babís and Babís in large numbers were in fact executed as a result.〔 * ("English News; Punishments for assassination attempt" ), ''The Argus'', p. 4 (last column on the far right, just down from the top), Jan 21 1853 * ("From the Empire; Persia" ), ''Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser'', p. 3 (third column at the bottom, or bottom of highlighted column), January 29, 1853 * ("English News to Oct 12" ), ''Daily Southern Cross'', p.2, (at the bottom), February 11, 1853 * ("Miscellany" ), ''Daily Southern Cross'', p. 4, (a bit up from the bottom), February 22, 1853 * ("Local Intelligence; How they punish treason in Persia ), ''Hobart Tasmanian Colonial Times'', p.2, (far right near top), February 22〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bahá'í Faith in Australia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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