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By Kent Larsen
Ground Broken for Brisbane Temple
BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA -- Elder Kenneth Johnson, President
of the Australia/New Zealand area of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the
Church's Brisbane, Australia Temple on Saturday. The ceremony was
attended by more than 200 people, although attendance was limited
because each stake in the area was only permitted to invite 40
people. The groundbreaking comes after the Church reach an agreement
settling a lawsuit over construction of the Temple.
The Brisbane Temple will take the place of the 44-year-old Kangaroo
Point chapel, constructed on land purchased from the Church of
England in April 1956. Constructed with donated labor from local
members, the building, later the Stake Center for the Brisbane Stake,
first in Australia, was opened August 9th, and eventually dedicated
on February 27th, 1966. by Elder Paul H. Dunn. At the time, a
Government official described the building as "the most beautiful
Church in Australia."
The chapel has housed the Brisbane Ward (originally a branch) for its
entire live, and also housed the Brisbane 3rd (Enoggera) Ward until
1973, and more recently, the River Terrace Ward, a Young Single
Adults Ward. Demolition of the chapel and an accompanying
administration building, built in 1963, will begin this week.
The groundbreaking became possible after the Church reached a
compromise with the Brisbane City Council on February 21st that
cleared the way for the Temple's construction. When the city first
approved the Church's plans it placed building and operating
conditions on the plans that the Church considered unacceptable. As a
result of the agreement, some of the restrictions were apparently
removed.
The planned Temple and a new chapel ill be built on the nearly 8,500
square meter (about 85,000 square feet - nearly 2 acres) corner block
starting this week. According to reports on the Brisbane Temple website
(see http://www.brisbanetemple.net)
the last sacrament meeting in the chapel was to be held today.
The LDS Church announced the Brisbane Temple in mid-1998, saying that
it would serve the Australian provinces of Queensland and New South
Wales as well as Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Queensland
currently has about 40 LDS congregations and 20,000 members.
Source:
Brisbane Temple Page
See also:
Brisbane Temple Court Case Settled; Groundbreaking in March
Brisbane Temple Restrictions at Stake in Zoning Fight
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