Far from stagnating or declining in number or in influence it has in recent years displayed a vitality which can well excite the admiration and envy of them all, and has demonstrated, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a fidelity to the principles of our Faith, whether a spiritual or administrative, and a capacity for service which all may well emulate.
Though all the goals, in the virgin areas of the globe, assigned to the elected national representatives of these two communities have not as yet been attained, owing solely to circumstances beyond their control, yet the spirit evinced by the pioneers belonging to these communities, who have so gloriously initiated this major task, constituting the foremost objective of the opening phase of this Ten-Year Crusade, has been such as to amply compensate for the inability of their national elected representatives to consummate, ere the close of the first year of the Ten-Year Plan, this initial enterprise marking the inauguration of their Mission in foreign fields. Particularly gratifying and indeed inspiring has been the response of the members of your assembly to the Call for pioneers—a response that has surpassed that of any other National Body throughout the Bahá’í World.
The selection and subsequent purchase of the site of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in the Antipodes in the outskirts of a city—the first to receive the light of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh in Australasia, and destined to play a predominant role in the evolution of the Administrative Order of His Faith in that vast area—is an achievement which I heartily welcome and for which I feel deeply grateful. This remarkable accomplishment will, in conjunction with the establishment a decade ago of the National Hazíratu’l-Quds in that same city, accelerate the progress, and immensely reinforce the foundations, of the administrative institutions inaugurated on the morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension, and which are destined to yield their fairest fruit in the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation.
The second phase of this spiritual Crusade upon which these two greatly blessed, fast unfolding, firmly established, intensely alive communities have now entered must witness the opening, at whatever cost, of the remaining virgin territories allocated to their national elected representatives. The preservation of the prizes already won in the newly opened territories is, moreover, a task they cannot afford to neglect under any circumstances. The multiplication of Bahá’í isolated centres, groups and local assemblies, in both Australia and New-Zealand—a process that has been steadily and rapidly developing since the inauguration of the Ten-Year Plan, is likewise of paramount importance in the years immediately ahead. The development of these institutions, particularly in New-Zealand, will no doubt hasten the emergence of an independent National Spiritual Assembly in that territory, and will lend a tremendous impetus to the onward march of the Faith in those regions.
The assistance which your Assembly must increasingly extend to its sister assembly in the Indian sub-continent, in connection with the translation and publication of Bahá’í Literature in the languages allocated under the Ten-Year Plan, is yet another task which, in the coming months, must be boldly tackled and consistently carried on. The incorporation of local assemblies moreover, is a matter of great urgency and should in no wise be postponed or neglected. The consolidation work to be undertaken, according to the provisions of this same Plan, is, likewise, urgent and of the utmost importance, and will undoubtedly serve to enhance the prestige of your assembly and enrich the record of your far-reaching accomplishments. The purchase of a building in Auckland destined to serve as the National Hazíratu’l-Quds of the Bahá’ís of New-Zealand, is yet another objective on which attention should be immediately focused—in anticipation of the erection of yet another pillar of the future House of Justice in that remote part of the world.
Whilst these objectives are being steadily pursued by your assembly, every effort will be exerted in the Holy Land, as a tribute to the superb spirit animating the Australian and New Zealand believers and to their incessant and meritorious labours in the service of the Cause they have championed, to hasten the transfer of a part of the Bahá’í international endowments to the name of the newly constituted Israel Branch of your Assembly—an act that will at once bestow a great spiritual and material benefit on your Assembly and reinforce the ties binding it to the World Centre of the Faith in the Holy Land.
May the members of these valiant communities, whose interests you so conscientiously serve and whom you so ably represent, continue to prosper under your wise and loving leadership, scale loftier heights in their collective enterprise, and win a still greater measure of fame in the service of a Cause to which they have so nobly dedicated their resources, and which they have served, in the past thirty years, with so rare a spirit of consecration and self-sacrifice.
That they may bring to full and early fruition the manifold tasks they have undertaken is the constant prayer of one who has never ceased to love and admire them for their past and present achievements, and for whose future accomplishments he cherishes the brightest hopes.
Shoghi.