Adelaide Australia Temple Wiki

Plans to build a temple in Adelaide were announced on 17 March 1999 via a letter to local priesthood leaders.^[1]“Six More Temples Announced; Total Now 108.” ldschurchnewsarchive.com, 27 March 1999. Accessed 30 December 2014

Australia Temples at Time of Announcement

Announced

• Brisbane Australia
• Melbourne Australia (groundbreaking scheduled)

Under Construction

• –

Dedicated

• Sydney Australia [1984]

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. He requested that local saints serve willingly and joyfully in the temple. He labeled the temple a wonderful credit to the members in Adelaide who have “for years and years traveled between 15 and 20 hours each way to the Sydney temple.” By demonstrating a commitment to temple attendance, the Adelaide members “surely merit a temple in their midst.”

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.^[2]Howes, Phillip.“LDS Church News – Rain, Clouds in Adelaide Do Not Dampen Spirits during Groundbreaking.” ldschurchnewsarchive.com, 5 June 1999. Accessed 30 December 2014

Attendees entered a nearby meetinghouse for the dedicatory service. Following the meeting, Church members ventured outside to see the storm clouds clear in time for Church leaders and government dignitaries to turn the symbolic first shovelfuls of earth.

The Adelaide Australia Temple was open to the public from 3–10 June 2000. On the first day of the open house more than 5,000 people visited the temple and it continued to be busy; 49,303 people were able to take a tour through the temple. This is an average of 7,043 per day for each of the seven days of the open house.^[3]“‘Spiritual sanctuaries’ for faithful Adelaide, Melbourne members.” ldschurchnewsarchive.com, 24 June 2000. Accessed 15 March 2015

The temple was dedicated on 15 June 2000 by President Gordon B. Hinckley.^[4]“Adelaide Australia: ‘Rejoicing on both sides of the veil'”, Church News, 24 June 2000

President Hinckley dedicated four different temples in the same trip—the first time this had occurred in church history. the trip included the Melbourne Australia, Fukuoka Japan, and Suva Fiji temples. The Adelaide temple was the third temple to be dedicated on this trip.^[5]Hunter, Richard; Wakeley, Alan (24 June 2000), “Four temples dedicated in one overseas tour”, Church News

Four dedicatory sessions were held, which allowed for 2,280 members to be present at the temple’s dedication, an average of 570 per session.

In his dedicatory prayer for the Adelaide Australia Temple, he said, “We are grateful for this nation of Australia, where there is freedom of worship, freedom of assembly, and freedom to take upon ourselves the name of our Divine Redeemer, and to keep sacred the covenants which we make with Him.”^[6]“Adelaide Australia Temple dedicatory prayer,” Church News, June 24, 2000,

Standing in reverent splendor on Australia’s southern coast, The grounds of the seven-acre temple lot are landscaped with native trees, flowers and shrubs, providing a serene atmosphere for this sacred house of the Lord.

The temple sits on 6.94 acres (28,100 m2) just a few miles away from the center of the city of Adelaide.

The Adelaide Australia Temple features a traditional design that is similar to many temples built in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Church made an accelerated effort to build temples closer to more of its members.

Cladding

Composed of snow-white granite of Campolonghi, Italy. The exterior is decorated with a circular pattern above the windows.

Windows

The windows on the Adelaide Australia temple are a frosted glass design common to the small 2nd generation temples of this style. The windows are arranged in sets of 3, with each window having 3 panes set in a white colored frame.

There are two inscriptions on the Adelaide Australia Temple. The first is on the East side of the temple, above the windows immediately to the left (south) of the entryway. The letters are engraved into a stone panel and painted black.

The Cornerstone of the Adelaide Australia Temple is on the South East corner, on the southernmost of the pillars that flank the windows, on the east face of the temple. The letters are engraved into the Stone and are unpainted.

The structure’s focal point is a single spire capped by a gold-leafed statue of an ancient Book of Mormon prophet named Moroni; the statue’s raised trumpet symbolizes the spread of Jesus Christ’s gospel to all the earth. The spire is a typical small temple spire, inline with the main entrance, and consisting of 4 levels of progressively smaller and taller cubes.

The Angel Moroni Statue on the Adelaide temple was placed on 11 April 2000. The Statue is a fiberglass casting of a statue carved by Karl Quilter in 1982 and was placed to face east.

The Adelaide Australia Temple has an official total floor area of 10,700 square feet (1,070 m²).[ref“Facts and figures: Adelaide Australia Temple”, Church News, 24 June 2000[/ref]

Entry

The Entry and Waiting Area of the temple is directly under the spire of the temple, and sits between the Baptistry and First Instruction Room.

The Adelaide Australia Temple has a single baptistry. It is located to the right of the main entrance of the temple, along the centerline of the structure, at the temple’s west end.

There is one initiatory spaces of the Temple are attached directly to the changing rooms. There is one Room per changing room area, for a total of 2 booths.

Each Room is partitioned into 4 progressive spaces.

On the other side of the entrance from the baptistry, are the temple’s two, progressive style instruction rooms.

Instruction Room A

The first instruction room is on the center line of the temple, Opposite the entrance from the Baptistry. Patrons will start a session in this room, and finish the session in the next. In this temple floorplan, this first room often has some type of mural. It is unknown if Aba has murals in this room.

Instruction Room B

Beyond the second instruction room, at the opposite end This room is also located on the centerline, between Instruction Room A and the Temple’s Celestial Room.

The Adelaide Temple has two sealing rooms, one each on either side of the Celestial room and Instruction Room B.

The Project Manager for this temple was Graham Sully, who has managed other temple construction projects for the Church.

Balderstone-Hornibrook was the general contractor. To date, this is the only Temple built by this contractor.