Announced: March 17, 1999.
Location: 53-59 Lower Portrush Road, Marden, South Australia 5070, Phone: (61) 8-8363-8000; no clothing rental.
Site: 6.94 acres.
Exterior finish: Snow white granite
Temple design: Traditional.
Architects: Simon Drew.
Project manager: Graham Sully.
Contractor: Balderstone-Hornibrook.
Rooms: Celestial room, two endowment rooms, two sealing rooms and baptistry.
Total floor area: 10,700 square feet.
Dimensions: 149 feet by 77 feet.
District: Three stakes and three districts in south Australia.
Groundbreaking, site dedication: May 29, 1999, by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone of the Seventy and president of the Australia/New Zealand Area.
Dedication: June 15, 2000, by President Gordon B. Hinckley; 4 sessions.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: 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.
Dedicatory prayer
Following is the full text of the dedicatory prayer for the Adelaide Australia Temple given by President Gordon B. Hinckley on June 15, 2000.
Beloved and Eternal Father, we Thy covenant children bow before Thee in reverent prayer on this historic day. We feel so profoundly blessed in having this sacred temple in our midst so that we might more fully serve Thee in faith and in obedience to Thy divine will. Thou hast heard our prayers and answered them with this magnificent blessing.
Acting in the authority of the eternal priesthood which Thou hast bestowed upon us, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we dedicate this the Adelaide Australia Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unto Thee and unto Thy Beloved Son as the House of the Lord.
Accept of our offering we humbly ask Thee. It is our gift to Thee in response to Thy revealed will that we should build such houses that the great work of salvation may go forward, not only for the living, but also for the numberless generations of the dead. They will be made to rejoice because of the ordinances which will be administered herein. They will rise from the bondage of the past, shake off the fetters which have bound them, and move forward on the way of immortality and eternal life.
All that is done here will be in recognition of the immortality of the human soul. Because of the atoning sacrifice of our Redeemer, Thy Beloved Son, the great gift of everlasting life is made available to us, as well as to the generations who have gone before us. We are blessed by Thy great plan of happiness. Help us to live worthy of the blessings Thou hast promised those who walk in obedience to Thy commandments and hold Thy name sacred before the world.
Dear Father, we dedicate and consecrate this entire structure, the ground on which it stands, and all of the rooms and facilities found herein. May no unclean hand or impure heart desecrate this sacred edifice. May none unworthily breach its portals. It is Thy house, and we recognize that it must be maintained in holiness.
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.
We express our profound thanks for the Prophet Joseph Smith to whom Thou didst reveal Thy will and Thine authority. Based on these revelations, there will be carried forward in this house a great work of redemption in behalf of the dead, many of whom have waited long for these saving ordinances. May this be a day of rejoicing on both sides of the veil, and may all who have the privilege of working here feel the obligation and responsibility of this great vicarious service.
We remember before Thee all who serve in Thy kingdom wherever it may be established. May it roll forth to fill the earth as a small stone cut from the mountain without hands rolls forth to fill the earth. We remember the missionaries of Thy Church and pray that their testimonies may ring as with Thy divine voice. May they have the power and the capacity to find those who will accept the truth, and to teach them the doctrine which will bring gladness to their hearts, and to the hearts of the generations who have gone before them.
We pray that Thy blessings may rest upon the temple presidency and the matron and her assistants, and upon all who serve here in whatever capacity. May all count it a great privilege and may they give of their time and their energy in a spirit of overwhelming love for Thee and Thy Son. Give them strength and vitality according to their need. Accept of their consecrated service.
Now all that we have and are we place in Thy hands as Thy sons and daughters, praying that Thou wilt accept of our love and that Thou wilt smile upon us as those who have sought to accomplish Thy divine will, we humbly ask in the name of the Savior of all mankind, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Charles Parsons, 72, of the Modbury Ward, Adelaide Australia Modbury Stake, called as president of the Adelaide Australia Temple, succeeding President Thomas F. Hooper. President Parsons’ wife, Anne Lorraine Stevenson Parsons, will serve as temple matron. President Parsons is a temple president’s counselor and a former stake president’s counselor, high councilor, bishop, bishop’s counselor and seminary teacher. He is a retired cabinet maker and builder. He was born in Sydney, Australia, to Herbert Roy and Alice Morley Parsons.
Sister Parsons is an assistant to the matron, and a former stake and ward Relief Society counselor, ward Young Women and Primary president, seminary teacher and a Church-service missionary with her husband in New Zealand. She was born in Burnie, Tasmania, Australia, to Frank Leonard and Ellen Lorraine Newman Stevenson.
‘We have been on a long journey — but it was a great occasion’ (Story published in Church News, Saturday, July 1, 2000
During his recent trip to Asia and the South Pacific June 8-19, President Gordon B. Hinckley visited six countries, dedicated four temples and addressed more than 8,850 Latter-day Saints in four member meetings. This was accomplished as he traveled 22,200 miles during 47 hours of flight.
“We have been on a long journey,” he said during an interview with local reporters at the conclusion of his trip June 21. “. . . But it was a great occasion.”
On the extended trip, President Hinckley dedicated the Fukuoka Japan Temple on Sunday, June 11, the Adelaide Australia Temple on Thursday, June 15, the Melbourne Australia Temple on Friday, June 16, and the Suva Fiji Temple on Sunday, June 18. (Please see the June 17 and June 24 Church News for coverage of the temple dedications.)
President Hinckley also met with 2,600 members in Bangkok, Thailand. He later addressed 250 members of the Church in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, and with some 1,000 members in the Pacific island nation of New Caledonia.
On the way home to Utah, President Hinckley visited the American Samoan capital of Pago Pago where he presided at a meeting of nearly 5,000 Church members which was held at the Veterans Stadium.
