Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Temple Locale

The Melbourne Australia Temple sits on a gently rising slope above the M3 freeway in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, about 15 miles from the city center. The granite temple was constructed on the site of the stake center for the Melbourne Australia Maroondah Stake in the residential neighborhood of Wantirna South. The grounds are filled with trees and feature a beautiful semi-circular gathering plaza on the south side of the temple.

Temple Facts

The Melbourne Australia Temple was the third temple built in Australia, following the Sydney Australia Temple (1984) and Adelaide Australia Temple (2000).

The site selected for the Melbourne Australia Temple was formerly a welfare farm orchard and a dam that had been filled in years earlier. The property was also used to host an outdoor public Christmas pageant in the 1990s when it was a large expanse of lawn.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Melbourne Australia Temple was held on the same day as the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Fresno California Temple, Fukuoka Japan Temple, and Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple.

The Melbourne Australia Temple was announced by a letter from the First Presidency to local priesthood leaders dated October 30, 1998. A letter was sent the same day to priesthood leaders in Mexico announcing the Villahermosa Mexico Temple.

Before the Melbourne Australia Temple was built, Melbourne-area members took 12-hour bus trips to and from the Sydney Australia Temple to participate in temple ceremonies.

Elder P. Bruce Mitchell, second counselor in the Australia/New Zealand Area presidency, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Melbourne Australia Temple. In his remarks, he quoted Elder John A. Widstoe of the Quorum of the Twelve: "'When we go through the temple for other people we taste the sweet joy of saviorhood and our stature becomes more like the Savior Jesus Christ who died to save us all.'" He asked that members pray daily during the construction of the temple that there would be no mishaps or undue delays.¹

During the week-long open house for the Melbourne Australia Temple, more than 28,000 guests toured the building including approximately 250 business, community, civic, and interfaith leaders; and 150 neighbors and subcontractors. The governor of Victoria, His Excellency the Honourable Sir James Gobbo AC, was among the notable guests who visited the temple and was deeply impressed by its beauty and spirit.

The Melbourne Australia Temple was dedicated one day after the Adelaide Australia Temple by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of an 11-day trip to Asia and the Pacific where he dedicated four temples. The other two temples dedicated were the Fukuoka Japan Temple and Suva Fiji Temple.

At the dedication of the Melbourne Australia Temple, stake president Murray Lobley said: "For 16 years we have traveled the 1,500 miles round trip to the Sydney temple and before that many members of the Church here had to sacrifice—sometimes their house, car and other possessions—so they could afford to make the journey to the New Zealand Temple." He continued: "We are now no longer enslaved by the tyranny of distance—we have been truly blessed to have a temple built in Melbourne."²