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Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand cover

Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand

Chapter 91: Appendix: Notes
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About This Book

A curated collection presents letters, telegrams, and short statements addressed to Bahá'í individuals and institutions in New Zealand, gathered and arranged chronologically. The correspondence combines pastoral counsel, administrative guidance, and practical advice on community building alongside responses to doctrinal and social questions. Several telegrams and topical statements on matters such as alcohol, evolution, scouting, and the soul are included. Many letters were drafted by secretaries at the Guardian's direction, with selected passages in his own hand, and the volume is accompanied by editorial notes and an appendix clarifying references.


Part VI
Statements on Various Subjects.

These statements extracted from letters to individuals are not found elsewhere in this compilation and are taken from letters written by the Guardian’s secretaries at his specific direction. The arrangement is according to subject matter.






“HERALD OF THE SOUTH”--(78)

Difficulties. ...The Guardian, while fully aware of the difficulties, both financial and otherwise which your N. S. A.9 is facing in connection with the publication of the “Herald of the South”, feels nevertheless the urge to advise you to continue with this magazine and not to feel in the least discouraged if your efforts for meeting the expenses incurred for its printing and circulation, and for raising its literary standard, do not bring the expected results. He very deeply values the self-sacrificing and sustained efforts exerted by your Assembly in this connection. May Bahá’u’lláh richly reward you for all your meritorious endeavours....

(Extract, ibid., p. 16, dated September 23rd, 1936)






Appendix: Notes


Note 1. (Letter No. 1)

Margaret Stevenson, the first New Zealand Bahá’í was born on November 30th, 1865. Her first intimation of the Bahá’í Faith was through reading “The Christian Commonwealth” and she admitted later that “she did not think any more about it”. She received this journal from her sister who was in London studying music and had heard ‘Abdu’l-Bahá address the congregation of St. John’s, Westminster at the invitation of Canon Wilberforce. She was so impressed that when another discourse given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at City Temple, London was printed in “The Christian Commonwealth” dated March 27th, 1911, she sent a copy of the journal to Margaret in New Zealand. In 1912, Miss Dorothea Spinney arrived in Auckland from London and stayed with Margaret at her home, “Clunie”, 3, Cowie Street, Parnell where she talked about the Bahá’í Cause and her own meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. To quote Margaret’s own words: “As a child, I used to wish I had lived when Christ was on earth. As Miss Spinney spoke, I remembered my childhood wish, and the thought came to me that I too might have denied Him as so many others had done. It was this secret thought that made me seriously think of what I heard from Miss Spinney, and through God’s grace and mercy I was enabled to grasp and believe in Bahá’u’lláh and His Message”.10 Margaret spoke to others of her belief and obtained literature from America, becoming a subscriber to “Star of the West”. Eventually a study group was formed in Auckland and for ten years, Margaret’s home was a venue for these classes. It was here that the first Bahá’í Feast in New Zealand took place in January, 1923.

In 1925, Margaret was one of a small group who journeyed from New Zealand to the Holy Land on pilgrimage, and after an inspiring nineteen days in Haifa, travelled on to England where she met with the English Bahá’í community. The pilgrims arrived back in Auckland in December, 1925, bringing with them some dust from the Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh which was placed in New Zealand soil at the Stevenson’s home in a ceremony held on February 14th, 1926.

In such a geographically remote country, the early New Zealand believers had scant knowledge of Bahá’í administration and erroneously called themselves an Assembly as early as 1924. This was corrected with the receipt of a booklet on the subject and the first properly constituted Bahá’í Assembly in New Zealand was formed on April 21st, 1926, with Margaret Stevenson as its Secretary. A steadfast worker, Margaret was a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand which was elected in 1934, and served the Bahá’í Cause with faithfulness and efficiency until her passing to the Abhá Kingdom on February 11th, 1941.


Note 2. (Letter No. 1)

Born in London in 1855, Hyde Dunn was engaged in business in Britain and continental Europe before emigrating to the United States. In 1905, whilst at a tinsmith’s shop in Seattle, he observed the shopkeeper in excited conversation with a man who had just returned from the Prison of Akká and the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; he overheard the quotation “Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country, but let him glory in this, that he loves his kind”. Hyde Dunn later recalled that “The words reached me with dynamic force, its truth and power crystallised in my heart--a new consciousness awakened... That one glorious utterance magnetised my whole being, appealed as a new note, sent forth from God to His wandering creatures--a Message from the Supreme to the sons of men”.11 Recognising the Truth, Hyde Dunn interrupted the conversation, and accepted immediately the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. The year was 1905.

In 1912, he was present at a meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in San Francisco and declared it was the Master’s “penetrating glance, his life giving words, he felt gave him the power that enabled him later to become the spiritual conqueror of a continent”. Accompanied by his English born wife, Clara, he answered the call of the “Tablets of the Divine Plan” and on April 18th, 1920 reached Australia whence they travelled to New Zealand in 1922–3, not knowing there was already a believer there (Margaret Stevenson). With their arrival in Auckland, the Cause grew in that country and when Hyde Dunn left to return to Australia, Clara remained for a time to organise a study group in New Zealand.

Known affectionately among Bahá’ís as “Mother” and “Father” Dunn, they carried the Message of Bahá’u’lláh from New South Wales to Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, across the desert to Perth and to tropical Queensland and became the spiritual parents of Australia. After “Mother” Dunn returned from a lone pilgrimage to the Holy Land, “Father” was elected a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand in 1934. After his passing on February 17th, 1941, “Mother” Dunn’s dedication to the Bahá’í Faith continued unabated and in 1952 she was elevated to the station of Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith: “Father” Dunn was subsequently elevated to the same station posthumously.

Despite her advanced years, “Mother” Dunn returned to New Zealand in 1957 as representative of the Guardian at the formation of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New Zealand. In March, 1958, at the request of the Guardian, she placed plaster from the Castle of Máh-Kú in the foundations of the Australasian Bahá’í House of Worship in Sydney during the Australian Inter-Continental Conference. Until her passing to the Abhá Kingdom in 1960 at the age of 91 years, “Mother” Dunn retained her memory of many Bahá’í prayers and was reciting these at the time of her death.


Note 3. (Letter No. 2)

The Blundell family: Mrs Sarah Blundell was born at Burwell, Cambridgeshire, England in 1850, a year sacred in Bahá’í history as that of the Báb’s martyrdom, and was destined to become one of the pioneers of the Bahá’í Cause in New Zealand. She received her early religious training from her “Non-Conformist” father, a man whose strong convictions led him to withdraw his seven year old daughter from religious instruction classes at her boarding school. The feeling of isolation which followed caused her to think for herself and she had the rare distinction of being one of the first women to enter the Cambridge University Examinations in an age prejudiced against the education of women.

In 1886, with her husband and seven children, she arrived in New Zealand where she endured hardship and difficulties in a strange country. She persisted in her unfettered search for truth and rejected several dogmas until, with an open mind and a prepared heart, she read in “The Christian Commonwealth” of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to London in 1911 and sent overseas for additional literature. When Mr and Mrs Dunn arrived in Auckland in 1922–3, Mrs Blundell invited them to her home, “Lymbury”, Ridings Road, Remuera to meet a group of twenty people whom she thought might be interested. This was the first Bahá’í meeting held in New Zealand and shortly afterwards Mrs Blundell accepted the Bahá’í Faith.

On hearing from Martha Root that Shoghi Effendi and the Ladies of the Household were eager to welcome the New Zealand friends, Sarah Blundell arranged to make the journey to the Holy Land in 1925 visit the Holy Family, and the Shrines of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and to meet in person many other Bahá’ís--this was “a crowning gift to one whose spiritual path had been travelled alone.”12 She returned to New Zealand after first going home to England to see her relatives and, at the Guardian’s suggestion, make personal contact with the English Bahá’í community. She continued to work unsparingly in New Zealand to serve the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh until her passing at the age of eighty-four years on December 20th, 1934.

One of her daughters, Ethel Blundell who accepted the Bahá’í Faith in 1925, was a delegate to the first Bahá’í Convention and was elected as a member of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand in May, 1934.

Mrs Blundell’s son, Hugh, was also destined to serve the Bahá’í Cause. Although not at that time a Bahá’í, Hugh accompanied his mother and sister on their pilgrimage to Haifa in 1925 and accepted the Faith the following year. A tireless worker for the Cause, he was New Zealand’s first Auxiliary Board Member and passed to the Abhá Kingdom on October 16th, 1976 in his ninety-second year.


Note 4. (Letter No. 2)

Effie Baker became disenchanted with the Church and, having an open and enquiring attitude, was one of a committee formed in Melbourne responsible for arranging speakers to address the “New Thought” organisation. This led her to attend a public meeting at which Hyde Dunn spoke on the Bahá’í Faith and, recognising the truth of the Message, Effie Baker accepted the Faith the same evening and so became the first woman believer in Australia. She accompanied Martha Root on the latter’s lecture tour of New Zealand and, learning of the New Zealand Bahá’ís projected journey to the Holy Land in 1925, Effie sold her home and joined the pilgrims.

After the bounty of visiting the Shrines and meeting with the Guardian and the Greatest Holy Leaf, Effie acceded to Shoghi Effendi’s request and accompanied the New Zealand friends to London so as to contact the British Bahá’í community. She planned to return to Australia and assist the Dunns, and had accepted an invitation from the Ladies of the Holy Family to stop over in Haifa on her homeward journey, but on arriving there in June, she found Shoghi Effendi was away from the Holy Land and so decided to wait until he returned. Her offer to serve was accepted and she remained at the World Centre of the Bahá’í Faith in Israel for the next eleven years where she assumed the duties of hostess, welcoming the friends to the Pilgrim House, using her artistry and talent to photograph events in Haifa for the Guardian. In 1930, when the need arose to secure photographs of places in Persia associated with the early history of the Bahá’í Faith, Effie undertook arduous journeys by road through Syria and Iraq, undeterred by danger from hostile bandits. This intrepid worker now embarked on an exacting and fruitful period of direct service to the Guardian, often using cars supplied by the Persian believers, at times travelling on horseback, mule or donkey to all but a few sites where it was too dangerous for a westerner to venture. The unique photographic record she obtained was immortalised by being selected by the Guardian for inclusion in Nabil’s “The Dawnbreakers”.

In 1936, Effie returned to her homeland, Australia, where she looked after the National Archives over a long period. Her last years were spent in a small flat in the Hazíratu’l-Quds in Sydney at the invitation of the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand who had been requested by the Guardian to take care of her until her passing on January 2nd, 1968.



Note 6. (Letter No. 16)

Dr Habíb, whose older brother attained martyrdom, was born in 1888 at Kermánsháh, Persia and was given the name Mu’ayyad (meaning ‘confirmed’) by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. At the age of twenty-one, when en route to Beirut to begin his medical studies at the American University, he spent a month in the Holy Land with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who took a personal interest in his progress. Thereafter he returned each summer to serve the Cause, extending hospitality to visitors and pilgrims, recording daily events, acquiring spiritual knowledge from outstanding Bahá’í scholars and being entrusted with the receipt and dispatch of Tablets. Referring to Habíb’s student days, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá extolled the young man’s influence, detachment and sanctity, saying “the fragrance of Beirut” perfumed His nostrils.

After graduating from the University of Beirut in 1914, Dr Habíb operated a dispensary at Abú-Sínán, a Druse village northeast of Akká where the Master had temporarily settled the Bahá’ís: this period of close contact with the Holy Family and daily lessons from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá he was later to describe as the “most precious segment of his life”. In a Tablet to Dr Habíb’s father, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá described this dedicated young Bahá’í as “A lamp enkindled with the love of God”.

In 1915, responding to the Master’s specific instructions, Dr Habíb returned to his birthplace to practice his profession and teach the Faith to which he was so deeply devoted, and was for forty years a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Kermánsháh, also serving for a period on the National Spiritual Assembly. His published works include two volumes of reminiscences based on the principles of the Covenant and the history of the Cause, whilst his much loved poem entitled “Hold Thou my Hand, O ‘Abdu’l-Bahá” is widely sung at gatherings of the Bahá’ís in Írán. Dr Habíb Mu’ayyad passed to the Abhá Kingdom on October 29th, 1971.



Note 8. (Letter No. 23)

Mrs Emily Axford was born in Huddersfield, England on October 19th, 1870 and was an infant teacher before her marriage. In 1907, the family emigrated to New Zealand where her husband practiced medicine in Te Aroha until his passing in 1912, after which Mrs Axford moved to Auckland so as to educate her three children. Having rejected conventional Christianity, she was attracted by the New England Transcendental Movement until she became aware of the Bahá’í Faith through her friendship with Sarah Blundell and was enrolled as a member in 1923. Three years later, Mrs Axford was elected Chairman of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Auckland and for many years conducted classes in public speaking to help the friends overcome their shyness and reticence so that they might teach the Faith effectively. Emily was one of three New Zealand delegates who attended the National Convention held in Sydney during 1934 and the following year was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand. She continued to work staunchly for the Faith, being appointed in 1946 to the Regional Teaching Committee responsible for formulating teaching plans throughout New Zealand. The following year, she assumed the delicate task of conducting negotiations with the immigration authorities so that Bahá’ís from Persia might be permitted to enter New Zealand as University students, and was actively engaged in this work up to the time of her passing on December 26th, 1949.




Individual Addressees

Letters addressed to individuals by letter number. Only letters presented in their entirety are indicated.

1. Margaret Stevenson
2. Sarah Blundell
3. Margaret Stevenson
4. Bertram Dewing
5. Margaret Stevenson
6. Margaret Stevenson
7. Bertram Dewing
8. Margaret Stevenson
9. Sarah Blundell
10. Sarah Blundell
11. Margaret Stevenson
12. Evelyn Watkin
13. Bertram Dewing
14. Sarah Blundell
15. Amy Dewing
16. Amy Dewing
17. Evelyn Watkin
18. Margaret Stevenson
19. ...
13
20. Bertram Dewing
21. Amy Dewing
22. Amy Dewing
23. Emily Axford
24. Eleanor Leighton
25. Bertram Dewing
26. Ethel Blundell
27. Amy Dewing
28. Ethel Blundell
29. Emily Axford
30. Emily Axford
31. Emily Axford
32. Emily Axford
33. Kitty Carpenter
34. Emily Axford
35. Emily Axford
36. Emily Axford
37. Bertram Dewing
38. Kitty Carpenter
39. Bertram Dewing
40. Kitty Carpenter
41. Kitty Carpenter


Institution Addressees

Letters addressed to institutions by letter number

42. E. Axford, Auckland Bahá’í Group
43. E. Axford, Chairman, Auckland Spiritual Assembly
44. M. Stevenson, Secretary, Auckland Spiritual Assembly
45. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
46. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
47. H. M. Brooks, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
48. H. M. Brooks, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
49. H. M. Brooks, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
50. H. M. Brooks, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
51. Auckland Spiritual Assembly
52. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
53. Auckland Spiritual Assembly
54. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
55. D. Dive, Secretary, Auckland Spiritual Assembly
56. Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Auckland, New Zealand
57. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
58. E. B. Dewing, Secretary, Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Auckland, New Zealand
59. M. G. Bolton, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
60. J. Heggie, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
61. J. Heggie, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
62. J. Heggie, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
63. Secretary, Regional Teaching Committee for New Zealand
64. The Guardian’s message to the first Bahá’í Convention in New Zealand, sent to Mrs Clara Dunn; she was asked to read it on behalf of the Guardian at the Convention and then give it to the New Zealand National Spiritual Assembly
65. Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New Zealand
66. Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New Zealand
67. N. P. L. Walker, Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia
68. Secretary, Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the City of Auckland
69. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New Zealand