- 1912-00-00 —
Margaret Stevenson was the first believer in New Zealand. [New Zealand Bahá'í News, May 1997]
- See 11 February, 1941 for biographical information.
- For a photo see Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- She was the first New Zealand Bahá'i, and for 10 years from 1912, the only one. When the first New Zealand Bahá'i group formed in 1924, Stevenson was elected its president. Her two sisters also joined the faith. Stevenson remained secretary of the Bahá'i Spiritual Assembly in New Zealand until her passing in 1941.
- 1923-00-00 —
- 1925-09-00 — Bertram Dewing began publication of the Bahá'í magazine Herald of the South in Auckland. [Collins174; SBR163; BWNS1289]
- 1926-02-14 — In a ceremony, dust from the Tomb of Bahá'u'lláh brought back by pilgrims (including Margaret Stevenson) from the Holy land, was placed into the soil of New Zealand at the Stevenson's home. [Arohanui pg94]
- 1934-05-15 —
The first National Convention of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand was held in Sydney, with nine delegates in attendance. [SBR165]
- The first Regional Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand was elected with its seat in Sydney. [GPB333,SBR165] iiiii
- Those elected were: Percy Almond, Ethel Blundell, Hilda Brooks, Robert Brown, Hyde Dunn, Silver Jackman, Charlotte Moffitt, Margaret Stevenson, and Oswald Whitaker. [A Vision of Unity p10-11]
- 1936-00-04 — The National Assembly of Australia and New Zealand first issued its news organ, the Bahá'í Quarterly.
- 1938-01-00 — The National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand incorporated. [GPB336]
- 1947-00-00 — The Australian-New Zealand teaching plan, the Australian Six Year Plan (1947–53), comprising internal goals only, was launched. [BBRSM158; LGANZ97; The Spiritual Conquest of the Planet (Supplement) p2]
The homefront goals were:
- To establish two new Spiritual Assemblies in Australia
- To establish nineteen groups in Australasia - 1947-04-21 — The National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand launched a Six Year Plan (1947-1953). [Ruhi 8.2 p46]
- 1957-04-21 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand formed separate National Assemblies. [BW13p306]
- Since 1934 they were part of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand.
- 1977-01-19 —
An International Teaching Conference was held in Auckland, New Zealand, attended by 1,195 Bahá'ís. [BW17:81; VV33]
- For the message of the Universal House of Justice see BW17:136–7.
- For pictures see BW17:111, 122–4.
- 1982-00-00 — The first publication of Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand by the Bahá'í Publishing Trust in Suva, Fiji Islands. [BW18p878]
- 1987-02-06 — Maori women held the first National Women's Hui in the tribal area of Ngati Tuwharetoa, New Zealand. [BINS163:8]
- 1988-05-31 — The Universal House of Justice wrote to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand to comment on a paper titled The Service of Women on the Institutions of the Baha'i Faith presented at the New Zealand Bahai Studies Association Conference in Christchurch earlier that month.
The paper raised the possibility that the ineligibility of women for membership on the Universal House of Justice may be a temporary provision subject to change through a process of progressive unfoldment of the divine purpose.
[31 May 1988] - 1994-08-00 — A Maoris teaching team visited British Columbia. The visit was reciprocated by The Journey of Teech-ma, the First Nations Travel Teaching Trip to the South Pacific. See entry for 24 March, 1997. [SDSC370]
- 1997-03-24 — The nine member First Nations Travel Teaching Trip to the South Pacific, called "The Journey of Teech-ma" consisted of Canadian Bahá'ís from Kwakiutl, Nuu-Cha-Nuth, the Ojibway First Nations, a Yupik Bahá'í from Alaska and three non-Native Canadian friends. They shared their culture and their Faith with the Maori, other New Zealanders, the Aborigines and other Australians as well as the ne-Vanuatu peoples. See entry for 1994 (Summer). [SDSC370]
- 2009-01-31 — Regional Conferences were held in Auckland, New Zealand and Battambang, Cambodia. [BWNS692]
- 2018-09-09 —
Ētahi Karakia Bahá'í (Book of Bahá'í Prayers) was launched at the Pūrekireki Marae in Pirongia to coincide with the beginning of Māori Language Week. For Dr. Tom Roa, professor of Maori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato, it was the fourth significant translation of canonical Bahá'í texts he and his team have undertaken. This endeavour came amid broader efforts to revive the Maori language. Dr. Roa, who has been at the forefront of these efforts, said that Maori speakers were a declining share of New Zealand's population. Maori people made up only 15 percent of the population, and only a fifth of them can have a conversation in Maori, he noted. -
Providing access to prayers in Maori was a key motivation for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of New Zealand when it undertook the process in 2004. A small team of Bahá'ís worked with Dr. Roa, who had translated other spiritual texts into the Maori language, including the Bible and the Quran. The 14-year translation project began first with The Hidden Words, Bahá'u'lláh's preeminent ethical work, and then Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, an introduction to the Faith.
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Bahá'í writings have been translated into some 800 languages to this date. [BWNS1287; Raglan23 18SEP2018]
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