The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has had a presence in the Australia since 1840. First missionaries, convert, and congregation: The LDS Church was introduced into Australia when William James Barratt, emigrated from England to Adelaide in November 1840. He had been ordained an elder by George A. Smith, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who instructed him to share the gospel whenever he could. Barratt, whose descendants still live in the Adelaide area, eventually drifted away from the church, but not until after he had baptized Robert Beauchamp, probably the first Australian convert. Beauchamp later became president of the Australian Mission. Andrew and Elizabeth Anderson, also British converts, immigrated to Wellington, near Dubbo, New South Wales, with their three children in 1841. Anderson baptized several converts and in 1844 organized the church's first Australian branch in Wellington. Official LDS missionary work did not begin in Australia until John Murdock and Charles W. Wandell arrived in Sydney from Utah on 30 October 1851. The first church building was constructed in Brisbane in 1904 and the country’s first temple, located in Sydney, was completed in 1984. Current status: As of 6 April 2013, the LDS Church reported 136,617 members, 34 stakes, nine districts, 208 wards, 82 branches, and five missions. There are five temples in Australia, located in the cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The membership reported by the church in Australia is approximately 0.57% of the country's population. However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics census in 2011 had only 59,770 who described themselves as Latter-day Saints or 0.28% of the population. LDS Church membership statistics are different from self-reported statistics mainly because the LDS Church does not remove an individual’s name from its membership rolls based on inactivity in the church. Temples: The Sydney Australia Temple was the first LDS temple built in Australia; it was dedicated in September 1984. Four additional temples were dedicated between 2000 and 2003.