Dinamalar

To deposit the Aarthi offerings, an account was opened under the name of Indian Mandir Society in Civic Building Society - forerunner of the present Advance Bank.

Monthly pujas continued to be held regularly. From September 198O, we started celebrating Navratre twice a year, as well as all the major Hindu festivals.

By 1986, the Canberra Hindu community started showing considerable religious devotion. At Dussehra Puja in 1986, the gathering made a sacred sankalpa (resolution) to build a Mandir. Soon after that, a separate organisation Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre was formed.

An application for land was filed with the ACT Government in 1987. The prevailing laws of the ACT Government required that the Mandir Society had to be incorporated with a constitution.

An Executive Committee comprising of Sri Siva, Sri Kanthigesar and Sri A Bhardwaj and myself was formed and an application lodged for incorporation. The Society was incorporated and the constitution was adopted. Having thus met all the requirements of the ACT Government, the Government agreed to grant a lease of land at Mawson.

The construction work recommenced on 15 August 1994 and the Mandir Building was opened on 27 November 1994 by Mr Bill Wood, then ACT Minister for Land, Environment Planning. The spiritual occasional discourse was given by Rev. Gopeshawari Devi. Since that day the Mandir has been opened every Sunday and on all auspicious days. The devotional pujas performed by Sri L Prasad, Sri Mani and Sri K Venkatraman have been greatly appreciated.

Mandir Society of Australia Incorporated

P O Box 3259

Weston Creek, 2611

ACT, Australia

Phone: +61 2 6282 2202

Website: www.mandir1.org.au