Hilda Brooks
Hilda Margaret Brooks | |
|---|---|
 Hilda Brooks (c. 1934) | |
| Born | July 14, 1896 Booleroo Centre, South Australia, Australia |
| Died | January 15, 1969 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| NSA member | Australia & N.Z., 1934 - 1948 |
| Spouse(s) | Ewart Gladstone Thomas (1946-1969) |
| Parent(s) | William Brooks and Margaret Dempster |
Hilda Margaret Brooks (July 14, 1896 - January 15, 1969)[1] was an early South Australian Bahá'í who served as the inaugural secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand and Keeper of the Archives for the Australian Bahá'í community. She was a prominent administrator and public speaker in the Australian Bahá'í community, often incorporating Bible verses into talks on the Faith, reflecting her Christian background.
Background[edit]
Hilda was born into a rural Methodist family in South Australia. She first heard of the Faith at a ‘New Thought’ meeting and became a Bahá'í along with four members of her family. She was voted onto the Local Spiritual Assembly of Adelaide in April 1932 and elected as secretary.
She was one of the main public speakers for the Faith in South Australia and often spoke at the Radiant Health Society and Theosophical Society. She practiced her speeches with her family and at a Bahá'í study circle for public speaking practice that had been established in 1931.[2] By 1940 she was regularly speaking at a monthly public meeting in Adelaide held to promote the Faith, and in 1944 she delivered a talk on unity at a Bahá'í Centenary celebration in Adelaide.[3]
National Secretary[edit]
In 1934 a National Convention was held to establish a National Spiritual Assembly for Australia and New Zealand. Hilda was elected as a delegate to vote for the National Spiritual Assembly on behalf of the Bahá'ís of Adelaide along with Silver Jackman and Robert Brown. She was elected to the NSA as Secretary.
As Secretary she had considerable administrative duties which she carried out from her home, which served as the Secretariat for the Bahá'í community of Australia from 1934 to 1944.[4] Due to the geographical size of the Australian and New Zealand community the Assembly could only meet once per year, and Brooks had to facilitate consultation between Assembly members by correspondence.[5] She also corresponded with Shoghi Effendi on behalf of the NSA of Australia and New Zealand. Some letters from Shoghi Effendi to Hilda were confiscated by the Australian government in 1940 due to wartime restrictions.
In the 1930's Brooks began giving talks on the Faith outside of South Australia, visiting Melbourne to speak in April, 1938, September 1940, April to June 1941 and in 1942. In 1938 she was appointed the Australian and New Zealand Editor of Bahá'í World.[6] In 1939 she accompanied Martha Root when she visited Melbourne and Hobart.[7]
In 1941 Brooks visited Brisbane for one month with Charlotte Moffitt and Jane Routh to undertake a teaching campaign. She delivered a speech on the World Order of Baha’u’llah to sixty people on May 12th which was reported by the press, and she was interviewed by the editor of ‘Queensland Country Life’, a magazine for rural farmers in Queensland. She gave several talks during this campaign, including lectures at Theosophical Society meetings. Many Bahá'í books were distributed at her talks, with three parcels of books needing to be sent to Brisbane to keep up with demand.[8]
In addition to serving as Secretary and giving talks on the Faith Brooks served on the editorial committees of the Australian Bahá'í periodicals Herald of the South and Bahá'í Quarterly, and she became the editor of Bahá'í Quarterly in 1944.[9] In 1943 she engaged in a public debate with a Catholic Priest named Dr. Leonard through letters published in the Mittagong Star, a newspaper that Leonard was editor of. Leonard himself acknowledged that his view of the Faith had been based on misconceptions which were clarified by Brooks. Brooks also taught at the inaugural Yerrinbool Bahá'í Summer School, and regularly gave public talks about the Faith.[10]
In 1944 the Australian Bahá'ís purchased a building in Sydney to serve as a Haziratu’l-Quds, and the Secretariat was relocated from Brooks home in Adelaide to Sydney. Brooks did not move to Sydney and Dulcie Dive was elected as Secretary in her place, although Brooks remained a member of the Assembly until 1948.[11] Brooks personally delivered all her files and Relics in her possession, including a lock of Baha’u’llah’s hair, to the Haziratu’l-Quds.[12]
Later Life[edit]
Hilda married a tram driver named Ewart G. Thomas on November 28th, 1946.[13] In the same year she visited Melbourne and met with several prominent figures to present the Faith, including the Chief Commissioner of the Police force, a Jewish Rabbi and a former MP.
She retired from the National Assembly in 1948 and Shoghi Effendi had the following written by his secretary:
"He deeply appreciates the work done by Miss Brooks in the past as secretary of the National Assembly, and hopes that now that she is relieved of this arduous post, she will devote much of her time to teaching and writing for the Faith."[14]
Brooks taught the Faith in the South Australian communities of Unley, Quorn, Srathalbyn and her local community, Burnside following her retirement from the National Assembly. A Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Burnside in 1950 and both Hilda and Ewart were elected as members.[15] Hilda continued to give talks on the Faith across South Australia throughout the 1950's.[16][17]
References[edit]
- ↑ Baha’is in the West by Peter Smith
- ↑ Baha’i News No. 141
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74621136?searchTerm="hilda%20brooks"&searchLimits=l-state=South+Australia
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110301212311/http://www.bahai.org.au/Meet/BahaisinMyState/SouthAustralia.aspx
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/hassall_brooks_australian_bahais
- ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 113, Pg(s) 4-28 September 2017. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha’i News No. 141
- ↑ Baha’i News No. 148
- ↑ Outpost of a World Religion by Graham Hassall.
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/hassall_yerrinbool_1938-1988
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/hassall_brooks_australian_bahais
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1949). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 10 (1944-1946), Pg(s) 224. View as PDF.
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/35699316?searchTerm="hilda%20brooks"&searchLimits=l-state=South+Australia
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/hassall_brooks_australian_bahais
- ↑ http://bahairesearch.com/english/Baha'i/Authoritative_Baha'i/Shoghi_Effendi/Messages_to_the_Antipodes_Part_2.aspx
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/97827312
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/215959104
External Links[edit]
- Hilda Margaret Brooks on WikiTree - family tree
