Noel Walker
Noel P. L. Walker (d. November 1983) was an Australian Bahá'í who served as the third Treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand. He served on the Assembly from 1944 to 1948, and again from 1954 to 1957. He went on to serve on the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia from 1957 to 1961.[1]
Background[edit]
Noel's father was Reverend Edward Walker (b. May 28th, 1873),[2] who joined the clergy of the Anglican Church in 1903 and served as the Rector of Grenfell from 1913 to 1917.[3] He was appointed the Rector of Chatswood in 1917, and held the position until being appointed as Rector of St. Michael's Church in Wollongong in 1924.[4][5] He held that position until 1940, when he was appointed the Rector of All Saint's Parish, Parramatta.[6][7]
Noel married Bessie Winifred Bradford on February 25, 1936 and they had sons in November 1936, and in 1941.[8][9][10] He was taught about the Faith by Stanley and Mariette Bolton in Orange and became a Bahá'í in 1942.[11]
He was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand in 1944 as Treasurer because the Community had purchased a Haziratu’l-Quds in Sydney to serve as the National Centre and the former Treasurer, Silver Jackman, was unable to move to Sydney.[12] He served on the Assembly until 1947, and was re-elected in 1954 when several members of the National Spiritual Assembly retired in order to pioneer across the Pacific.
When Australia and New Zealand established independent National Spiritual Assemblies in 1957 Noel Walker was elected as the inaugural Secretary of the Australian Assembly. He received a telegram from Shoghi Effendi appointing Collis Featherstone a Hand of the Cause in October 1957, and informed Collis by telephone immediately.[13] In 1958 he represented the Australian Assembly at an Intercontinental Conference in Singapore, where he requested pioneers for the Pacific and support for Bahá'í schools in New Hebrides.[14]
He wrote an article about the Construction of the Australian House of Worship in the 1950's which was published in Bahá'í World and he and his wife served as caretakers of the House of Worship later in life.[15][16]
References[edit]
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/shoghi-effendi_messages_antipodes Footnote No. 164
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132137002
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/111957502
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113642434
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/138371887
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102394689
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/102394689
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/121627069?searchTerm=
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17744346?searchTerm=
- ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17271597
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/shoghi-effendi_messages_antipodes Footnote No. 164
- ↑ Baha’i World, Vol. 10, p224
- ↑ Washington, Bill, Hands of the Cause of God, Recollections, 2014: https://bahai-library.com/washington_recollections_hands_cause
- ↑ Baha'i News, No. 334
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/shoghi-effendi_messages_antipodes Footnote No. 164
- ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 13, p 721-726
