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The Adelaide Australia Temple is the 89th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Plans to build an LDS temple in Adelaide were announced on 17 March 1999. Up until this time, LDS members had to travel between fifteen and twenty hours one-way to visit the closest temple in Sydney. The LDS Church has seen rapid growth in Australia in recent years. In 1955 there were only 3,000 members in Australia, today there are more than 100,000 members. Census statistics show that the LDS Church is the fastest-growing Christian faith in Australia. This rapid growth prompted church leaders to announce new temples across Australia; one in Melbourne, one in Brisbane, one in Perth, and the one in Adelaide.
A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication were held on 29 May 1999. Vaughn J. Featherstone, a member of the Seventy, led the ceremony and gave the site dedication prayer. Despite heavy rains, more than 500 people gathered to witness the groundbreaking and site dedication. Many were involved in the groundbreaking including the Mayor of Adelaide, other government officials, and children.
The LDS temple sits on 6.94 acres (28,100 m2) just a few miles away from the centre of the city of Adelaide. The temple was built of the finest materials including an exterior finish of snow-white granite from Campolonghi, Italy. The community was very interested in the progress on the temple and numerous stories were printed in the media.
The Adelaide Australia Temple was open to the public from 3–10 June 2000. On the first day of the open house more than 5,000 people visited the temple and it continued to be busy; nearly 50,000 people were able to take a tour through the temple.
The temple was dedicated on 15 June 2000 by LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley. Hinckley dedicated four different temples in the same trip—the first time this had occurred in church history. The Adelaide temple was the third temple to be dedicated on this trip. Four dedicatory sessions were held, which allowed for more than 2,500 members to be present at the temple's dedication.
The Adelaide Australia Temple has a total of 10,700 square feet (990 m2), two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.
Ordinance Workers
A separate project has been set up for members of the church who have worked as Ordinance Workers in the Adelaide Australia Temple.