he steady multiplication and consolidation of
the nascent institutions of the Faith in Australia, New Zealand and
Tasmania and the erection of the Administrative structure of the Faith in
the islands and archipelagos beyond the shores of the Australian
continent.

The despatch of pioneers to the seven virgin islands assigned to the
National Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand is the first
and most vital objective of the newly launched Ten-Year Plan, requiring
urgent consideration, careful planning, and energetic action, in the
course of the current year. Every effort should be exerted and the utmost
sacrifice should be made, to ensure, ere the opening year of this great
and historic Plan draws to a close, the settlement of at least one pioneer
in each of these Islands--an achievement which will seal with success the
opening phase of the collective enterprise auspiciously launched by your
Assembly on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of the birth of
Baha'u'llah's Mission.

Second in importance and far-reaching in its repercussions is the
selection and purchase by your assembly--an undertaking to which Baha'i
National Assemblies, as well as I myself, will contribute--of the site of
the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in the Antipodes, to be situated either
within or in the immediate outskirts of, the city of Sydney, the leading
and oldest Baha'i Centre in the Australian continent, and which already
houses the National Administrative Headquarters of your assembly.

These two essential obligations, as well as the task of consolidating
steadily the prizes already won in the administrative field in that
continent, must take precedence over all other obligations assumed by the
prosecutors of the Plan, and will, if fulfilled in time, constitute a
splendid prelude to its systematic execution and eventual consummation.

The valiant and youthful Baha'i communities established in Australia, New
Zealand and Tasmania, which despite their limited resources, the smallness
of their numbers, their relative inexperience, and the various obstacles
which have confronted them in the past, have proved themselves capable of
such memorable feats, in both the teaching and administrative spheres of
Baha'i activity, will, surely, refuse to hesitate or falter at this
crucial and challenging hour in the unfoldment of their destiny, and will
never allow themselves to be outdone by their sister-communities who share
with them