Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

2

Locating

a

Buddhist

temple

in

Wollongong,

New South Wales

Gordon Wait!

Theaimot’this

chapter

isto

examine

why

the

largest

Buddhist

temple

inthe

sottthem

hemisphere(Nan

Tien

Temple

,

ParadiseoftheSouthem

Hemisphere)

is

locatedin

Wollongong,

New

South

Wales.

a

city

builtona

heavyindustrylegacy

of

coalmining

and

steelmaking.

Thechoiceof

Wollongongmay.

therefore.

seem

quite

remarkableat

first,

adecision

whichbecomesevenmore

astonishing

when

considering

thesmallnumbersthat

comprised

theresidentBuddhist

community

Similarly.

the site.in thesuburbof

Berkeley,appears equallypuzzlinggiven

Its

proximity

to

a

freeway.

industrial

estatesandresidentialsuburbs.An

expla—

nationforthis

location

pu711c

is

sought

within

thediscoursesofthealdemrenof

WollongongCity

Council.theChristianministriesandthe

[To

Kuang

Shan.in

help

explore

thelocationof

NanTien

Temple

inthe

Wollongong

suburbof

Berkeley,

datawere

collectedfroma

range

ofsources

throughparticipatory

observation.

interviews

with

key

informantsandthecollectionoftexts

offeringrepresenta-

tions

ofthe

temple including:

newspaper

articles. the lntemationat Buddhist

Association‘snewslettersand

WollongongCity

Councildocuments.Discourses

identified

asmostcriticalto

informing

thedecision

tolocatethe

temple

in

Berkeley

werethose

pertaining

to

geomancy.

multiculturalism.faithandtourisrn

marketing.

The

chapter

has

fivesections.Thefirstsection

introduces NanTien

Temple

and

Wollongong.

The

secondsectionthen

explores

why

aTaiwaneseBuddhist

sect

wouldevenconsider

locating

a

temple

ina

regional

Australian

city

Withan

industrial

legacy

ofcoaland

steel.Thethirdsectiondiscussestheambivalenceof

ChristianministriestoNanTien

Temple.

Thefourthidentifieshowthealderrnen

of

WollongongCity

Council

framedthe

templecomplex

“llhlnthcdiscoursesof

multiculturalism andorientalism. The

conclusiondiscu esthe

implications

of

thesedifferentdiscursive

framings

forBuddhistsas

citizensof

Wollongong.

NanTien

Temple,Berkeley.

Wollongong.

NewSouthWales

In

October1995.GrandMaster

Hsing

Yun

presided

overthe

openingceremony

ofNan
Tien
Temple.

In

doingso.

Grand Master

Hsing

Yun

(who

foundedthe

F0
Kuang

ShanBuddhist

Sectin 1967 in

Taiwan)

effectively

createda

Buddhist

sacredsiteinthesuburbof
Berkeley,
Wollongong

FortheF0

Kuang

Shanthe

site

linksheavenand
earth;

the

complex

isreferredtoasa

‘pure

landonearth".For

Locating

a

Buddhirl

temple

in

Wollongong

75

overthree

years,

Wollongong

residents

hadwatchedthe

previously

vacant,

council

ownedlandon

thenorthsideof

Berkeley’s

Flagstaff

Hill

being

transformedinto

oneoftheworld's

largest

Buddhist

shrines,costing

anestimatedA550

million.

The9.65hectaresite

includeda

temple

withitsmain

shrine.

auditorium,

dining

andkitchen

facilities,

accommodation,

classrooms.

meditationrooms.museum.

library,sleepingquarters

andadministration

area.The

adjacentpagoda

hadtwo

shrinesandalcoves

fortheashesof73.000

people.

ThisBuddhistsacred

sitewas

hounded

by

residential

propertyalong

the

southwestborder.the

publicly

owned

Wollongong

Crematorium

along

thenortheast

boundary.

theF6

Freewayalong

the

northwestborder

and,

tothe

south,

another

vacantcouncil

block,

thesummitof

Flagstaff]

till.The

templc‘sgates,

itsBuddha

statuesandChinese

palace

architec-

tural

style

,

dominated

by

brilliant

green.

red.

yellow

andochre

colours

,

visually

introduceda

new setof

symbols

that

contrasted

starkly

with the

surrounding

lightindustry

sheds.

power

cables.

F6

Freeway

androofsof

suburbia.

Equally

striking

was

theintroductionofanew

setof

religiouspractices

associatedwitha

Buddhistsacred

siteintoasuburb

previously

dominated

by

routines

ofwork,

home

and

predominantly

Christiancremation.

Thesanctified

sitewas

separated

from

the

profane

throughnaming.

knowing.ceremony,

rites

and

spatialorganization

(Jackson

and Henric1983:

94).

AsCarmichael. Hubert.

ReevesandSchanchc

(1994)

argued,

sacredsitesbecome

Vestedwithcultural

identity

and

place-based

attachments

throughbeing

vestedwithawhole

range

ofritesandasetofbeliefs.

Inthe

19905.

Wollongong,

situatedsome 80

kmsouthof

Sydney.may

have

atfirst

appeared

a remarkable

location. Ofthe

140,000

Buddhists resident

inAustralia in 1991 when

decisions over the

temple's

location were

being

Considered.

the

majority

lived

inthestateofNewSouth

Wales

(59.000),particu-

larly

inthe

Sydney

suburbs

ofFairfield

(19.904)

andBankstown

(13.691)

(ABS

1991).

Sydney

wasthe

moreobviouschoice.Indeed,

since1988.theF0

Kuang

Shari

already

hadanestablished

presence

in

thecentralbusinessdistrictof

Sydney

(the

NanTienCentre.

Darling

Harbour),

In

part.

thiswastoaccommodate

the

increasing

numbersof

Buddhistwhowere

migrants

fromVietnamand

later.

from

Burma.China.and

HongKong.

Wollongong,

unlike

Sydney.

neither

provided

theinfrastructurenor had

the

economy

toattract

large

numbersofmore

recentAsian

migrants.

In

comparison.

according

tothe

1995 Australian census.

Wollongong,

had atotal

population

ofover210.000.

which was

predominantly

Christian. with

only

around 800

Buddhists.

these

beingwidely

distributed

throughout

itssuburban

matrix.While

the

Wollongong

City

Council

praised

the

city's

cultural

diversity.

the

population

remained

fairly

homogeneousby

religion.Christianitypredominated

andeventhe

majority

of

people

from

non~Eng1ish

speaking

countrieshad

a

European

heritage

(predominantly

from

Italy.

Macedonia,

Germany.

Netherlands

and

Greece).

This

cultural

heritage

reflected

Wollongong'spost-World

War

II

migration policies

andthelabour

requirements

of

Wollongong's

steel

industry. Equally.

the 1995

Australiancensusdata

suggested

thatthesuburbof

Berkeley

wasnot

onlypredomi-

nantly

Christian.butalso

a

place

ot'residcnccto

mainly

Anglo-Celtic

Australians

(85%)

andasuburbof

relativesocial

disadvantage

in

Wollongong

(ABS1996).