The Regional Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Islands was formed with its seat in Suva, Fiji. [BN No 267 MY 1953 P1]
• Its area of jurisdiction comprised of ten island groups: Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, and Tonga. [BW13:308]
• For the letter of the Custodians to the national convention see MC151–5.
• In 1963 the Universal House of Justice announced that the Assembly was to be dissolved and succeeded by a National Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific Ocean, and a National Spiritual Assembly of the South West Pacific Ocean, with the new Assemblies being formed the following year.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the New Hebrides was formed with its seat in Port Vila. Since 1964 it had been administered by the National Spiritual Assembly of the South West Pacific Ocean. With the name change it became the National Spiritual Assembly of Vanuatu on 30 July 1980. [BW17:xxviii,186, 341]
• With the independence of New Hebrides the National Spiritual Assembly of the South West Pacific Ocean was renamed the National Spiritual Assembly, Bahá'ís of New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands.

Mr. Ruhu'llah Rawhani, a 52-year-old medical supplies salesman was hanged in Mashhad solely for religious reasons. Later that morning, Mr. Rawhani's family was summoned to collect his body and required, despite their protests, to complete the burial within one hour, under the supervision of Government intelligence agents.
• In 1984, Mr. Rawhani was arrested and imprisoned for more than a year. According to an account given by Mr. Rawhani's relatives in the Australian Bahá'í News, Mr. Rawhani was tortured during his first imprisonment. He was arrested a second time in the mid 1990's. The charge was apparently related to his work in the conduct of purely religious activities, such as prayer meetings and children's classes. He was released after 24 hours.
• Mr. Rawhani was arrested for a third time in September 1997 and placed in solitary confinement in Mashhad. He had been accused of "converting" a woman from Islam to the Bahá'í Faith. The woman, however, denied that she had converted; she explained that her mother was a Bahá'í and that she herself had been raised as a Bahá'í. She was not arrested.
• The killing of Mr. Rawhani was the first government execution of a Bahá'í in Iran in six years, and was coupled with the widespread arrest of some 32 Bahá'í educators in fourteen different cities throughout Iran in late September and early October. From the Daily Telegraph, August 2nd 1998. [One Country Jul-Sep 1998 Vol 10 Issue 2, One Country Oct-Dec 1998 Vol 10 Issue 3, Archives of Bahá'í Persecution in Iran]
• See the message from the Universal House of Justice dated 29 September, 1998.
• See the website of the Rowhani Bahá'í School that was established in the town of Luganville in Vanuatu in his memory. It began in 1999 with 7 students in small room above a stationary store and now (2021) has about 230 students from K to year 10.

The Preparation for Social Action programme that was implemented at the beginning of the Five Year Plan was expanded to seven additional countries: Cambodia, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Panama, the Philippines and Vanuatu.
• Over 10,000 had participated in the programme with about 1,800 among these who had studied all of the texts available.
• In addition some 1,700 individuals serving institutions and agencies of the Fatih in 25 countries had studied a selection the the materials in a seminar setting. [5YPSumPage94-95]
• Preparation for Social Action was implemented as a course of study at the New Era High School and Senior Secondary in Panchgani.

Plans were announced that the Universal House of Justice was entering into consultations with respective National Spiritual Assemblies regarding the erection of the first local Houses of Worship in each of the following clusters: Battambang, Cambodia; Bihar Sharif, India; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Norte del Cauca, Colombia; and Tanna, Vanuatu.
• It was announced in the Ridván Message that a Temples Fund was established at the Bahá’í World Centre to support the construction of the two national and five local Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs, as well as other such projects. The friends everywhere are invited to contribute to it sacrificially, as their means allow. [BWNS906; Riḍván 2012 To the Bahá'ís of the World]
• In a message from the Universal House of Justice dated 1 August 2014 it was announced that the Office of Temples and Sites had been created in 2012.

The plan for the design of the local Mashriqul-Adhkár in Tanna, Vanuatu was announced. Ashkan Mostaghim of Mostaghim & Associates, a firm from Sydney, Australia, was chosen as the Temple's architect. His design was on the shortlist for the Continental Mashriqul-Adhkár in Santiago. [BWNS1175]
• No less than a hundred design ideas had been offered for the Temple. [Ridván Message, 2014]
• In the same message, the House of Justice highlighted Tanna as an example of a community where an entire population is moving toward a vision of material and spiritual prosperity, for which Baha'is around the world are striving.

About 2,000 people were joined by representatives of the national government and members of the National Spiritual Assembly for the groundbreaking ceremony at the Temple site at Lenakel, on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. A traditional wooden spade called a kakel was used to turn the soil symbolizing the start of construction on the local Bahá'í House of Worship. Local chiefs had presented the kakel to the Bahá'í community in a customary ceremony the day before to honour the eight tribes of Tanna that together offered the land for the Temple. [BWNS1373]
• Slideshow of the event.

The Universal House of Justice was represented by Henry Tamashiro who delivered this Message.

Specifics

Location:near Lenakel on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu
Unveiling of the design: 18 June 2017
Foundation Stone: 17 November 2019
Construction Period: 17 November 2019 to 13 November 2021
Site Dedication:13 November 2021
Architect: Ashkan Mostaghim
Architectural firm:
Capacity: 300
Dimensions:
Cost:
Dependencies: Amphitheater for large community gatherings
References: BWNS1550; BWNS1549; BWNS1530; BWNS1515; BWNS1175; BWNS1373; BWNS1176