In late November, a new stake was created in New Zealand. The Hamilton New Zealand Rotokauri Stake was organized from stakes in the Hamilton area and includes the following six wards and one branch: The Bremworth Park, Dinsdale, Grandview, Hamilton (Tongan), Nawton, and Tuhikaramea Wards and the Raglan Branch. The new stake becomes the first stake created in New Zealand in 15 years. There are now 26 stakes and three districts in the country.
I note the creation of the Melbourne Australia Gippsland Stake.
ReplyDeleteThe Cranbourne, Devon Meadows (Samoan), and Lynbrook wards, which meet in a building on the Gippsland Highway in Cranbourne have left the Melbourne Australia Braeside Stake, as has the Wonthaggi Branch.
Also, the Moe and Pakenham wards and the Bairnsdale and Sale branches have left the Melbourne Australia Pakenham Stake (which has been renamed the Melbourne Australia Narre Warren Stake).
Although the new stake hasn't been created in the Meetinghouse Locator yet, it does appear that these 5 wards and 3 branches, all to the south or southeast of Melbourne are in the new stake.
I note the creation of the Melbourne Australia Craigieburn Stake yesterday.
ReplyDeleteCraigieburn is a town of about 32,000 people about 30 km north of Melbourne.
The Craigieburn Ward, which covered the town and territory extending northward has been in the Melbourne Australia Heidelberg Stake.
I suspect the Wyndham, Deer Park, Heidelberg stakes have been adjusted to create the Craigieburn Stake.
I should have listed Melbourne Australia Maroondah Stake as a source for the new Craigieburn Stake. This stake is currently the largest of the Melbourne stakes and is next to the Heidelberg Stake.
ReplyDeleteWell Australia Brisbane area two new stakes, then Melbourne two new stakes and based on that I would say sydney is next with at least two new stakes. Brisbane region (including the sunshine and gold coast areas) has 57 ward for 10 stakes ave 5.7 wards per stake, Melbourne (which must be stretching) 40 wards for 8 stakes ave 5 wards per stake (and some branches). The greater Sydney region has 65 wards for 8 stakes currently. Based on that logic you should see 2 new stakes in this region soon? The newcastle stake in the hunter valley north of Sydney has 13 units and would not be too far away if they reactivated some priesthood there would be enough i'd say. I served my mission there.
ReplyDeleteI did find it exciting that not long after two stakes were created in the Brisbane area, two more would be created in the Melbourne area. I hope to see more stakes in Sydney or Perth or Adelaide.
ReplyDeleteI count the following 40 wards and 7 branches in the 7 Melbourne Stakes:
Melbourne Australia Wyndham Stake
Footscray 1st Ward
Point Cook Ward
Werribee Ward
Melton Ward
Ballarat Ward
Geelong Ward
Warrnambool Branch
Horsham Branch
Melbourne Australia Deer Park Stake
Sunbury Ward
Tullamarine Ward (Samoan)
Deer Park Ward
Brimbank Ward (Tongan)
Bendigo Ward
Greenvale Ward
Glenroy Ward
Melbourne Australia Heidelberg Stake
Epping Ward
Craigieburn Ward
Fairfield Ward
Eltham Ward
Caulfield Ward
Melbourne Branch (Mandarin)
Seymour Branch
Melbourne Australia Braeside Stake
Moorabbin Ward
Springvale Ward
Patterson Lakes Ward
Frankston Ward
Mornington Ward
Melbourne Australia Maroondah Stake
Doncaster Ward
Wantirna South Ward
Wantirna Ward
Waverley Ward
Croydon Ward
Mooroolbark Ward
Yarra Valley Ward
Melbourne Australia Narre Warren Stake
Narre Warren Ward
Churchill Park Ward
Hampton Park Ward (Samoan)
Dandenong Ward
Hallam Ward
Melbourne Australia Gippsland Stake
Pakenham Ward
Wonthaggi Branch
Lynbrook Ward
Devon Meadows Ward (Samoan)
Cranbourne Ward
Moe Ward
Sale Branch
Bairnsdale Branch
There is also a district with 8 branches to the north of Melbourne and I wonder if any of those branches are merging into the new stake:
Wangaratta Australia District
Albury Branch
Benalla Branch
Echuca Branch
Finley Branch
Griffith Branch
Shepparton Branch
Wagga Wagga Branch
Wangaratta Branch
I think I should apologize to the New Zealand saints for hijacking this thread to Australia.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Melbourne seemed unlikely to have new stakes created Adelaide and Perth seem highly unlikely especially Adelaide, without more ward 4-6 being created first. In Adelaide there has been ward consolidations in stakes with not one of the three stakes there with more than 5 wards. Perth I understand has had some growth but still have 4 smaller stakes. Watch Sydney. There was a consoloidation of an inner city stake in last 2 years but having served there it was just a shift of families from expensive city housing to outer suburbs not loss of members. They will create two this year and another within 3-5 years is my tip. That is two in sydney and one in Newcastle in the next 3-5 years, but some soon.
ReplyDeleteFair comment about Perth and Adelaide.
ReplyDeleteAs for Melbourne, 47 units in 8 stakes would be an average of 5.9 units per stake, which is slightly higher than the 50 wards and 7 branches in 10 stakes near Brisbane of 5.7 units per stake.
I understand your points about Sydney and Newcastle. The Newcastle Australia Stake has 10 wards and 2 branches in it. It could be split in the near future if there are enough active priesthood holders and full tithe payers.
With somewhat over 100 callings at the stake level, a stake needs to be staffed at about the same level as a small ward or large branch in terms of numbers. But, at the stake level, more experience is generally required.
I find it ironic that the comments about growth in Australia are in this post about the creation of a stake in NZ. In truth, these new stakes in aus are the expat stakes of NZ.
ReplyDelete