Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand

Mrs Amy Dewing and her son Bertram were among New Zealand’s earliest Bahá’ís; Mrs Dewing came from an orthodox Church of England background and viewed with disapproval her son’s questioning attitude which led him to describe himself as a Rationalist. They heard of and accepted the Truth of the Bahá’í Cause after meeting with “Mother” and “Father” Dunn in Devonport, Auckland and, in 1926, both of them served as members of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Auckland. Amy Dewing, as one of a small and persevering group of New Zealand believers, was active in spreading the Message as was her son through whose efforts a Bahá’í magazine was published in Australia and New Zealand to promote the teachings. Prior to her passing in 1957, Amy Dewing witnessed the emergence of the New Zealand community as an independent entity.

Having travelled extensively overseas, Bertram Dewing eventually settled in Auckland. A tireless worker for the Faith, he was a member of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in Devonport in 1951 and in 1958 was elected to the second National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of New Zealand. He pioneered to Hokianga in the same year and a decade later assisted in spreading the Faith to New Plymouth where he worked for the Cause with unabated zeal until he passed to the Abhá Kingdom in 1972 at the age of seventy.