How did it all began :
Hindu temple and cultural center of Florey, Canberra is a Vaishnav temple that has dieties of various Hindu faiths. One of the key objectives of the temple is to unite Indians of various faiths living in Australia. To implement this key objective, the temple has over a period of last 10 years has installed various deities representing diverse faiths. A Murti of Lord Buddha was consecrated in the temple in the last year of the previous millennium.
Mr Radhey Shrama, then president of HTCC (Hindu Temple and Cultural Center) initiated discussions with Shri Navin Jain and Shri Kamal Jain of Sydney inviting them to install a Murti of lord Mahavira. Both Navin and Kamal saw an opportunity to make a historic event. It was a mammoth and difficult task as the number of Jains in Sydney is very small and many of them are very new to Australia. Canberra itself has very few jain families and is about 300 Kilometers from Sydney which has a population fo about 40-50 jain families. Navin proposed to the Sydney Jain Mandal in one of their monthly bhajan meetings that Sydney Jains get together behind this project and help create first place of Jain piligrimage in Australia. Jains in Sydney being few in numbers and many of them new to Australia felt that the task is too big and that Canberra was too far away for them. Despondent Navin and others few Jains who supported the project felt alone and unsure of what to do.
Navin went to see Shri Bhagwan Dass Jain an elderly Sthanakvasi Jain who has settled in Sydney. Bhagwan Dass Ji encouraged the supporters of the project to go ahead. He reminded them that they are working for a noble cause. He assured them that the community support for the project will develop if they do not give up now. He reminded them that rich people of India built magnificant temples not always near their hometown. He advised the supporters of the project that the distance between Sydney and Canberra should not be a hinderence to the project. A temple is a place of worship and education for all people living in the region.
Encouraged by his advise, supporters of the Murti project decided not to seek any more funds from the public but to pay for the entire project from their own resources. These six families decided to bear the cost of getting a statue made and transport it from India to Canberra at their own expense. On deciding to go ahead, Shri Kamal Jain immediatelly got in touch with his brother Rajendra Jain of Bombay who arranged a Murtikaar in Jaipur to build the Murti. Shri Ashok Jain of Canberra who was visting India at that time took sometime off from his holidays and placed an order with the Murtikaar for a white marble Mahavir Murti about 3 feet high. Shri Navin Jain of Sydney, Shri Kamal Jain of Sydney and some anonymous donors contributed to pay the cost of the Murtikaar. Shri Surinder Jain of Sydney and Shri Rajesh Jain of Sydney took the responsibility of paying expenses to bring the Murti from Delhi,India to Sydney and then to Canberra. Mrs Jain of Rohtak on request from her son in law Rakesh Jain of Canberra arranged to procure suitable traditional dresses to be worn by the devotees. The transportation cost for bringing these dresses and other samagri from Delhi to Sydney was paid by Shri Surinder Jain of Sydney and Shri Rajesh Jain of Sydney.
The arrival of the Murti triggered a feverish excitement among the Jain community in Sydney that Shri Bhagwan Dass Jain had predicted. The entire Jain community was delighted and gave their whole hearted support to the project. The arrival of the Murti energised those Jains in Syndey who had earlier felt helpless that the task is too big and that we should not support a project that is not with in our reach. The Murti arrived in Canberra and both Kamal and Navin got busy in arranging for a Swami ji to come from India to consecrate the Murti. The Sydeny Jain Mandal decided to sponser the visit of Swami ji and pay for his expenses, expenses for the valuable Mantra Patra inserted under the Murti and a donation to Swami ji's Mutt in Hombuja, Karanataka. A series of lectures by Swami ji were also arranged in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth.
A date of 5th March, 2000 was fixed and invitations were sent out to Jains and Hindus all over Australia. Shri Rakesh Jain who is also secretary of HTCC took over the responsibility of coordinating the entire function in Canberra. He, Shri Ashok Jain and Shri Navin Jain worked sleeplessly for many days and nights to make this function such a success. The original contributors of the project decided to make this an all Jain festival and invited other Jains and Hindus to do Abhishekam and all other rituals with them. About 25 Jain families from Sydney, one from New Castle and three Jain families from Melbourne joined the Canberra Jain families to grace the occasion. One of the initial trigger for the whole project Shri Radhey Sharma could not attend the ceremony as he was in India and was missed by all. Shri Rakesh Jain of Canberra, Shri Ashok Jain of Canberra and Shri Navin Jain of Sydney worked tirelessly for many days to coordinate this function and make it a success.