Area Conferences Announced for South Pacific

More than 106,000 members of the Church in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific islands will be invited to eight area general conferences in February and March 1976 as part of what President Spencer W. Kimball has called “a great new adventure in taking the whole program of the Church out to the people of the whole world.”

The First Presidency announced they will conduct three conferences in Australia and one each in New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and Tahiti. General Authorities of the Church will participate in all conferences.

These conferences are the most recently announced in a series begun in Manchester, England, in 1971. At that time one area conference was held a year. This year two area conferences were held in South America in February and March and five more in August in Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea.

Schedules for the upcoming conferences are:

Apia, Samoa—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, February 16–19, for members residing in Samoa. Meetings, including an activity and social program, four general sessions, and special group sessions, will be conducted in facilities of the Church College of Western Samoa, near Apia.

Hamilton, New Zealand—Friday, Saturday, Sunday, February 20–22, for members residing in New Zealand. Meetings, including an activity and social program, four general sessions, and special group sessions, will be conducted at the Church College of New Zealand in Temple View, a suburb of Hamilton.

Suva, Fiji—Monday, February 23. General session for members in Fiji planned for Monday evening in the civic cultural hall in Suva.

Nuku’alofa, Tonga—Tuesday and Wednesday, February 24 and 25, for members in Tonga. Four general sessions and an evening activity and social program to be held in the Church’s Liahona High School.

Perth, Australia—Friday, February 27, for members of the stake and mission in Perth. General session Friday morning in the Perth Australia Stake center.

Simultaneous conferences will be held in Melbourne, Australia, and Sydney, Australia, February 28 and 29. In Melbourne, four general sessions and special group sessions will be held in Festival Hall. Members of the Adelaide, Melbourne Fairfield, and Melbourne Moorabbin stakes and the Australia Adelaide and Australia Melbourne missions are invited.

Similar meetings will be held for members of the Brisbane, Parramatta, Sydney Greenwich, and Sydney South stakes and the Australia Brisbane and Sydney missions.

Papeete, Tahiti—Monday and Tuesday, March 1 and 2, for members in Tahiti. Four general sessions and an activity and social program planned at the Church’s Papeete Elementary School.

There are more than 34,000 members of the Church in New Zealand, more than 31,000 in Australia, and approximately 20,000 in Samoa, 14,000 in Tonga, and 2,500 in Fiji.