The Melbourne Church of Scientology was first established in the early 1950's, growing out of several smaller Dianetics groups that had sprung up around Melbourne.
Primarily a group of followers of L.
Ron Hubbard's popular fiction works started one of these first groups in the iconic Flinders Street Railway station.
It was not too long before the weekly meetings became daily meetings, and these first Dianeticists were forming more than just a group.
And as the subject of Dianetics evolved into Scientology the first organization in Australia was born by 1955.
Owing to its size and popularity the Church, then called the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International (HASI), opened up their first headquarters in Spring Street, Melbourne, directly across the road from the Victorian Parliament building.
The first official gathering of Australian Scientologists was held later in 1955 to a crowd of over 70 people.
This was a milestone as the first large scale organized meeting of Scientologists from all over Australia.
And it was only the beginning of one of the largest Scientology Churches across the planet at that time.
From these beginnings The executives in Melbourne worked to open up Scientology offices in other cities around Australia called "City Offices", notably in Sydney and Perth.
With the formation of the official Melbourne Church Publication, Communication Magazine, the Melbourne Scientology parishioners were united, sparking a huge interest in Scientology all over Victoria and Australia.
The fresh, emerging culture of 1950s Australia was wide open for change, and Scientology was at the cutting edge of that change.
A letter from one of the Melbourne Church executives to L.
Ron Hubbard on the 14 April 1959 stated, "Perhaps the difference in Aussie is there is a lot of hope and many possibilities of succeeding in the game down here than elsewhere - perhaps - and also no hidebound old culture bogging them down - tradition, etc.
, (not to pooh-pooh tradition where they are useful and go ahead) but sitting on past glories (and failures) is no good.
They don't do that in Aussie.
" And so it was that The Church of Scientology of Melbourne was formed, and along with it, hundreds of people discovering for themselves what Scientology and Dianetics had to offer them.
Groups were formed up - so many in fact that the Church Headquarters of the time had difficulty in keeping up with them all.
Scientology was flourishing.
Further information can be found on the Melbourne Church of Scientology website.