(Buddhist temple) Established: 1998
Location: 42 Wynyard Avenue, Rossmore
This temple is isolated from urban life as a place of retreat. The setting, amongst gum forest, exotic flowering plants, the creek and footbridge, offers tranquility and inspiration. Not only a place to understand and pay respect to the teaching of the Buddha, the temple is also a community meeting place.
A group of Kampucheans, who arrived in Australia during the 1980s and 1990s, purchased this site in 1998. This group comes from a Khmer region in South Vietnam, which is still linguistically and culturally distinct, despite being annexed by Vietnam over two hundred years ago.
A three tonne golden Buddha sits under the shelter of a pagoda. Cast in Bangkok (Thailand), it was imported by the community in 1999. There is a prayer hall here too, but there are plans to build a new hall with traditional Kampuchean roof and ornamentation. Monks live in the cottage nearby.
There are eight thousand or more Buddhists in the Liverpool area. Not only Kampucheans but people from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Laos, Thailand, Burma and India, who follow the Theravada Buddhist tradition, all visit the temple. However, the temple attracts and welcomes other followers of the teachings of Buddha and anyone who is interested to visit, regardless of their background.
When the temple was first proposed some local people feared it would be noisy, but now it is accepted by the community and local people visit and join in the activities here.
