Lakemba Mosque poised to join QVB and Parliament House with top heritage listing

详细摘要

A cornerstone of the Sydney’s Muslim community could become the city’s first mosque to receive the state recognition.

Standing prominently on a residential street in Sydney’s south-west, Lakemba Mosque has long been more than a place of prayer.

For almost half a century, its 20-metre minaret, ornate central dome and distinctive white brickwork have served as a beacon for generations of migrants, a gathering place and a source of belonging for Sydney’s Muslim community.

Now, the mosque is poised to make history as NSW heritage authorities consider adding the building to the State Heritage Register – a move that would place it alongside some of Sydney’s most prominent heritage landmarks including the Queen Victoria Building, Hyde Park Barracks, the Anzac Memorial and NSW Parliament House.

If approved, it would become the first mosque in Sydney to receive a state heritage listing and only the second in NSW, following the historic tin and iron Afghan Mosque in Broken Hill, built in 1887 by cameleers who migrated to Australia in the 19th century.

The NSW Heritage Council, at a meeting this month, determined that Lakemba Mosque may meet the threshold for state significance and will hold public consultation ahead of a final decision by NSW Heritage Minister Penny Sharpe, expected early next year.

For the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), which owns and manages the mosque, the listing would represent a long-awaited recognition of a place that has played a central role in the lives of generations of Muslim Australians.

Its origins date to the late 1960s, when a group of Lebanese migrant families purchased a suburban house on Wangee Road. Initially, the property provided a place to prepare deceased community members for Islamic burial and a gathering space for communal prayers.

By the early 1970s, the original house was demolished to make way for a purpose-built mosque and after five years of construction was officially opened in 1976.

Association board member Gamel Kheir said its completion marked a defining milestone for Sydney’s growing Muslim community as the city’s first purpose-built mosque.

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