Margaret Dixson
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11 July 1877
Margaret Dixson | |
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| Born | Margaret Bertha Dixson 11 July 1877 |
| Died | 25 June 1940 (aged 62) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation | religious leader |
| Known for | Significant role in the establishment of Baháʼí Faith in Australia |
Margaret Bertha Dixson (née Shann) (11 July 1877 – 25 June 1940) was an early Australian follower of the Bahá'í Faith in Melbourne, Victoria. She played a significant role in the establishment of the Bahá'í Faith in Australia. Dixson was instrumental in forming and hosting the first Local Spiritual Assembly of the Australian Bahá'í community in Melbourne in 1923 and as the Secretary effectively introduced Bahá'í administration to Australia. Dixson was also the Secretary of the Sydney Local Assembly from 1925 to 1927.
Dixson grew up in rural Victoria and had a conventional early education. She was originally from an Anglican family, and her father was a devout Christian.[1] Her parents Frank and Frances Shann were pastoralists. They separated and then divorced, causing the family of four siblings to be split between the two parents. Dixson and her sister Elizabeth stayed with her mother, and the brothers Edward and Frank stayed with their father. Dixson worked as a governess on a rural property, and at the age of nineteen married her employer’s brother Walter Dixson, who was a moderately successful wheat farmer. They had three children: Doris, John and Molly. Although not having the opportunity to pursue higher education or gain qualifications, Dixson had profound intellectual interests, and specifically, she studied numerology, astrology and Esperanto. In 1916, Dixson’s husband died from a cerebral haemorrhage resulting from a farm accident, and the family left the farm and moved to Melbourne.[2]
Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith
Upon moving to Melbourne, as a widow and sole parent, Dixson struggled financially and had periods of ill health. She pursued her intellectual interests, and visited the New Civilisation Centre in Melbourne regularly. The Centre was established by Dr Julia Seton Sears from the United States, founder of the New Thought movement in North America. Dixson taught numerology classes at the New Civilisation Centre in Melbourne, where in November 1923 she was introduced to Bahá’í teachings by John Hyde and Clara Dunn, who had first introduced the Bahá’í Faith to Sydney in April 1922.[1] Dixon was therefore one of Australia’s earliest Bahá’ís.[3]