Gentle and Thoughtful; Warm and Open

By Iliana Stillitano,"Part of our history" - Camden Advertiser - Sydney, NSW, Australia
Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Islam has been part of Camden's history since an offshoot of the religion was introduced to Australia more than 70 years ago.

Its headquarters were right on our doorstep.

Baron Frederick Elliot von Frankenberg brought an unconventional form of Islam known as Sufism to Camden in the 1930s, spreading the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, an Indian Sufi Muslim leader who founded the movement in 1910.

Locally known as `the Baron', von Frankenberg was born in 1889 into an aristocratic German family. He became a disciple of Khan and shortly after immigrating to Australia in 1927, he bought a dairy farm known as Spring Hill on Burragorang Valley Road.

It was in his lavishly decorated home that he shared with his Australian wife, Olive Pauline Ward Taylor (daughter of one-time Sydney Lord Mayor Sir Allan Taylor) that the Baron hosted his religious meetings.

Members of the Sufi group stayed at the Baron's Camden home, attended regular classes and Universal Worship services.

They would begin by exchanging a ritual peace greeting in Arabic, read from the writings of Inayat Khan and meditate.

In her thesis on the history of Sufism in Australia, Dr Celia Genn describes the Baron as a ``charismatic and impressive figure...the women remember him as gentle and thoughtful...the men described him as warm and open.''

But the authorities saw the Baron differently. He was under police surveillance for several years during World War II when both his German background and his religious beliefs brought him under suspicion.

A dossier kept by the National Archives of Australia includes letters to von Frankenberg written by his followers and intercepted by Australian security services, many of which are stamped ``secret''.

There is also a transcript of an interview the Baron gave police shortly after his Camden home was searched in 1942 and documents seized.

Police feared the Baron was a ``strong Nazi sympathiser'' who was transmitting and receiving messages from Germany by a radio in his basement. No radio was found.

Among the records in storage are letters typed on Sufi Society Australian Branch Camden NSW letterhead; letters written by police describing Sufism as a ``cult''; letters from the then police commissioner about the investigation marked ``confidential''; and notes compiled by members of the intelligence section of the Royal Australian Air Force stamped ``secret''.

But for all the police intelligence, interviews and searches, Australia's deputy director of security called off the ``scrutiny arrangements'' on the Baron, declaring in February 1945: ``It is presumed that his mysterious cult is accepted as the usual esoteric fanaticism and is therefore permitted to continue.''

Five years later, the Baron died aged 61 and so too did his local movement. He is buried in Camden.

[Picture: Frederick Elliot von Frankenberg's grave. Photo by Jeff de Pasquale].