After years of opposition and anti-Muslim protests, Bendigo’s Muslim community is finally celebrating the completion of its first mosque in central Victoria.
On a bush block on the industrial outskirts of the city, a new minaret now rises openly above the landscape, reflecting the community’s vision for a welcoming and accessible place of worship, The Guardian reported.
There are no fences around the site—an intentional design choice. Sameer Syed, involved since the project began, says the aim was always an “open mosque”.
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“We wanted something very welcoming … very open, very visible,” he explains. “We want people to feel the same way. Just drop in, have a coffee.”
Spokesperson Aisha Neelam adds with a laugh: “People can come meet a Muslim.”
More than a decade ago, this vision met fierce backlash. The proposal became a national flashpoint, attracting far-right extremists and international attention.
A mock beheading staged by members of the United Patriots Front resulted in Victoria’s first racial vilification conviction, and a 2016 high court challenge attempting to block the mosque ultimately failed.
Today, the atmosphere has shifted. Syed credits a grassroots campaign, Believe in Bendigo, alongside sustained outreach from Muslim leaders for helping reshape local attitudes, even as a small number of protesters still appear.
New Home
Now, ten years on, the Bendigo Islamic Community Centre is preparing to begin using its first completed building within weeks, while the main mosque remains under construction.
Neelam, who has lived in Bendigo for nearly two decades, says the hostile scenes of 2015 no longer define the community’s narrative.
“The highlight is all the people that did the work that got the mosque to where it is and the cohesion the mosque created in the community, not the division,” she says.
“It brought along a lot of dialogue and a lot of respect, and there’s just so many connections that were built through that.”
The project also inspired greater interfaith engagement. Faith leaders formed the Bendigo Interfaith Council to strengthen understanding across communities. At the same time, Believe in Bendigo volunteers focused on listening to and engaging with opponents.
“They were a lot of young tradies and a lot of working-class people,” says founding member Anthony Radford.
“So we focused our messaging a little bit on those values and being prepared to go to them and say, ‘Hey, this is the true story.’”
Neelam says the backlash was a “wake-up call”, prompting the Muslim community to become more publicly visible through workplace workshops and community outreach.
“It’s just not about Islam,” she says. “This is more just about just multiculturalism, really, and learning to accept others.”
Syed expects such workshops to continue at the new site, which has already hosted school groups. “We need to normalise the Muslim community,” he says. “We’re everywhere.”
Construction began in 2019 but was paused during Covid. Although the centre received more than $1m in grants, most funding came through community donations raised across several cities.
“There’s a lot of community spirit that’s gone into this,” Neelam says. “There’s a lot of love, a lot of heart.”
For two decades, local Muslims used a small prayer room at La Trobe University and hired halls for Ramadan. The newly completed multipurpose building will soon host Friday prayers and activities once an occupancy permit is issued, with a formal opening planned for early 2026.
When finished, the mosque will accommodate about 375 people, alongside a sports and community centre and an outdoor courtyard.
As Syed puts it: “Our vision has always been that this mosque is not just for the Muslim communities, it’s for Bendigo.”