The Book of Mormon Makes a Big Splash in Melbourne

Melbourne has never before seen so many Mormons or so much of their famous book. With the opening of the Book of Mormon musical—a production that is not sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—long preceded by ads on trams, and the response from the Church, the book and its easily recognisable missionaries will be front and centre in Melbourne for some time.

This season of Book of Mormon ads has been embraced by the Mormons, the nickname for members of the Church. As Melbournian Mormon Elder Robert Dudfield recently put it, “We recognise the musical offers us an unparalleled opportunity to place the truth and beauty of our Christian faith before a wider audience.”

The average Melbournian may not know many Mormons or much about their book or church, so with the salty and satirical musical currently playing, here are a few surprising facts.

The Book of Mormon's first printing in 1830 ran to 5,000 copies. In 2011 the number of copies printed passed the 150 million mark. In 2015 the book was published in Kosraean, a language spoken on an island in Micronesia, marking the 110th publication language. The U.S. Library of Congress recently recognised the Book of Mormon as one of the most influential books printed in America.

The book's influence soon reached beyond American shores, however. While often thought of as an American church, the majority of the world's almost sixteen million Mormons live outside the U.S. The first Mormon missionary arrived in Australia in 1840, just ten years after the organisation of the Church. And while the Church in Australia grew slowly its first hundred years, there are now nearly 150,000 members in Australia and over half a million members in Oceania.

For those wishing to discover what's inside the Book of Mormon and how it has changed the lives of individual Australians, the Church has provided more information at Mormon.org.au.