Parsi Khabar is delighted to share some wonderful news from the Australian Zoroastrian Association of NSW (AZA). After several years of quiet, careful work, the AZA Archives project is complete and ready for release — a lasting record of the Zoroastrian story in Australia.
As AZA President Tehmasp Parekh put it in sharing the news with members, “Our history deserves more than memory alone — it deserves a record.” For a small but proud community living within multicultural Australia, that sentiment carries real weight. The people who built AZA from nothing are still, for the most part, within living memory. Capturing their story now, while it can still be told firsthand, is what makes this project so meaningful.
How it began
The idea for the Archives took root back in 2019, when Sherna Kotwal and Nadish Naoroji began talking about what it would take to properly preserve AZA’s history. Nadish brought serious credentials to the table, having built his archival experience at institutions including the National Library of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. An informal working group came together that same year, and by 2022 the Management Committee had formalised things into an Archives Sub-Committee (ASC), with Daraius Battiwalla as inaugural Chairman and Nadish Naoroji, Peshotan Katrak, Sherna Kotwal and Zubin Appoo rounding out the founding members.
Years of patient work, now digitally preserved
What the ASC has produced is remarkable in its depth. Hundreds of AZA documents — letters, minutes, correspondence, photographs, building plans, and financial records — have been scanned and organised into a dedicated Google Drive repository. Among the highlights now preserved for good:
Every AZA Constitution dating back to 1971. The Foundation Committee’s original minutes and accounts. Minutes from every AGM and EGM the association has held. The full paper trail behind the purchase of the Annangrove property in 1986 and the construction of the Darbe Meher in 1994. Correspondence with the Guiv Trust and the Zartosthy Brothers. The NSW Land & Environment Court decision from AZA’s legal proceedings with its Annangrove neighbours. Every issue of Manashni, the AZA newsletter, going back to 1975. A Navjote Register recording every Navjote performed by an AZA mobed since 1976, complete with photographs. A register of every resolution passed at an AGM or EGM. And historical lists of every Management Committee, Sunday School teacher and coordinator, and Manashni editor since AZA’s inception.
It didn’t stop at scanning, either. The ASC built a proper folder structure and file naming convention, researched digital asset management systems, consulted with other Zoroastrian associations doing similar work, and drafted Standard Operating Procedures and access policies to guide the Archives going forward. The committee even explored a Community Heritage Grant through the National Library of Australia, though the AZA Archives didn’t ultimately fit the NLA’s parameters for that particular funding.
How to view the Archives
For AZA members wanting to explore this new resource, access is simple: log in to your member account at aza.org.au, hover over “My Account” in the top navigation bar, and select “Archives” from the dropdown.
An invitation — and an urgent need for new hands
With the Archives now released, inaugural Chairman Daraius Battiwalla is stepping down from the sub-committee after years of dedicated leadership on the project. That leaves Nadish Naoroji and Peshotan Katrak as the only continuing members, and AZA is inviting younger members with an interest in community history to come forward and join the effort. The heavy lifting has been done — from here, the work is mostly about keeping the Archives current as new documents come in, making it a meaningful but manageable way to get involved.
With thanks
AZA extended its deep appreciation to everyone who helped bring this project to life, particularly Nadish Naoroji, Peshotan Katrak, Sherna Kotwal, Daraius Battiwalla, Zubin Appoo, and Kersi Meherhomji. Special thanks also go to Rakhshandeh and Zubin Appoo for their generous contribution of $5,000 toward the project, which will cover the Archives’ cloud hosting costs for many years to come.
It’s a genuine milestone for the Zoroastrian community in Australia, and a model of the kind of quiet, sustained volunteer effort that keeps a community’s history alive for the generations still to come. Parsi Khabar congratulates everyone at AZA involved in making it happen.