The project to build an authentic Hindu temple in Australia began in 1977 when a small group of Tamil, Telugu and Sri Lankan Hindu professionals in Sydney approached the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham for guidance. The Kanchi Paramacharya Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi blessed the initiative and directed that a Venkateswara temple in the Tirumala tradition should be built on elevated land resembling the seven hills. After surveys of 50+ sites across NSW, the Helensburgh parcel was identified in 1978 as the most topographically and energetically suitable.

The SV Temple Association of Australia was registered in 1978; land was purchased and a Bhoomi Puja performed in 1979. Construction faced many delays — the Australian bushfire of 1980 threatened the site, and granite had to be imported from India at a time when Australian import procedures for religious stone were unprecedented. Sthapathis from Mahabalipuram travelled to Australia and trained local volunteers in traditional carving techniques. The garbha-griha was sealed with the Ashtabandhana after consecration, and the Pran Pratishtha was performed by TTD Agama acharyas on June 30, 1985 — a date now celebrated annually as the temple’s Pratishtha Varshikotsavam.

Through the 1990s and 2000s, SV Helensburgh underwent phased expansions: the Padmavati shrine (1992), the Rama sannidhi (1998), the Ayyappa shrine (2004), and the expansive Kalyana Mandapam for weddings (2010). The Third Mahakumbhabhishekam was performed in 2015 and the fourth samprokshanam in 2023, attended by TTD priests and the Kanchi acharyas.

The temple has served as technical consultant for virtually every major South Indian Hindu temple built in Australia and New Zealand: the Shiva-Vishnu Temple Carrum Downs (Melbourne), Murugan Temple Sydney, SV Temple Perth, Minto Ganesha Temple, and the Auckland Ganesh Temple. Its priests have travelled to New Zealand, Fiji and beyond to perform Kumbhabhishekam ceremonies. The temple endowment — now exceeding AUD 18 million — funds priest salaries, community outreach, the SV Aged Care Facility, and scholarship programmes for Hindu studies at Australian universities. Every June 30, the Pratishtha Varshikotsavam is celebrated with a 9-day Brahmotsavam drawing 15,000+ devotees to the hillside.