Welcome to the Sanctum
Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple at Carrum Downs, in Melbourne’s southeast, is the largest Hindu temple in Victoria and a defining architectural landmark of the Hindu Society of Victoria. Unique among diaspora temples, it hosts twin gopurams and dual garbha-grihas on a single east-west axis — Lord Shiva in the north sanctum and Lord Venkateswara in the south — a rare "Shiva-Vishnu ekatvam" (unity) arrangement favoured by South Indian saints who emphasised that Shiva and Vishnu are ultimately one.
Consecrated on May 23, 1999 by priests from the Sringeri Sharada Peetham and the Vaikhanasa tradition, the granite-and-marble complex sits on a 5-acre landscaped campus complete with temple tank, Nandi mandapam, Garuda sthambam, and 33 sub-shrines including Ganesha, Muruga, Rama-Sita-Lakshman, Durga, Ayyappa, Navagraha, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Andal. The temple serves Melbourne’s 200,000+ Hindu community as well as devotees from across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
— ॐ नमः शिवाय —
Heritage
The story carved into stone, copper, and prayer.
The Hindu Society of Victoria was incorporated in 1978 by a coalition of Tamil, Telugu, Sri Lankan and North Indian Hindu families who had been meeting weekly in rented halls across Melbourne. Through the 1980s the Society operated interim worship spaces in Dandenong and Clayton, but the vision of a traditional stone mandir required dedicated land. In 1992 the Society purchased a 5-acre parcel on Boundary Road in Carrum Downs — an undeveloped outer-suburban location 45 minutes from the CBD, chosen for ample parking and future expansion.
Construction began in 1994 after consultations with the Sringeri Mutt and Vaikhanasa acharyas, who jointly advised on the dual-sanctum design — an unusual but historically grounded approach tracing back to the Ekambareswarar-Vaikunta Perumal twin arrangement of Kanchipuram. Granite was imported from Karnataka; sthapathis from Mahabalipuram travelled to Melbourne for two-year stints to train local volunteers. The Maha Kumbhabhishekam was performed on May 23, 1999 by acharyas from both Shaiva and Vaishnava traditions — a ceremony that lasted 9 days and drew 12,000+ devotees to Carrum Downs.
Through the 2000s the temple expanded with the addition of sub-shrines for Muruga (2003), Ayyappa (2006), Rama Parivar (2009), the Kalyana Mandapam for weddings (2012) and the Cultural Academy building (2015). The second Mahakumbhabhishekam (samprokshanam) was performed in 2011, and a third in 2022.
Culturally, the temple operates one of Australia’s largest Skanda Shashti festivals — a six-day Murugan festival culminating in the Soorasamharam re-enactment and thai-pusam kavadi procession through Carrum Downs streets, drawing 20,000+ devotees. During Brahmotsavam in April-May, the temple’s utsavamurtis of Shiva and Venkateswara are taken in separate procession vahanas through the streets, then united at the Vahanamandapam in a symbolic Shiva-Vishnu darshan. The temple also hosts the HSV Aged Care Facility — Victoria’s only Hindu-specific aged care service — serving over 100 residents with religious dietary requirements, Tamil/Telugu-speaking staff, and in-house pujas.
Sacred Offerings
Offerings performed by ordained priests under the guidance of vedic tradition — for every milestone of life.
AUD 151
Eleven-form Rudra abhishek on the main Shivalinga; Mondays are the signature Shiva seva day at Carrum Downs.
Book Now →AUD 351 (couple-sponsored)
Weekly divine wedding of Venkateswara and Padmavati at the Vishnu sanctum.
Book Now →AUD 101
Flower archana to Lord Muruga — a signature devotion at Australia’s largest Murugan shrine.
Book Now →AUD 351
Sacred fire rituals for births, marriages, grihapravesham and remembrance — conducted by experienced vedic priests.
Book Now →AUD 501
Sponsor the free Sunday prasadam served to all devotees after aarti.
Book Now →Daily Worship
Open all days of the year
Sacred Calendar
Days that turn the temple into a constellation of light, music, and shared prayer.
9-day festival with parallel Shaiva and Vaishnava processions uniting at the main mandapam — a visible expression of Shiva-Vishnu ekatvam.
Six-day Murugan festival culminating in Soorasamharam re-enactment and kavadi procession — 20,000+ attendees.
All-night chaturyama rudra abhishek at the main Shivalinga with continuous Om Namah Shivaya chanting and Maha Aarti at dawn.
Tamil harvest festival with community clay-pot pongal cooking in the temple grounds.
Lakshmi Puja, Annakut, and a spectacular 15,000 diya illumination across the temple campus.
Sacred Moments
A visual pilgrimage — captured in the soft light of dusk and the gold of dawn.
Devotee Voices
Words from those whose lives were touched within these walls.
The abhishekam at Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple Carrum Downs changed how I understand prayer. Watching the linga bathed in milk and Ganga water, with the priests' chants rising in the dark — there is no other word for it but transformation.
I lost my father in the floods of 2018. Three months later I came to Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple Carrum Downs for the first time. Standing before Lord Shiva and Vishnu in that ancient sanctum, I finally felt my father had reached safe shores.
Mahashivaratri here is unlike anywhere else I have travelled. The whole night the bells do not stop, the chants do not stop. By dawn, you don't feel tired — you feel awake for the first time in years.
Plan Your Visit
Address: 52 Boundary Road, Carrum Downs, Victoria 3201, Australia, Carrum Downs, Victoria, Australia 3201
Nearest airport: Melbourne Airport Tullamarine (MEL) — 52 km
Nearest railway: Carrum Downs is not on the metro rail network; nearest is Frankston Station (8 km)
Nearest bus stand: Route 833 Frankston – Dandenong buses stop nearby
Phone: +61 3 9782 0878
Email: info@hsv.org.au
Official website: hsv.org.au
