‘Distinguished by devotion’: long-standing Victorian Baha’i Talieh Payman passes away

Talieh Payman (1937 – 2026), a mainstay of the Stonnington Baha’i community in Victoria, who met Shoghi Effendi – the Guardian and Head of the Faith – when she was a youth, passed away in Melbourne on Friday, 14 August. She was 89. 

Known to her family and friends as Taly, she was one of the earliest Persian Baha’i pioneers to Australia, arriving in Melbourne from Indonesia with her husband Aflatoon and their two children in 1966. They were the third Persian Baha’i family to settle in Victoria.

Taly lived in Stonnington – an inner Melbourne municipality – and its predecessor Prahran for nearly 60 years, leaving her mark both within and without the Baha’i community. 

Taly was known for being friendly, generous, and hospitable with people of all backgrounds. Elegant, tactful, and blessed with beauty and good taste, she added a dignified touch to the many spaces she lit up with her presence. 

A homemaker, she was dedicated to raising her children and providing them with a secure and loving family environment. A tennis enthusiast, she played the sport into her old age, until her body was no longer able and willing. 

Talieh Haddad was born into a Baha’i family in Tehran, Iran, in 1937. On her mother’s side, she was descended from an early follower of the Bab – the forerunner of the Baha’i Faith. 

The eldest of four siblings, she had a happy and privileged upbringing. In 1955, aged 18, she accompanied a prominent Baha’i – Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem – and his wife on a teaching trip to Northeast Asia, visiting Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Later that year she went on pilgrimage with her mother to Haifa, Israel, where they had an audience with Shoghi Effendi. These trips made a deep impression on her. 

After graduating from high school, Taly intended to go to the UK to pursue further studies, but before she could do that, fate intervened and upended her plans. Approached by Aflatoon, a civil engineer in his mid-20s, she accepted his offer of marriage, and they married in July 1956. 

Answering the call of Shoghi Effendi for Baha’is to pioneer to countries in which the Faith was underrepresented or not represented at all, the newly-weds decided to go to Indonesia, where they lived for 10 years. After the foreign oil company for which Aflatoon worked shut down its operations in Indonesia, he and Taly decided to migrate to Australia, settling in Melbourne. 

In the mid-1960s, there were only a few hundred Baha’is in Australia, a small number of whom lived in Melbourne. Baha’i activities in which Taly and Aflatoon took part mainly focused on sharing information about the Faith and forming Local Spiritual Assemblies (administrative bodies of the Faith at the grassroots level). One such activity was a gathering the couple hosted weekly at their home. 

Taly took up tennis after arriving in Australia. She had wanted to play the sport as a teenager in Iran, but her father, who was otherwise an enlightened man, had not allowed her, claiming it would be immodest for a young woman in that conservative Islamic country to do so. Taly more than made up for that disappointment later, playing regularly for many years with other women in Melbourne. She joined a leading tennis club and valued the friendships she made there both on and off the court. 

Taly took a keen interest in news and current affairs, especially developments in Iran since the 1979 Revolution. Like others in the Iranian diaspora, including the many thousands living in Australia, she was appalled by the human rights abuses committed by Iran’s rulers against their own population – especially women, youth, and Baha’is. She yearned for the day when Iran would resume its respected place in the world by cultivating cordial relations with all nations and pursuing policies that will improve the lives of its people. 

Taly took part in several major Baha’i international conferences during her life. She attended the Asian Teaching Conference, in Nikko, Japan, in 1955. She and Aflatoon participated in the First Baha’i World Congress in London in 1963, and three decades later, in 1992, they went to New York to take part in the Second Baha’i World Congress. She went on pilgrimage again to Israel in 1974. 

Taly was married to Aflatoon for 68 years, until his death in 2024. He served on the national governing body of the Faith in Australia for many years, amongst other honorary positions in the Baha’i community. They raised three children – two sons (one born in Indonesia and the other in Italy) and a daughter (born in Australia). 

One of Taly’s many traits was an independent mind – a quality shaped by Baha’u’llah’s teaching that people should think critically for themselves and not blindly follow others. It was that mindset that prompted her, as a young newly married woman, to make the intrepid decision with her husband to leave Iran and head to distant Southeast Asia, and later to the even more distant Antipodes, never to live in her native land again. 

The national governing body of the Baha’i Faith, the National Spiritual Assembly, wrote in a message following her passing that “Talieh’s earthly life was distinguished by devotion, sacrifice, and a spirit of loving service that touched countless hearts”. 

“Her gracious hospitality, her gentle encouragement, and her ability to create an atmosphere of warmth and peace left an enduring imprint on many who entered her home. Her partnership with her husband, spanning nearly seventy years, was a shining example of mutual devotion and service,” the message read. 

To sum up Taly’s life and legacy – she was a principled and progressive woman who left the familiar surroundings of her homeland in the 1950s to live among other nations and cultures and befriend their peoples. A staunch Baha’i, she collaborated humbly with others from a young age to try to realise Baha’u’llah’s vision of peace, unity, and justice for all humankind. A devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, and mother-in-law, she loved her family, who in turn loved her. Hers was a life well lived. 

She is survived by her three children, five grandchildren, and three siblings.