‘Drop in, have a coffee’: Bendigo’s Muslims celebrate milestone for new mosque – and community cohesion forged after backlash

Sameer Syed and Aisha Neelam in front of the new minaret at the Bendigo mosque. Photograph: Stuart Walmsley/The Guardian

On a bush block on the industrial outskirts of Bendigo, a minaret rises from the facade of a mosque. There are no fences, making the site of the central Victorian city’s first mosque visible from adjacent roads.

This is no accident. Sameer Syed, who has been involved in the Bendigo Islamic Community Centre’s inception from its start, says the vision was an “open mosque”.