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4 N K'Kq016 Seventh-day Adventists in the South Pacific 1885-1985

AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND SOUTH-SEA ISLANDS

1:C 1.5 33 6

Edited by Noel Clapham

1 DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to those who pioneered the promulgation of the Advent message in , New Zealand, and the islands of the South-West Pacific.

Published and printed by the , Warburton, Victoria, Australia, for the Australasian Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 148 Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga, NSW, Australia.

ISBN 0 949809 64 0

Credits: Cover design, John Clapham. It would be impossible to give individual credit to the many photographers whose work is represented in this book. The editors would like to deeply thank those who have kindly allowed their pictures to be reproduced. Art Director: Alan Holman.

3

CONTENTS

Origins Noel Clapham 8 New Zealand Ross Goldstone 16 Public Evangelism Elaine Fletcher 34 The Adventist Press Donald Hansen 58 Herbert Clifford Hospitals and Healing and Noel Clapham 76 Sanitarium Health Food Company Robert Parr 98 The Founding Mothers 112 Adventist Youth Goldie Down 126 Avondale College 144 Church Schools Trevor Lloyd 166 The Aborigines Glynn Litster 186 The Pacific Islands Robert Dixon 198 The Church and the Community Reginald Brown 234 Multi-Cultural Stuart Uttley and Austin Townend 250

We Have This Hope Walter Scragg 260 Acknowledgements 268

5 FOREWORD

Commencing in 1983 a group of Seventh-day Adventist scholars and church leaders accepted the responsibility of preparing a book to mark the 100th anniversary of the coming of the first Seventh-day Adventists to Australia and New Zealand. Much new research and careful checking has gone into Seventh-day Adventists in the South Pacific 1885-1985 in order to make it as authoritative as possible. Yet at the same time the editors have sought a readable and enjoyable style. The church takes pride in its place in society and the many contributions it has made in varying fields. These pages introduce the reader to what a relatively small number of people are able to do when they espouse a clear sense of purpose and mission. The committee met under the chairmanship of Dr Noel Clapham, of Avondale College. He and his associates have produced a book to and inspire its readers. We commend it to you as a way of understanding how faith can contribute in contemporary society.

Walter R. L. Scragg, President, Australasian Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

6 PREFACE This book, written by a number of Seventh-day Adventist authors, traces in broad outline the development of this religious movement in Australia, New Zealand and the South-West Pacific region during a period of hundred years. It is not encyclopaedic in design; it is not intended to be a reference work, although care has been taken to ensure accuracy. The facts used are there because they illustrate some significant facets of Adventist development and were fairly readily available or because they make for good reading, giving a measure of reality to the story. It is an important task of an historian to recreate as best he may the lives of those whom he portrays. Some readers will be disappointed not to find described the work of a favourite ancestor, minister or teacher. Many worthy men and women who, selflessly and for the whole of their lives, gave skilled and devoted service to the cause they loved, are scarcely mentioned—if at all. Those whose names appear, often do so quite fortuitously; there is no systematic scale of achievement. Material for this book has not come easily, for well-developed archives have not been available; the authors, not all by any means trained historians, have often found themselves on shifting sand. At the end of this volume there is to be found some acknowledgement due to the many people who by their help have made these chapters possible. This volume should assist Seventh-day Adventists to gain an improved sense of perspective, a look at themselves and their ways of thinking and acting in the stream of time. It also provides our friends who are not Adventists with an authentic view of Adventist aspirations and ways of attempting to reach their goals. It is hoped that all will find in these pages a sense of the Providential, and discover a people of prayer and conviction, not sanctimonious, but caring, a movement looking to Christ Himself, and consisting of forward-thinking men and women who see the Invisible with the eye of faith. Adventists are proud of the pioneers, but this book has not been written proudly. We commemorate rather than celebrate, for we wish that more could have been done. Our gratitude ascends to a beneficent Father who, we believe, has made possible the progress of this church. All who read these pages should obtain a better understanding of part of one of the most remarkable Christian movements of modern times.

N.P.C.

7 Noel Clapham

Seventh-day Adventist views had, in fact, penetrated Australia twenty years earlier. Alexander Dickson, an Australian mission- ary to Africa, had met there an American • woman, Hannah More, who, having come .;;,••••,‘•• ••,•,••••• under the influence of Seventh-day Adven- tists while on furlough in the United States, On Saturday, the 6th of June 1885, a party was intent on making known their doctrines of eleven Seventh-day Adventists landed in among mission communities in her field of , , from the Royal labour. Relieved of his mission duties Mail Steamship Australia. Apart from Mes- dames Corliss and Israel with two children each, the group consisted of three preachers—Stephen Haskell, John Corliss and Mendel Israel—together with Henry Scott, a printer, and William Arnold, a man experienced in selling denominational liter- ature from door to door. Of these, S. N. Haskell, the leader of the group, had long been an advocate of a mission to Australia to spread the distinctive teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. All were fired with the prospect of a challenging task before them. This was the beginning of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia.

JOHN ORR CORLISS (1845-1923) One of Seventh-day Adventism's most vigorous exponents was John On- Corliss, who came to Australia in the first missionary team. When he departed after two years he left behind over 200 converts won to the Adventist cause in , Ballarat, Adelaide and elsewhere. He returned fora second period of service in Australia, from 1893 to 1896. An advocate of Christian education, he used means which he inherited to educate twenty-five boys and girls apart from members of his own family.

because of his change of views, Dickson had returned to Australia. There he, for a time, taught others, but when he left Australia for San Francisco, later abandoning his new- STEPHEN NELSON HASKELL (1833-1922) found faith, the infant movement he had begun came to nothing. Thus, the 6th of Stephen Nelson Haskell, the leader of the pioneer missionary group who came to Australia in 1885, also June, 1885, remains unchallenged as the won the first Adventist convert in New Zealand, Edward date for the founding of the Seventh-day Hare. Haskell was a self-supporting preacher in New Adventist Church in Australia. England, USA, as a young man, before he became a These Seventh-day Adventists who came Seventh-day Adventist, and was later ordained to the ministry. For a period of seventy years he served the to Australia believed themselves to be part of church as a preacher and teacher in every continent a development having its origins in the except South 'America. An innovator and energetic Reformation of the sixteenth century. organiser, he created the first Tract and Missionary Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and other reformers Society, organised the first coloured church in New had shattered the unity of Christendom in York, and began the printing of books for the blind. He taught Bible at the Avondale School, Australia, was a western Europe proclaiming salvation as a leader in temperance work in Maine, USA, assisted in product of God's grace, and asserting the the development of the White Memorial Hospital in Los right of the individual to direct access to Angeles, and in the course of a world tour is believed to God. In England, Henry VIII, for dynastic have baptised the first Chinese convert, and the first Japanese convert to Adventism. Haskell was a man of reasons, broke from the Roman ecclestiasti- remarkable character and dedication. cal system, but rejected innovation in

10 doctrine. However, in the midst of the power nineteenth centuries found even more struggles which followed in the sixteenth intense expression in the New World. New and seventeenth centuries, theological dis- England Congregationalism had provided cussion became a way of life in the more its own brand of religious intolerance, but literate segment of the European popula- had been unable to check the burgeoning tion. In England, it picked up speed in the religious thought which developed in the reign of Henry's Protestant son, Edward VI. freer air of American society. The Methodist After the Marian persecution which followed, movement in England jumped the Atlantic and the accession of Elizabeth, reformers and expressed itself in the preaching of flooded back into England replete with ideas Methodist itinerant preachers, and the and attitudes of great variety, developed thunder of George Whitefield and Jonathan during their continental . These Puri- Edwards. This period of evangelical fervour tans, as they became known, were bound became known as the Great Awakening. together by devotion to Scripture as the sole Similarly, early English nineteenth century authority in Christian belief and by a evangelicalism was matched by contempor- determination to rid the ary revivalism which became endemic in of all things popish. However, there were American life. The religious thrust of the strongly held differences in doctrine and Great Awakening had led the way to theory of church organisation among the constitutional separation of church and various groups, be they Coxians, Knoxians, state which in turn provided a setting for an Brownists, or Barrowists, challenging the early nineteenth century American revival, ecclesiastical system of their time. the Second Great Awakening. Charles Conflict with the state religion in the reign Finney, the central figure of this phase in of James I led to the now famous journey of American religion, preached to large audi- the Mayflower in 1620 by a band of ences with consummate skill and taught Separatists. Neither the severity of Laudian others to do likewise. His teachings matched church discipline before the Civil War nor yet the, spirit of optimism then prevalent in that of the Restoration in 1660, after the American society; it was the "manifest death of Cromwell, were able to suppress destiny" of the United States not only to dissent. This whole period of intense occupy the "virgin land" westward, but also religious thinking and conviction found to create in it a society free of the class expression earlier in the majestic Christian conflicts and inhibitions of the Old World. witness of the King James Version of the Bible, and later in the work of Milton and Bunyan, George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, and writings upon Biblical prophecy, particularly Daniel and the Apocalypse, by Sir Isaac Newton. The Revolutionary Settlement, following the flight of James II, left dissenting Englishmen with political, social and educa- tional disabilities, but nevertheless freedom to assemble for religious purposes and to build places of worship, clearing a path for John Wesley and the great Methodist movement of the eighteenth century. It is believed that Methodism's spiritual leaven- ing of English life saved England from the revolutionary earthquake which racked France, stimulated that humanitarian senti- MENDEL CROCKER ISRAEL (1834-1921) ment which early in the nineteenth century abolished the slave trade and slavery within Mendel Crocker Israel was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He became an Adventist through the influence the British Empire, and softened the impact of his brother John. After attending a Bible institute in of industrialisation on the working poor. California conducted by James White, and England in the early nineteenth century, J. H. Waggoner, he was encouraged to take up among the middle classes at least, was an evangelistic work. In 1885 he was chosen as a member intensely Christian country. of the pioneer company to go to Australia and New Zealand. He worked with success in Victoria, Tasmania Religious developments in England in the and New Zealand where he became president in seventeenth, eighteenth and early succession to Arthur Dan jells.

11 Finney's post-millennial teaching linked belief in the soon return of Christ; congrega- Christian perfectionism with the march of tions grew and there was a quickening of national progress; Christ would come to a spirituality in the churches he visited. Miller society cleansed by Christian benevolence had no desire to disturb the organisational of its current evils. The swifter the spirit of life of these churches. But in due time the Christ, carried on the wings of evangelical Millerite movement became an independent preaching, permeated society, the sooner force, a consequence not only of growth, but would the King come to claim His own. also of the more aggressive personality of Although Finney was to continue to preach Joshua V. Rimes, who joined forces with and to teach well into the nineteenth Miller in 1840. It was Nimes who, in February century, the 1830s saw the tide of his of that year, published in Boston a paper influence peak and begin to recede. During called Signs of the Times, and in New York, that same period a movement of a different Midnight Cry, forums for discussion as well kind was gradually taking shape. It was still as vehicles for the dissemination of Millerite part of the Second Great Awakening in its views. Lecturing schedules were drawn up, enthusiasm. But it gave emphasis to halls and tents hired where churches were pre-millennialism which called for a people not available, and a conference convened to come out of a deteriorating society to setting up certain committees. A number of meet the Lord. Christ would come with the points of belief were established, though sound of the trumpet and with cataclysmic Adventists protested that they had no power, destroying this present evil world, intention of creating a new religious ushering in a millennium of peace and joy, organisation. It was not until a conference in and recreating for the saints a world November 1841 that any attempt was made cleansed of sin, suffering and death. to identify individuals as enjoying a leader- ship role. Apocalyptic millennialism was not a purely American phenomenon; in England it had Up until the summer of 1842, general advocates who searched the prophetic belief in the soon return of Christ provided books of the Bible and expounded upon the common ground for those involved in them to warn the indifferent of impending the movement. For the next two years or so, disaster. However, it was in the New England in spite of the warning of our Lord, region of the United States, initially under time-setting became the obsession: first late the leadership of William Miller, that this 1843 to early 1844, and subsequently, teaching gained its most widespread accep- October 22, 1844. As became tance. steadily more aggressive, tension de- Miller was an intelligent farmer, well read, veloped between the followers of Miller and methodical, conspicuous in his sense of the leaders of the so-called established communal responsibility. He had served as churches—"nominal Christendom." an officer in the war of 1812. Though born October 22, 1844, came and went. In the into a religious household, the eldest of distress of the some sixteen children, he had become a deist. quit the movement entirely; others, led by However, in 1816 he experienced conver- Hiram Edson, believed that rather than sion and began an intense study of returning to this world in 1844, Christ had Scripture, comparing text with text and entered a new phase of His ministry in becoming progressively more convinced of heaven. In the years that immediately the truth of the Christian faith. He saw followed there was much debate within the Christ's imminent return as a pre-millennial movement over such theological matters as event. The , he became the state of man in death, the Sabbath as a convinced, would not wait for universal day of worship (a Seventh-day Baptist conversion. He began to publish in Baptist contribution) and interpretations of journals the views he had acquired through prophecy, especially the role of the United the study of Biblical prophecy. His preaching States in the symbolism of the Apocalypse. career began in 1831. Full of conviction but Though desperately fearful of becoming just reluctant to speak publicly, he accepted an another denomination, the Adventists invitation to preach which came to him yielded to the pragmatic arguments of immediately following a prayer for divine James White, the husband of Ellen Gould guidance. His activities were facilitated by a White, and incorporated themselves for the preaching licence issued to him by the ownership of such property as the Review Baptists. and Herald publishing house. Seventh-day Central to William Miller's message was a Adventism was now an entity possessing a

12 name, emphasising two of its most distinc- intoxicating beverages. Little that Seventh- tive beliefs. It would be many years before day Adventism offered in doctrine was new; Adventists, especially under the guidance of all, or almost all, had been adopted at some Ellen White, could sort out their folio of stage by earlier movements. But these views beliefs; that would come while Adventism set were presented as a fresh combination, a about expanding its mission, first to all parts new synthesis. of the United States, and then to lands The expedition to Australia was part of a beyond. new phase in the evolution of Adventism; it was moving out from being a small American to being a worldwide and rapidly growing movement, stretching out to almost every corner of the globe. Already for more than a decade some of Adventism's best known personalities had been carrying its message across the seas: John N. Andrews led a party to Europe in 1874; subsequently John Matteson itinerated in Scandinavia; John Loughborough com- menced public evangelism in England. It took some time for Stephen Haskell to persuade the leaders of the denomination that "those kangaroos" in Australia were likely to respond favourably to his evangeli- cal endeavours. But Ellen White provided ELLEN GOULD WHITE (1827-1915) encouragement, the expedition was eventu- The personality of Ellen Gould White, once described ally approved, and early in 1885 the team as "a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church," was assembled, ready to depart. must be regarded as the most important single human The voyage to Australia was a pleasant factor in the rise and progress of Adventism in the South Pacific region. one, spiced as it was with the prospect of a Born Ellen Harmon in Gorham, Maine, in 1827, one of new land, a somewhat new culture, and the non-identical twins, Ellen in 1846 married James White lure of the untried. On the 10th of May they to form a partnership at the very core of Seventh-day pulled away from the Brannan Street wharf Adventist development. Adventists believe that God in San Francisco, waved farewell to friends especially endowed her to provide guidance to this religious body. and passed through the Golden Gate. They It was Ellen White who prompted Seventh-day sighted the back and tail of a whale lolling in Adventist leaders to take the "Advent Message" to the swell, and felt the lift of the open ocean. Australia. Widowed in 1881, she herself migrated there But neither the novelty of shipboard life and in December 1891, remaining nine years. Almost every phase of Adventist expansion in Australasia and the the eternal fascination of the restless ocean, South Pacific bears the stamp of her influence. While nor yet the sight of the tall hills of Hawaii did she was living in Australia Ellen White wrote her anything to cool their missionary ardour. much-loved biography of Christ, The Desire of Ages. They were called to preach "the message," A broader survey of her activities in Australasia is to be found in Arthur Patrick's chapter on Adventist and they neglected no opportunity to do so. women. A very detailed account is to be found in The The handful of clergymen on board Australian Years, written by her grandson, Arthur White. remained genteelly aloof, shying a little nervously from theological discussion. But When the party of pioneers headed for some of the passengers were more receptive Australia, Seventh-day Adventism as such and, indeed, were sufficiently impressed by had been twenty-five years on its way; it had the sincerity and conviction of John Corliss adopted a pattern of prophetic interpreta- to listen to him preach one afternoon in a tion and, while eschewing any credal specially arranged meeting. Further, these statement, had recognised as vital certain missionaries were not prepared to neglect commonly held beliefs. It saw itself as the people of the islands lying near the ship's carrying the message of the third angel of course. Empty bottles obtained from the the fourteenth chapter of John's Revelation: well-frequented ship's bar were charged with keeping the commandments of God and the Christian messages and dropped into the faith of Jesus. It had adopted, again under ocean for the prospective spiritual benefit of the guidance of Ellen White, a number of beachcombers and boatmen. reforms involving healthful practices, espe- When the party landed in Sydney, most of cially the rejection of the use of tobacco and its members moved on to Melbourne, which

13 had been selected as the base for its Australia, with its scattered population, was Australian activities; Haskell and Israel a difficult land for competing denomina- remained briefly to assess Sydney as a field tional systems. Financially the effort could for later evangelism. Within a month the not be sustained; teaching standards de- reunited group had settled in Richmond, a clined and equipment was often practically suburb of Melbourne, and its leaders were non-existent. In New South Wales, Henry intent on exploring means for com- Parkes, the Premier, intervened to fill the municating with the local residents. ever-widening gaps in the church-related What of the religious scene in Australia in schools by establishing a system of public, 1885? The first Seventh-day Adventist group compulsory education to which the clergy arrived at a time when both Catholic and could contribute Scripture instruction. The Protestant churches were reconsidering Catholic Church, somewhat bitter at the loss their style of approach to the general aim of of government support, went on alone. State making Australia a Christian nation. Early aid to denominational schools ceased in convict Australia had not looked to the eyes Victoria in 1872, in New South Wales in of many English religious leaders as the 1880, in Western Australia fifteen years most promising ground for proselytising. later. But the early nineteenth-century evangeli- The goal of a Christian Australia was not cals, both within and without the Anglican abandoned; the Protestants in particular communion, had quite willingly accepted adopted a new strategy. As the day school the challenge. Nor was Catholicism, recov- system of the churches disintegrated, ering from the stresses of European Sunday schools became of increased impor- upheaval, slow to grasp opportunities tance. In 1870, in New South Wales, 52,327 available in the new land. children were to be found enrolled in Sunday schools; by 1890 this had risen to 121,886, nearly half the children in the colony. Of these more than three-quarters were in Protestant Sunday schools. The churches set about their Christian aims not through church-related systems of education, but by building up congregations, preaching, and teaching the basics of the Christian life to the young in the Sunday schools. Observers of the time were enthusiastic about the degree of activity in religious life in Australia during this period. Australia was doing better than England, where the promise of the early half of the nineteenth century had been replaced by the formality and scepticism of its later decades. Austra- lian religion, by some observers, was JOHN I TM. (1832-1892) compared favourably with religious life in In 1876, Adventist literature was sent to the island of the United States. Certainly, congregations from America. Ten years later, the American were growing, though not at the rate of the John I. Tay, ship's carpenter and missionary, worked increase in the general population. The his way by six ships to the island. For five weeks he gave Bible studies that resulted in the unanimous Methodists, as in the eighteenth century, decision of the Pitcairn people to observe the were aware of social evils, but believed these seventh-day Sabbath. would be cured as converted men and On November 25, 1890, John Tay returned aboard women leavened the lump of Australian the sailing ship Pitcairn—built through Sabbath school society. offerings. His three-week visit culminated in the organisation of an Adventist church of eighty-two There were those, on the other hand, who members and a Sabbath school of 114 members. were moved by the economic stresses and He was the first Seventh-day Adventist missionary to class conflicts of the later years of the arrive in Fiji, whence he came by the Pitcairn. He became ill there and died in 1891. century to adopt a Christian socialism; reformation of society would lead to a better lifestyle and a strengthening of church life. In the middle of the century, the churches The shift proved abortive; governments had sought to achieve their aims through moved in to accept the chief responsibility church schools supported by the state. But for improved conditions of life. Thus effort

14

had been diverted from the central aims of them as evangelical Christians, they felt that the churches: personal salvation. The vision it was incumbent upon them to proclaim of a Christian Australia faded; the churches forthrightly the distinctive attributes of what were thrown progressively onto the defen- they themselves described as the "Advent sive. message." The first edition of theBible Echo During these later developments and Signs of the Times, published scarcely Seventh-day Adventists introduced a new, more than six months after their arrival, and at first unwelcome, element into however, made plain that they looked upon Australian religious life, bringing teaching their particular combination of beliefs as the with emphasis on the imminent return of our product of careful and diligent study of Lord and a call to Christian obedience. Scripture: Especially because it taught that Saturday was the Sabbath according to the com- The design of the publishers is to make the paper a thorough exponent of the Bible. In other words, it mandment, it was looked upon as a will advocate nothing that is not distinctly taught in disruptive force by those striving to hold or the Scriptures, and will vigorously oppose every build up their own congregations. Its theory that is not supported by a clear statement ultimate effect, however, was to inject a from the same authority. . . . We firmly believe the Bible to be the revealed will of God . . . any deviation fresh, vigorous and challenging religious from it is not only unjustifiable, but when knowingly ingredient into an Australian society be- indulged in, is a positive evil, inasmuch as the coming, in the twentieth century, increas- authority of God is disregarded by such a course. ingly secular. The new arrivals in June 1885 were not slow to make known the essentials of their In this way was launched a movement teaching. Since they took for granted, which, within a hundred years, was to spread perhaps too naively, that the public in throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Australia and New Zealand would accept South Pacific.

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• • ••at— In 1885 Stephen Nelson Haskell visited The Hare family was a closely knit one, so Auckland, New Zealand, on his way to it was natural for Edward and his wife to urge Australia with a pioneering party of Stephen Haskell to visit the rest of the Hares Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. During at Kaeo. Joseph Hare, an experienced the four-hour stopover he and his associates school teacher, had left Ireland and mig- explored the city and its surrounding area. rated to New Zealand because he disliked Alert to discover evangelistic potential, they religious pressures being exerted in his collected information in a highly observant home country. A devout man, Joseph Hare and coordinated manner. As a result of the was determined to give his large family the pooling of information, Haskell came to view opportunity to prosper in an atmosphere of New Zealand as a country pulsating with life, freedom. lie was an ardent student of the populated by a progressive class of industri- Scriptures and keen to share his faith in ous, self-reliant people. Placed in an them. invigorating climate, removed from social Although such a visit was not in his and religious encumbrances, New Zealan- original plan, Stephen Haskell sensed an ders appeared to be on the crest of a wave of opportunity too good to miss and journeyed development and eager to adopt new north to Whangaroa on the small steamer methods and ideas. Some settlers had Clansman, accompanied by Edward Hare. migrated for material gain, but others to From Whangaroa it was a comparatively escape the religious beliefs and social short trip by rowing boat to the Hare home constrictions which troubled them. nestled in the scenic Kaeo valley. For three Whatever the reason, New Zealand be- weeks Stephen Haskell enjoyed the gener- came a land of fulfilment and satisfaction ous hospitality extended to him by the where one could live as one might choose, Joseph Hare household. Joseph, a pillar of worship with freedom and prosper accord- the local Methodist community, became ing to business acumen and industry. involved with his American visitor in long Stephen Haskell was greatly impressed to and detailed study of the Scriptures. After learn that New Zealand possessed more one all-night sitting, his determined opposi- than 500 libraries. lie reasoned that if this tion to the seventh-day Sabbath was finally were any indication of the standard of overcome. As the early morning sun lit the literacy, New Zealanders should respond tips of the tall kauri trees standing on nearby favourably to the reading of his denomina- hillsides, Joseph Hare announced his tion's literature and to the preaching of the intention of keeping the seventh day holy, Word. lie concluded: "We regard Auckland and his family joined him in this resolve. as the most desirable point for missionary It was an historic decision. Throughout a effort on these islands [the islands of New long and vigorous life Joseph Hare was to Zealand], although Wellington is the capital support the Seventh-day Adventist Church and has a larger population." with influence and means until he eventually There was little Haskell could do at that found rest in the picturesque Totara North time to launch into evangelism in Auckland, Cemetery overlooking Whangaroa Harbour. but four months later, after successfully Soon after Joseph Hare and his family introducing Adventism to Melbourne, he made their momentous decision, son returned with the purpose of marketing the Robert, who had been for some time a church's soon-to-be-released religious licensed lay preacher in the Methodist paper, The Bible Echo and Signs of the Church, left for America to train for the Times. Adventist ministry. Haskell returned to Haskell found accommodation in a small Melbourne via the principal ports of New boarding house run by Edward Hare, son of Zealand, where he was able to arrange for Joseph Hare, a pioneering settler of Kaeo, agencies to market The Bible Echo and Signs 250 kilometres to the north of Auckland. of the Times. Edward, who became the chief Edward Hare and his wife Elizabeth became agent in New Zealand, returned to Auckland, intrigued with their American visitor and and all of the Hare family became active in introduced him to two ,Christian groups in distributing the church paper. Auckland. On being invited to speak, Haskell In 1886, Haskell paid Kaeo a second visit preached on "The Sabbath" and "The of two weeks. He persuaded the Hares and Second Advent" —subjects which generated those influenced by them that the Bible much discussion. After further study, Ed- taught baptism by immersion. Some were at ward Hare accepted the teachings espoused first hesitant because a false rumour had by Haskell and became the first agent for The been circulated to the effect that Adventists Bible Echo. required candidates to be baptised naked.

18 After baptism in the clear waters of a New which honoured him with membership. His Zealand mountain stream, the new converts children became ministers, teachers and formed themselves into a church fellowship, missionaries. Eric, who inherited his father's signing a simple covenant which read: "We, literary gift, authored a number of books the undersigned, hereby covenant together, and was a speaker of captivating charm. taking the name Kaeo church of Seventh-day Grandchildren still serve in the denomina- Adventists, to keep the commandments of tion's work force. Thus Stephen Haskell's God and the faith of Jesus." first evangelistic excursion in New Zealand had remarkable ramifications. Back in America, the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, rapidly stretching out into the world, were impres- sed by Haskell's glowing report of evangelistic potential in New Zealand. To build on the work already commenced, the Foreign Mission Board chose Arthur Gros- venor Daniells, a twenty-eight-year-old evangelist and former schoolteacher from Iowa. Daniells and his wife were at first

ROBERT HARE (1858-1953) A small white-haired figure stood in the pulpit surveying the congregation: "In English," he said, "we conjugate the verb 'to be' this way I am thou art he is. It is not that way in Hebrew, for Hebrew conjugates it this way, He is thou art EUGENE WILLIAM FARNSWORTH (1847-1935) I am. William, the father of Eugene Farnsworth, is The English way is the way of the unregenerate man. sometimes referred to as the first Seventh-day The Hebrew way is the way of those who are in Christ. Adventist, being one of those involved in the 1844 God first, our fellow men next, ourselves last." disappointment and the later formation of the first Thus Robert Hare revealed the two great preoccupa- organised group of Seventh-day Adventists. Not at first tions of his long ministry: words and the Word; the inclined toward religion, Eugene, as a young man, was beauty of language and God. converted and accepted baptism—in a hole cut in the Preacher, teacher, editor, poet, his memory is ice. revered. His life became occupied with evangelism, Bible teaching in Adventist colleges, and church administra- tion. He conducted public evangelistic efforts in the Thus the first Seventh-day Adventist Middle West of the United States, Australia, New Zealand church in New Zealand was organised in and London. He taught at Union College, Nebraska, "Hare country," the township of Kaeo, Avondale College, and what is now Columbia Union College. At various times Farnsworth was either on 23 March, 1886. president of a local conference or of a union conference The Hare family became one of the most (ie, cluster of conferences) in the Midwest, in prominent in Seventh-day Adventist history, Australasia, and on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. especially in Australasia. Robert, who had A minister of deep spiritual insights, eloquence and left for America, later returned bringing his conviction, he enriched the Australasian field with his American bride, to become a remarkably presence over a period of eight years. lucid and heart-warming preacher, Bible scholar and teacher. He was an Adventist hesitant, as they knew so little about New poet of distinction, being recognised by the Zealand; Daniells even being compelled to prestigious Mark Twain Society of America, consult an atlas to learn the geographic

19 location of their future home. However, the importance: an American pedal organ, more they prayed about the matter, the provided to lead the singing in Arthur deeper became their conviction that they Daniells' meetings. should accept the posting to New Zealand. Little did this young American preacher or They arrived in Auckland in November 1886, his wife realise that he was destined to hold complete with what to New Zealanders of for twenty-one years the position of world those times was an item of unusual interest: leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. a 300-seat "mission tent." Another tent, By Wednesday, December 29, 1886, equipped with a wooden floor, became their following a visit to the believers in Kaeo, first New Zealand "home." Mrs Daniells Daniells was ready for action with tent pitched and subject matter advertised in the newspapers. Metcalfe Hare, brother to Edward and Robert, was tent-master, sleeping behind the pulpit each night—a deterrent to vandalism. He received in effect, night by night, an education in Adventist theology during the series and later crossed the Tasman to Australia, where he attended the Adventist school in St Kilda and then moved to Cooranbong. He is reputed to have been the first to camp, with his family, on the Brettville Estate, which was purchased for the Avondale school. His practical training as a bushman, carpenter, and boat builder, learned among the New Zealand kauri trees and on Whangaroa Harbour, enabled him to give a strong lead in creating a farm and school buildings out of the bush. ARTHUR GROSVENOR DANIELLS (1858-1935) Young Arthur Daniells took the challenge Arthur Grosvenor Daniells was one of Adventism's of evangelising New Zealand seriously. He most dynamic ministers and administrators. From Iowa in the Midwest of the United States, he was the son was determined to do his work "in the of a Union Army physician and surgeon who died in the strength which God provides," and in Civil War. At the age of ten he became an Adventist; in consequence spent more than one day in the 1875 he entered Battle Creek College, withdrawing grassy crater of Mount Eden, one of after one year because of ill-health. Daniells and his wife became public school teachers. Auckland's well-known extinct volcanoes, in Twelve months later with much trepidation Daniells meditation and prayer. Deeply spiritual, he accepted a call to the ministry. For one year he was was a compelling Bible expositor and secretary to dames and Ellen White. preacher, qualities which held a public In 1886 he travelled to New Zealand, where he initially attracted by the sight of the big preached with outstanding success. lie became president of the newly formed New Zealand Confer- mission tent erected on Ponsonby Road, at ence. From that time he was involved in church that time one of Auckland's more elite administration, becoming president of the Australasian suburbs. Union Conference, succeeding William Clarence White. Religion 100 years ago was part of the During his fourteen years in the Antipodes he was clo ely associated with Ellen White. fabric of society. Theological discussions From 1901 to 1922 he was president of the General were entered into publicly and were often Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and thereafter regarded as one of the more popular secretary for four years. Under his leadership the whole diversions of the day, there being no radio or financial and administrative structure of the denomina- television as competing distractions. News- tion was reorganised. He travelled in every continent, believing in being papers frequently highlighted such discus- informed first-hand. He led in the establishment of the sions, exciting their readers with their Ministerial Association and the Ministry magazine. graphic reports. It was not too difficult to Above all, he was concerned with the spiritual ministry attract a crowd to a religious meeting, of the church. particularly if people scented controversy. Daniells was not slow to capitalise on such assisted her husband in carpeting the family a situation, using the media to good effect tent, dividing the six by four metre space into and entering into debate when he thought it five rooms and setting up a kitchen replete advantageous to his cause. In this he was with a "modern" American stove and kitchen encouraged by Edward Hare, who tended to utensils. One other piece of equipment thrive on controversy. among their possessions was of great The results of this first Auckland mission

20 Bible truths that had been well received in Icaeo and Auckland attracted a good deal of attention in Napier and the surrounding districts, especially where Adventist litera- ture evangelists had been active. Arthur Daniells found the pressure of work almost overwhelming: preparing sermons, engag- ing in debates and giving private Bible studies. Nevertheless a congregation was organised and a church building erected. It was dedicated on Christmas Day, 1889. Having assisted Arthur Daniells in the early stages of his Napier mission, Robert Hare took a second mission tent to Gisborne and began his own career as an evangelist in that town. He was thus successful in establishing another New Zealand HAROLD EDGAR PIPER (1882-1965) Seventh-day Adventist church. One of the better-known ministers and church Adventism was now underway in New administrators to come from New Zealand in the early Zealand with four separate congregations. It years of Adventism in the South Pacific was Harold Piper. He married Lily Brown of Paremata, who was at was felt desirable to bind them together in a one time in charge of teacher training at Avondale denominational system, so the New Zealand College, and whose family had been won to Adventism Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was in the course of a holiday visit by Ellen White. setup, with Arthur Daniells as its first elected After a brief period in Tonga, Harold Piper served as president. It was _decided that Wellington, an evangelist and church administrator. He was president of each of the then-existing conferences the capital of New Zealand, centrally situated except South Australia, and became vice-president of in the extreme south of the North Island, with the Australasian field. ready access to the South Island, should be A kindly man, Harold Piper was widely known and the administrative centre for the infant loved. His son, Ross, was for some years editor of the organisation. As a consequence of this Signs of the Times, after an earlier stint as an Adventist broadcaster; Elva, his daughter, was music teacher and decision, Daniells moved to Wellington, preceptress at both Longburn College and Avondale. while Robert Hare moved from Gisborne to Palmerston North, about 160 kilometres from Wellington. Both men found the people pleased Arthur and Mrs Daniells, particularly of these communities much less responsive as they were able to build the first New than those of Auckland and Napier, and Zealand Seventh-day Adventist church opposition better organised. Hare, however, edifice. The dedication of the building and succeeded in raising up a small congrega- the organisation of the Ponsonby church tion in Palmerston North before leaving for took place on October 15, 1887, with Tasmania. sixty-seven members signing the charter In Wellington, Daniells worked in his covenant. customary strenuous fashion, holding pub- A second Auckland mission was con- lic and cottage meetings and providing ducted in the early part of 1888, the tent Adventist literature for every ship entering being pitched near the public hospital. This Port Nicholson. However, after a little time, effort served the purpose of establishing the he was forced by ill health to leave New recent converts and adding further mem- Zealand for the warmer climate of Sydney. bers to the Ponsonby congregation. It is difficult to exaggerate the effects of Daniells was a firm believer in involving the work of A. G. Daniells in his evangelistic his converts in spreading the faith. Church thrust in New Zealand. Many young men and members were set to work distributing women of the families which became literature. Some were encouraged to travel Seventh-day Adventist in consequence of his south-east to Napier, a town of 8, 000 and the ministry travelled to Australia or to the chief port of the province of Hawkes Bay, United States for training in some line of situated more than 300 kilometres from denominational service, often returning to Auckland. It was an overnight trip by New Zealand to play their part in the church steamer in those days. Daniells followed as ministers, teachers, church adminis- them with his big tent and his assistant, trators, office workers, medical personnel, Robert Hare. The tent was pitched right in or literature evangelists. There are many the centre of Napier, in Clive Square. The representatives of these families, including

21 the editor of this volume, who today are Mountains. full-time employees of the Seventh-day About the same time as Israel commenced Adventist Church, and who trace their work in Nelson, Stephen McCullagh travelled denominational origins to Arthur Grosvenor to Kaikoura, where he knew an interest in Daniells. Adventism already existed. The cir- Following Daniells's departure, further cumstances of this illustrates the way in significant gains were made by the church in which Adventism spread in New Zealand and around Wellington, by Mendel Israel, an society. A Mrs Harris, whose maiden name Adventist preacher who had come to the was Paap, had attended meetings in Antipodes with Stephen Haskell in the Palmerston North conducted by Robert pioneering party. As a native of Nova Scotia Hare. She and her husband both became in Canada, he was not unused to rugged Adventists. Hare's tent-master, Morgan weather, but he was frustrated in his Connell, planned to make a booksel ling visit evangelistic endeavours by Wellington's to the South Island, and Mrs Harris famous winds. He found that "the winds thereupon urged Connell to visit her family, which swept through Cook Strait made it the Paaps in Kaikoura. The Paaps bought a impossible to pitch the mission tent for any copy of one of the best known of Adventist length of time." lie decided to move. books: Ellen White's The Great Controversy. However, before he shifted, he and his This was studied with great interest. When associate, Stephen McCullagh, won a the Paaps mentioned to others something of number of converts to Adventism, including its contents, they found themselves the focal Mary Piper and several of her children. Mary point of not inconsiderable debate. On Piper's husband did not oppose her in her visiting Palmerston North, Stephen McCul- new religious beliefs, but did not become a lagh learned of these events from Mrs Harris, Seventh-day Adventist himself. However, and decided that it was time to head south. three sons and a daughter entered the work After ten weeks of McCullagh's preaching of the church: Albert and Harold as and visits, fifteen people declared their preachers, missionaries and adminis- acceptance of Adventist beliefs by signing a trators, Reginald for a time a worker among covenant on the first Sabbath of 1892. the Maoris, and Mabel as a minister's wife McCullagh stayed in Kaikoura for the early and teacher. Four generations of the Piper part of the year, progressively adding to the family have served the Adventist Church in company of believers. Mendel Israel paid Australasia and overseas. them a visit to participate in the dedication of Israel's next field of endeavour was a church building on December 27, 1892. Blenheim, the chief town of the Marlborough McCullagh moved back to the North Island to province of New Zealand, a little south of work in the Ormondville district, but his Picton. A town with a population of 3,000, labours in Kaikoura were to have important Blenheim thus became the first settlement consequences. One son of John and in the South Island of New Zealand to hear a Caroline Paap, also John, became a Seventh-day Adventist preacher. Having mathematics and science teacher at the pitched his mission tent in Blenheim, Israel Adventist school in Cooranbong, New South delivered a series of sermons covering Wales, and later at Pacific Union College in comprehensively the doctrines of the California. Charles, his brother, a well- Seventh-day Adventist Church to a totally known "character" in the Adventist ministry, non-Adventist congregation. Quite under- distinguished himself as a bold, forceful and standably there was some opposition from loved minister of the Adventist Church, other clergymen. Nevertheless, by late warm and friendly, with a whimsical sense of November 1899, Blenheim had a small but humour. Always ready for a new challenge, stable congregation of Seventh-day Adven- he and his lively spouse shifted from tists. Israel then moved on to Nelson, location to location at least once a year, approximately 110 kilometres by road to the opening up Seventh-day Adventist work in west on Tasman Bay. areas not formerly penetrated, until return- Thus it was predominantly in small towns ing from a camp-meeting on his motorcycle and country districts that Adventism first and sidecar, Charles was killed in a collision took root in both the North and South on a winding country road. Charlie Paap was Islands of New Zealand. There was Kaikoura, the prototype of the Adventist pastor- for instance, a small fishing village on the evangelist, raising up Adventist congrega- coast some 130 kilometres south of tions, nurturing them, moving on to new Blenheim, standing under the majesty of the fields, preaching and teaching the gospel of double range of snow-capped Kaikoura the Lord Jesus Christ and upholding before

22 the people the joyful prospect of His soon resources for the upbuilding of this young return. church and for other Adventist projects in Another settlement that figured in the New Zealand, and overseas. early days of Adventism in the Dominion was Christchurch Adventists were not slow in Tokanui, east of Invercargill in the far south developing facets of Adventist activity of the South Island. The "Advent Message," already well developed in the United States. as it was often called, reached Tokanui Within a year a Health Home was begun, to through the efforts of Jesse Pallant, who had be superseded shortly by the Christchurch been one of Arthur Daniells' early converts Sanitarium. It was on the grounds of this in Auckland. He had responded to the call to institution that Arthur Brandstater opened a go "canvassing," as the door-to-door selling little health food factory, and the manufac- of Christian literature was known by early ture of health foods was commenced. This Adventists, and travelled down to South- new industry claimed the attention of The land, where he eventually sold one of his Press, the city's leading newspaper, with a books to William Pascoe. This man and his resultant increase in interest and sales. family practised the Seventh-day Adventist In Dunedin "the Edinburgh of the south," faith for a number of years before being where the canny Scots tended to hold fast to visited by an Adventist minister. Like the their sturdy Presbyterian heritage, Adven- Pipers, many Pascoes became Adventist tism did not move as fast as it had in ministers, teachers, missionaries and ad- Christchurch. But it did become established ministrators for four generations. Some there, due very largely to the persistence of other small centres yielding significant and one woman, Mary Owen. Mary Owen's talent lasting results for the young Adventist seemed to be in her ability to sell the young church were to be found in North New denomination's paper The Bible Echo and Zealand: Ormondville, Tolaga Bay and Signs of the Times door to door. Dunedin, Cambridge. like Edinburgh, is a city of hills, steep hills. But what of the South Island's two major For years Mary trudged Dunedin streets, cities, Christchurch and Dunedin? How did regularly delivering over 500 copies of each they hear "the message"? What were the issue of the paper. Mary Owen trained her circumstances in making these cities the dog (name unknown) to deliver the paper to major centres of Adventist influence which homes on some of the steepest hillsides. they are today? She became quite an identity in Dunedin American Adventists parted with one of around the turn of the century. their most successful evangelists, Eugene Eugene Farnsworth was the preacher sent W. Farnsworth, fifty years of age, to start a to Dunedin to give further help to the people church in Christchurch. Farnsworth had a who had become interested in Adventism rich background of Adventism. His father through reading The Bible Echo and Signs of was one of the very first Seventh-day the Times. Just at this time, Dunedin's Adventists in the world. In January 1899, churchmen had arranged for the popular Christchurch people saw something new in London preacher Dr Grattan Guinness to their city: a huge American "mission tent" come to Dunedin to conduct a series of pitched on Ferry Road. It is apparent that evangelistic meetings for all churches. They Eugene Farnsworth was different in certain were perturbed to find that the Adventists respects from his earlier counterparts—he had booked their chosen venue, the neither sought nor encouraged controversy. Agricultural Hall, and aired their resentment Because his ministry was less sensational it in the Otago Daily Times. Farnsworth, was less newsworthy, but it was nevertheless believing in the value of amicable relations, very effective. Within six months made the hall available. He personally called Farnsworth's preaching in the tent had on Grattan Guinness and found him well convinced twenty-seven people that they informed on both the teachings and work of should become Seventh-day Adventists, and the Adventist Church. these people were formally organised as The Farnsworth team laboured with very Christchurch's first Seventh-day Adventist limited results in terms of acceptance of church. They were apparently an enthusias- Seventh-day Adventism, and it was not until tic group, for by June 1897 a church seating Dunedin enjoyed the impact of an Adventist 260 people, had been erected there and was camp-meeting that Seventh-day Adventism ready for dedication. This became known as became established there. It was a very the Barbadoes Street church. Among the similar experience to John Wesley's brush members was S. H. Aymes, a man of with Scotland. Wesley's revivalism had considerable means, who used his financial limited appeal to the inhabitants north of the

23 :*

AP

Turner Street, Auckland, in 1920, shows the boarding house owned by Edward Hare directly behind the power, pole on the left. INSET: Edward Hare celebrates his 100th birthday. Early New Zealand personalities.

C. A. and Mrs Paap.

- - The Rotomahana-Mrs White's transport in 1893. Campbell's Bush, near Kaeo, 1905. The Clansman. Kaeo River.

25 Auckland Camp, 1912.

Addington Camp, 1934.

I" IRRIfr IT!! Napier church, near centre of picture. The Pitcairn.

Tauranga Church. Ponsonby Church.

26 Early Longburn.

Longburn today.

Pukekura School. Henry Thompson, outstanding literature evangelist.

27 T43• SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST cH C NORTH NEW ZEALAND ADMINISTRATIVE liTENT. ADVENTIST RETIREMENTRETIREMENT VILLAGE

South Auckland Samoan church. The North New Zealand administrative office, Manukau.

Glen Innes church, NZ. Adventist Retirement Village, Manukau.

North New Zealand baptisms have averaged 308 per year since 1975.

28 Tweed, because the Christian religion in gold-diggers' shanties were all visited. Scotland was represented by a church still These canvassers had to be men and women retaining the vigour which it had inherited of character and persistence. Access was from Calvin and John Knox. often more by muddy bushtrack than by A significant feature of early Seventh-day metalled road. Paved roads were the Adventism in New Zealand was the way in privilege of the cities, not even provincial which individuals and small groups in the towns. Transport, more often than not, was New Zealand countryside were attracted to by pushbike with saddlebags, and fre- it. An important factor in this phenomenon quently the weather was inclement, making was the emphasis placed by the denomina- travel unpleasant. On many days their work tion on the distribution of literature. Stephen seemed barren, and then often quite Haskell, before his journey to Australia and unexpectedly they would find themselves New Zealand, had visited Europe, where he the recipients of country hospitality and had opportunity to observe the influence genuine religious interest. The colporteur exerted by the printed material prepared by sometimes found lodging in a home for early Adventist pioneer missionary and several days while he canvassed the district, scholar John Andrews. Stephen Haskell had at night returning to his host's table and himself played a significant part in creating sharing with the family his understanding of in Europe Tract and Missionary Societies, Scripture, the way of salvation and the which were organisations specifically con- march of world events leading to the cerned with the spread of Adventist litera- expected coming of our Lord. ture. While the expedition to Australia was Little wonder that Seventh-day Adventist being planned, he had suggested that preachers were essentially itinerant in a style copies of the Signs of the Times be mailed to not unlike that of John Wesley in the Australian libraries. The fact that his eighteenth century. They were called to advance party included a door-to-door book minister to believers in remote areas, to salesman and a printer is a clear indication solidify their convictions, to baptise them in of the importance he placed upon the spread stream or lagoon. Sometimes this sort of of Adventist printed material. ministry established a company meeting for Edward Hare became the first New weekly services in a home and enduring Zealand agent of Adventist literature. lie indefinitely. In other circumstances the incorporated the sale of such books as Ellen company faded away; death took its toll; White's The Great Controversy and Uriah members moved to other areas, perhaps to Smith's Daniel and the Revelation with that one of the large towns or cities and some lost of other commodities sold in his small their way, maybe for lack of adequate health food business. pastoral care. In the areas of sparser The techniques of salesmanship for what population, such as the west coast of the were at first called canvassers, later colpor- South Island, pastoral care devolved upon teurs, and later again literature evangelists, the shoulders of colporteurs such as had been already developed in the United Laurence Fraser, a former dairy farmer, who States. In September of 1889, a training sold books during the day and studied the institute was held at Napier; fifteen full-time Bible with interested people at night or at canvassers, together with other interested weekends. He worked often within sight of persons, met there to learn from E. M. the sharp snow-covered peaks of the Morrison, a man of wide experience in the Southern Alps, rising above bush-covered sale of religious books. valleys. But the beauty of the scenery had From this institute colporteurs scattered often to be forgotten as, struggling through throughout New Zealand, leading Publish- the torrential rain of the west coast, with ing Department director (then known as roads almost impassable, he found it state agent) James Harris to declare in the necessary to carry his bicycle as well as his year 1891: "In all the chief centres of books. population throughout the colony our books The remarkable stamina of Adventist are being sold, and in most cases with good canvassers has been evident throughout the success." 100 years of Seventh-day Adventist de- Doors were close together in the big cities, velopment in New Zealand, as elsewhere. but the canvassers moved out into every Methods of transport have changed, the corner of the land; small towns, small titles in their bags have changed, various clusters of houses in the mountain valleys, methods of time-payment have been de- seaside villages, bush settlements for rived, but the calibre of the men has not timber-getters, scattered farmhouses and essentially altered.

29 The list of men who carried on the work of movement from its inception, and that she literature evangelism through the century of had a reputation for eloquence, made her a Adventist development in the South Pacific particular attraction. region is very long indeed. One of the most There was another factor involved in colourful of this intrepid band must surely ensuring public interest: C. F. Garland, at a be Henry Thomson. Though officially in Wesleyan Conference currently being held in retirement, he still sells books north of Dunedin, had challenged the authority and Auckland. Harry is a Christian with an inspiration of the Scriptures, sparking a infectious, cheerful personality and a debate which Adventists were not slow to single-minded devotion to the Adventist enter and to use to their advantage. cause—a dedication which has enabled him The success of this first camp-meeting to sell books to people in all walks of life for encouraged Adventist leaders in New Zea- over fifty years. He has consistently looked land to hold others. Because the capital of beyond these transactions to his ultimate New Zealand was proving comparatively goal: the winning of men and women for unresponsive to Adventism, it was decided Christ, accomplished through either the to switch the camp-meeting planned for literature he was offering or by talks over the later in 1893 from Auckland to Wellington. dining-room table with the open Bible. Adventist church members throughout New Another tool in the development of the Zealand were urged to attend, to display the Seventh-day Adventist Church in New Zea- denomination as a church of significance. land was the use of the camp-meeting as an The Pitcairn, the Adventist mission ship, was evangelistic agency. It came to be believed, brought to Port Nicholson for the occasion. not without reason, that the presence of an The prayerful planning had its reward in a Adventist camp-meeting—a congregation of very warm reception on the part of the Adventists drawn together from various Wellington public. parts of the country and living under Subsequently annual camp-meetings canvas—was capable of arousing consider- were held each year in a different locality: able interest in the town or city chosen as the Wanganui (1898), New Plymouth (1904), venue for that particular occasion. The Ashburton (1905), Masterton (1906), Tim- evening meetings of these camps consisted, aru (1916), and Oamaru (1930) being in effect, of a series of sermons on basic among the places selected. Intensive litera- Adventist teachings. As the camp-meeting ture distribution for some time prior to each drew to a close, a show of hands would camp-meeting, and a field day during the indicate whether sufficient interest had been camp-meeting itself, were considered as aroused to warrant the continuation of the highly profitable in arousing public interest. series by a specially chosen evangelist. These meetings were not, of course, These meetings might be held in a mission without incident. At Timaru's Maori reserve, tent or in a hall hired for the purpose. the first camp-meeting held after the The first camp-meetings held in New formation of the South New Zealand Zealand were very small indeed by modern Conference, a sudden squall flattened standards, but they had the advantage of thirty-five family tents. The Oamaru camp of being able to occupy empty allotments fairly 1930 was deprived of literature being close to the centres of towns and cities. imported from the Signs Publishing Com- In the later part of the summer of 1893, pany, Warburton, Victoria, for its field day, when the rather exceptional rains of that when these supplies went down with the year had eased, Adventists assembled for Union Steamship Company's passenger their first genuine camp-meeting. In earlier ship the Manuka, which struck rocks south of assemblies the members had been billeted Port Chalmers on December 16, 1929. in homes; this time they were housed in In more recent years a change has come tents pitched on a site near the present over the manner of conducting camp- Napier City Library, just a few minutes' walk meetings in both Australia and New Zealand. from the railway station. The fact that Adventists are already better An attraction both for Adventists them- known, considerations of cost, the de- selves and for the pirblic generally was the creasing availability of grounds of suitable presence of speakers visiting from overseas! size and adequate amenities for a large Ellen White, her son William, and a Pastor assembling of people, has led to the and Mrs George B. Starr. The fact that Ellen purchase of permanent campsites such as White's books had been widely circulated, Ardmore near Auckland, where many Adven- that she and her late husband James White tists reside, and at Chaneys on the outskirts had been closely associated with the Advent of Christchurch. These have become the

30 rallying places of contemporary Adventism. Adventist school system. Today (1985) there Along with evangelism expressed in are secondary schools in Auckland and so-called "missions," literature distribution, Christchurch and a network of primary and camp-meetings, Seventh-day Adven- schools throughout the country, supported tists in New Zealand, as elsewhere, have by local church congregations. The Adven- become known as advocates of a particular tist educational system has been slow in philosophy of health and healing. This is growing, but is becoming more comprehen- discussed in some detail in another chapter sive, more efficiently run, and more widely in this volume. Basically it involves a belief accepted by both the Adventist community that God has given us bodies in trust, which and by many non-Adventists, who see in it an we should not misuse any more than we educational system which sustains moral should abuse or waste any other gift which values. He has given. One of the practical applications of this view has been the acceptance of a predo- minantly vegetarian diet. Early camp- meetings gave emphasis to this by setting up a dining tent in which well-prepared vegetarian meals could be sampled. Seventh-day Adventist literature extolled the benefits of nourishing vegetarian foods and the evil effects on the human body of smoking and the consumption of alcoholic beverages, with warnings, too, of the ill effects of tea and coffee. The Bible Echo and Signs of the Times frequently discussed the importance of adequate rest, exercise, fresh air and sunshine in addition to dietary changes. There were some in New Zealand who MARGARET CARO (1848-1938) were particularly interested in medical Margaret Caro, a woman of striking personality, was principles and care. Margaret Caro, a dentist one of New Zealand's earliest Adventists. For twenty- in Napier, was one of Daniells' converts. Her five years she practised dentistry in Napier, New husband, a Polish Jew, was a doctor. The two Zealand, where her husband was a physician. She Caro boys travelled to America, Edgar to entertained Ellen White in her home on several occasions. return a doctor, and Eric a dentist. Edgar Widowed, she sought training in theology in became the resident doctor of the Summer California, in close association with Ellen White, and at Hill Sanitarium in Sydney, the predecessor Avondale under W. W. Prescott, then principal. She then of the Sydney Sanitarium and Hospital, now became a Bible-worker. the Sydney Adventist Hospital. Margaret Caro exhibited great faith and courage throughout her life. As will be seen elsewhere in this volume, Her two sons, Edgar, a doctor, and Eric, a well-known Adventists established in Christchurch a New Zealand dentist, continued their mother's intense health home which was soon replaced by the advocacy of health reform. A granddaughter, Yvonne, Christchurch Sanitarium. This functioned became the chief pianoforte teacher at Avondale until 1921, when it was closed, chiefly on College during the period when George W. Greer was grounds of cost. It was to be 1974 before choirmaster. New Zealand was to have another Adventist hospital. The biggest effort in education has been It was in Christchurch, too, that the the establishment of a boarding school. manufacture and distribution of health Quite early in the life of Adventism in New foods began. Today, as may be seen in Zealand, church members expressed the another chapter, the Sanitarium Health view that New Zealand itself needed a Food Company in New Zealand is a thriving "training school," rather than being forced organisation, providing the public with to depend so heavily on the school already healthful foods and providing means by established at Cooranbong in New South which Adventist institutions and humanita- Wales. To meet this demand considerable rian enterprises may be sustained. money was raised, in part by the sale of Ellen Another agency for the consolidation of White's Christ's Object Lessons throughout Seventh-day Adventism in New Zealand has the country. A property of 168 acres was been the gradual development of an purchased in 1907 at Cambridge in the

31 'S

Waikato. A school building with boarding Christian faith as understood and practised facilities was erected, courses developed by Seventh-day Adventists. and students accepted. However, the finan- No account of the development of cial burden was considered too great and the Seventh-day Adventism in New Zealand property was sold. would be complete without some reference A second attempt was made at what was to the way Adventism in New Zealand and the considered a more central location, at Maori people have related to each other. Longburn near Palmerston North, where the Throughout the century of Seventh-day church obtained, initially, about 100 acres of Adventist presence in New Zealand the the sheep farm of an Adventist, George challenge of taking Seventh-day Adventist Wright, who proved to be a congenial to the Maori people has been neighbour and supporter of the new ever before Adventist ministers and ad- venture. This was at first known as the Oroua ministrators. It was recognised by Stephen School, later the New Zealand Missionary Haskell, who was taken to a Maori pah (Maori College and today Longburn Adventist village) by Joseph Hare, who translated College; a school which has added a number Haskell's sermon on the second coming of of post-secondary courses, including prim- Christ into the Maori language, in which Hare ary teacher training to its predominantly had acquired some fluency. Joseph Hare secondary scholastic program. had in fact chosen property in the Kaeo Today, in spite of its enormous cost, district with evangelical activity among the Adventist churches and the New Zealand Maoris a major consideration. It was Conferences maintain their parochial school doubtless Hare's rapport with the Maori system, believing it to be a major agency in people which resulted in a number of Maoris retaining Adventist young people within the joining the Adventist church in Kaeo. Later, when Arthur Daniells was preaching in Hawkes Bay, he became a familiar figure in pahs close to Napier. At one time a Maori girl from Tolaga Bay, Matilda Lockwood (after- wards Mrs W. A. Tulloch), worked as his secretary. The influence of an Adventist cook at Te Aute College, a secondary boarding school for Maoris, resulted in a number of students accepting Adventism. One, Maui Pomare, was encouraged to travel to the United States to train as a medical mission- ary. He proved to be a good scholar but on returning to New Zealand ceased to be an active member of the Adventist Church. He entered politics, became Minister for Health, and was ultimately knighted for his service to the Maori people. Arthur Daniells expressed a need for WILLIAM ROBERT CARSWELL (1863-1952) someone to give himself wholly to Maori evangelism, and eventually the Foreign William Robert Carswell, a sheep-farmer of Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, sold his share in a farm to his Mission Board released Dr and Mrs Caldwell partner, who was his cousin, in order to attend the Bible from their work in Rarotonga for this School in Melbourne. He was among those who purpose. Unfortunately the untimely death attended the Avondale School when it opened, and as of Mrs Caldwell resulted in the return of the an experienced farmer helped break in the property. He rest of the family to America, and for some was an avid colporteur and disseminator of Adventist teaching, especially in Toowoomba and Newcastle. time the matter of his replacement was left in From time to time he joined teams engaged in public abeyance. The responsibility then fell upon evangelism. W. R. Carswell. Initially from Hawkes Bay, He is perhaps best known for his work for the Maoris, Carswell had been active as an evangelist in for whom he provided a monthly paper in Maori and translations into Maori of a number of books. Carswell Australia when he was called back to New gave instruction in Bible to Sanitarium nurses in Zealand. In 1906 he commenced work in the Sydney, in which city he was assiduous in the church's Gisborne district, visiting pahs and prepar- welfare activities. During his eighty-eight years he ing literature in the Maori language. He demonstrated what a man of humility, diligence and produced a monthly paper called Te Karere o conviction can do for God. Te Pono (The Herald of Truth). Carswell was joined by Mr and Mrs Reid-Smith, graduate

32 ASTR Research Center Library

Genera!Conference ofeventhayS Adventists nurses trom the Sydney Sanitarium. The with them in New Zealand. nature of the terrain in which these people Auckland Adventism in particular is quite worked was such that movement during wet, multi-racial, perhaps a third of those wintry conditions was nigh impossible. attending an Ardmore camp-meeting being There was a good deal of sickness among of non-Caucasian origin. In this the Maori the Maori people, and these missionaries to people themselves form an important the Maoris laboured for them untiringly and segment. In recent times Maori Adventists in courageously. Then trouble struck. Reid- Auckland have felt that they would like to Smith died of typhoid as a consequence of come together from various parts of the city, nursing typhoid sufferers during an in spite of numerous Adventist churches, to epidemic in 1910. His tombstone in the worship with people of their own race. In Tolaga Bay cemetery is fittingly inscribed response to this, a Maori church was with the words "Greater love hath no man formally opened on March 27, 1982. than this." Carswell returned to Australia Seventh-day Adventism, after approxi- because of his wife's prolonged illness. The mately 100 years in New Zealand, has not work for the Maoris in that area substantially changed a great deal in essential message ground to a halt. and sense of urgency. It still works through a A more rewarding evangelical work for the variety of agencies to lead men and women Maoris was accomplished at Te Kao, only into an awareness and acceptance of the forty kilometres south of Cape Reinga, the saving love of Jesus, with discipleship which most northerly tip of New Zealand, and by follows. It functions in a society which has Maori tradition the point of departure to the seen in that time enormous technological Better Land of the spirits of the dead. Paul developments: once the roads and tracks Claus, an Adventist pastor with a very were hazardous to bicycles; now the cyclist is practical bent, began visiting Maori homes vulnerable to fast-moving traffic. Today the around Te Kao in 1940 as the result of public meeting faces the competition of the contacts made in Kaitaia, sixty-five television set, and a large segment of society kilometres to the south where he was has turned away from the basics of the stationed. Claus helped the people in a Christian faith. Adventism itself is different; knowledge of hygiene and agriculture. Their it is bigger, which requires greater organisa- gardens and their style of living improved, tion, and it is more institutionalised. There and they found joy and fulfilment in the are few towns of any size in New Zealand religious teaching which the pastor was without a Seventh-day Adventist church. happy to provide. In consequence, the first The evangelistic mission tent has substan- Seventh-day Adventist Maori church build- tially, perhaps completely, disappeared, ing in New Zealand was dedicated amidst except at Adventist camp-meetings. The much rejoicing and the singing of Maori leading evangelists of their day, such as hymns. James Kent, David Sibley, Walter Battye, During the 1950s the Te Kao Maori choir Nelson Burns, George Burnside, John provided stirring singing for North New Conley and John Coltheart, turned to large Zealand camp-meetings. In more recent theatres or halls in which to seat their times, Polynesian choirs from the multi- audiences. racial Ponsonby church and the New Lynn Much of the work of evangelism falls to the Samoan church seem to have taken its lot of the pastor-evangelist, shepherding his place. church family. Principles of church growth Over the past twenty-five years there has are being applied, utilising the talents of been a migration of Polynesian people to laymen to contact "interests" created New Zealand, particularly from and through friendship, casual contacts, radio the Cook Islands. It is of special significance broadcasts and correspondence courses. that many have come from communities in Home Bible studies still remain the basic which the Christian religion has established part of the minister's task. strong bases. Seventh-day Adventists have Thus Seventh-day Adventism in New been very active throughout the islands of Zealand through a variety of agencies: the South Pacific, and consequently many of pastoral care, literature ministry, a parochial those who have migrated to New Zealand school system, a health food business, a were already committed to the Adventist hospital, a health education program and faith. In their home islands, church affilia- various lines of welfare work remains intent tion and weekly attendance at worship on creating a people keeping the com- services is an accepted, even expected, way mandments of God and the faith of Jesus —a of life. This spiritual lifestyle has remained people ready to meet the Lord at His coming.

33

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toe 51 ar qt 41t4„ ' p rs E CARTER REPORT is not just a series, r t a serial! Each program is linked to the cloci:1,4744;7$14:efei„.N., ne before and after. Plan now to take full 4'4, 6 advantage of this unique opportunity by 14 14i-444''44:'1144*,4444'.4 lion.attending each interest-packed presenta- /4j.'Zj;;4'4°14614 4 Nt4'4?ecto 4 ,74Z14,, :4jy :i„;f;t • ''4,w 0 4 pro h 44/tt:4141/ „ c4OY op/e toeam too?"4„

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The speaker—John J. Carter—ha, sively in all the major countries Of the ancient world. 4,„ SF9 bra He has just returned from a fact-finding, film „0 production tour through A .0,4.0.).%. thirty countries, where he Ore Petra,visited such out-of-the-way places as Babylon, G' y - .04 eo Luxor, UrKarnak. of the Asw,,, Chaldees, Baalbek, Jefusainm The local footballers, returning from a run meetings two or three times a week for a hard game, tramped noisily past a hall on handful of people for four months and their way to celebrate in the usual fashion. rejoice over one convert? Exactly the same Poking their heads around the doorway they commission that led the first American saw a young preacher holding forth with Adventists to come to Australia; the same earnest eloquence to a small group of commission that has led preachers of all people. ages and abilities to preach in tents, in halls, "A religious meeting, that's what." in the open air, in theatres and homes; to go "Not for me, mate." to towns of all sizes—the fruitful ones and "Let's give him an offering." the hard ones—to gather out men and A hurried search of pockets yielded a women by the few and the many, to build handful of pennies and one of them tossed churches small and large, to face prejudice the coins along the floor. Grinning faces and bitter opposition from the clergy of watched while the pennies rolled and spun other persuasions, to grapple with the and plopped, the sound magnified by the indifference of large sections of our Austra- echoing spaces of the old hall. lian community; and to keep on preaching. Sitting in the front row, listening to In 1885, a party of American Adventists set marvellous and wonderful things she had sail from San Francisco on May 10, sailing on never heard before, a woman started at the the Australia, twenty-eight days to Sydney, sound, then relaxed—the flicker of a smile arriving there on June 6 and going on to crossed her face. She did not need to Melbourne. By July 4 they had reported their worry—this was just a harmless prank. It was first five converts. They found Melbourne not like the night her husband had winter weather rather disagreeable, with threatened that if she attended any more of constant chilly rains, but, because they had these meetings, he would come and drag very little money and hall rentals were high, her out by the hair. Fortified by a drink or they ventured out to visit from door to door two, he did follow her all the way down the with literature. They also used "tract one street of the tiny western town (all the distributors" placed in shops, and tucked neighbours watching from behind their papers in the tops of the iron fence-posts of blinds, she knew) and stayed by the door, the parks, for people to take on their way to bobbing in and out mumbling threats, but and from work. During this time they getting no further. Fearing the worst, she distributed over 20, 000 tracts. hardly heard a word of the sermon that The working class proved difficult to night, but, when the meeting finished, the reach, for they were suspicious of these preacher faced him up—and here she was Americans with new doctrine, but they found once more, still free to come. some influential men more open and She had found peace of mind, reason for receptive. The newcomers were soon con- living, a sense of worth; her own worth in the ducting Bible studies in a number of homes. eyes of a God who loved her, a Saviour who These activities by the pioneer Adventists had died in her place, and who promised her were regarded with distaste and even overt everlasting life with joy and happiness and hostility on the part of clergymen of loving kindness for ever. She gave Him her churches already well established in Aus- whole heart; she accepted His will in her life; tralia. Bitter opposition found expression in she found comfort reading His Word and the press, and newspapers sharing these endeavoured to share her new-found faith sentiments refused to print anything favour- with her children. able. The first of a series of three articles in But she was the only one. The others who one paper started with these words: "From heard what she heard drifted off, politely the obscure state of New England, Miller, a dismissing the evangelist from their lives. false prophet. . . ." Ministers preached Her husband's temper did not improve after against the Adventists from their pulpits and she became a Seventh-day Adventist Chris- even attended the Bible studies, intent on tian, but the bruised body and careworn face breaking them up, but, to their surprise, hid an inner strength he couldn't break, and they found these newcomers well versed in the grey eyes that met his were calm even Scripture and more than a match for their while he shouted and threatened. To the end arguments. of her brief life she knew the comfort and Opposition had the effect of arousing support of her Lord and Saviour, and died in interest, and John Corliss of this pioneer the hope of a glorious resurrection. expedition decided to order a tent, twelve by What led a young evangelist to travel miles nineteen metres, to begin public meetings. from his home to a little one-horse town and The daily papers accepted his paid adver-

36 tisements, and he with his helpers distri- started with forty-five members. Then buted thousands of handbills throughout Corliss was off to Adelaide, where he the suburbs. They pitched their tent first in established another church before the end North Fitzroy. People who had been visited of 1886. Pastors Israel and Baker preached brought their friends, so he had a good, at Sandy Bay, Hobart, and thus organised regular attendance. Altogether, they pitched the first church in Tasmania. the tent five times in four suburbs, and in By the end of 1886, Sabbath-keepers in each place some accepted Adventist teach- Australia numbered more than 200, and the ings. Schoolteachers, printers, foremen of work continued to grow and spread north to wholesale houses, in fact, all kinds of New South Wales and Queensland and, by businessmen, "and not one using tobacco 1897, in the midst of the western gold rush, or drinking ardent spirits" accepted the to Western Australia as well. Adventist teachings with enthusiasm and set Over a period of twelve years, the about to spread the glad word among Adventist Church in America sent seventy- friends and relatives. Once the work started, nine adults to work in Australia, paid their it went with power. wages and supported different lines of One man, a Presbyterian deacon, decided activity to the extent of £14,550. Gradually to keep the Sabbath. His nephew came to Australians and New Zealanders began to deter him, and they spent nearly all night in swell the workforce and, wherever the discussion. The young man went home evangelists preached, a nucleus of believers convinced and worked for his parents, formed a church company. Among the many brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts, and converts, we hear of a graduate of Belfast thirteen members of that family became University living in Adelaide whose wayward Seventh-day Adventists. Another man, a life had brought sorrow to his family. Newly contractor, along with his wife, worked for converted, he rejoiced with them. In members of his family, and in a few weeks Wollongong, New South Wales, another man nine of them joined him. He had a big was baptised who had kept the Sabbath for government contract to fulfil, and, because fourteen years after buying an Adventist he stopped Saturday work, began to get book from a canvasser. Two miners who lost behind. He decided to work on Sundays. The their jobs at Mount Kembla because of their police threatened prosecution, but after decision to keep the Sabbath were out of legal advice dropped their charges. This work for three months before they found stirred the community. His house was often work at Corrimal. Sydney ship evangelist crowded with neighbours wanting to talk to Jesse Pallant, in his little boat Missionary, him. became a well-known and welcome visitor to Many who attended the tent meetings but ships of all nations anchored in Sydney did not join the Adventist Church were Harbour. On one such visit to a merchant nevertheless favourably disposed. One firm ship he met the ship's carpenter and found selling American organs gave Adventist that he had been keeping the Sabbath, with tracts to their salesmen to distribute the cooperation of his captain, for the past throughout the countryside, and also two years. This man became an Adventist, opened a book department in their store for and subsequently sailed on the Adventist subscriptions and sales of The Bible Echo mission ship Pitcairn itinerating among the and other publications. Pacific islands. The first "mission" series which resulted in The evangelists sometimes held their the organisation of the North Fitzroy church public meetings in halls, but more often early in 1886, cost a total of £82/3/0 apart than not they used a tent—the cheapest and from the price of the tent. Offerings received most versatile venue. The tent became for amounted to £32/0/0, book sales yielded many years the hallmark of the Adventist £24/5/0, and the small membership wil- evangelist throughout Australia. lie made lingly made up the difference. his tent as comfortable and attractive as Mendel Israel, another evangelist of the possible, and, when the weather turned pioneer group, then visited Ballarat, and cold, he would provide heating in the form of enjoyed such a good reception that John a large stove or a forty-four-gallon drum Corliss joined him. They ran meetings in the burning coke. Alternatively he would move Alfred Hall five nights a week for just over to a hall. three weeks and had 250 to 300 people of Tents popped up like mushrooms in "the best class" present; the whole city was country towns and city suburbs. The stirred. Sixty people attended the first evangelist stayed if he found a good interest, Sabbath meeting, and the church there but repitched his tent elsewhere if he did not.

37 Life for him and his family was hard: he was heritage, he expounded upon the often weary, often unwelcome and abused prophecies of Daniel seven and Revelation by fellow ministers of the gospel, but he had thirteen in relation to the claims and a vibrant and convincing message and did vicissitudes of the medieval church. He not falter. However, he sometimes asked pointed his listeners to events taking place himself, as did one young minister, "Why did in the world around them as signs of the they [the members of his congregation] nearness of the coming of the Lord. He come?" and confessed, "We are not good spoke of the millennium following the singers—we are not eloquent preachers. It is second coming and resurrection, the final the power of 'the message' told in simple, destruction of all evil and the restoration of everyday language and impressed on minds the earth to its pristine beauty, surrounding by the Holy Spirit . . . we often go out into the that glorious city, the New Jerusalem, and bush to talk to our heavenly Father and the greater glory of the "Lamb slain from the counsel with Him." foundation of the world." There were other clergymen in Australia who believed in the second coming of Christ, but these spoke of it with a lesser sense of urgency, or thought of it as a secret . Nor did many of them appear to be aware of the converging lines of Bible prophecy which declare that the whole world must soon be brought face to face with "the coming King." They may never have read the eloquent English divine, F. Cross, D.D., who exclaimed: "Awake, awake, ye heralds of my God and let the warning thrill the drowsy world —'Fear God . . . judgment is come.' The omens are everywhere—natural omens and political omens, and ecclesiastical omens—omens commercial and omens mechanical, and omens scientific and literary—omens in the heavens above and on the earth beneath—in NELSON C. BURNS (1897-1979) the air and on the sea . . . all are heralding Him 'who shall judge the quick and the dead The eloquent and dignified Nelson C. Burns was known with affection to a generation of Avondale at His appearing and His kingdom.' " students as their "Nubby." But how should an evangelist advertise his Head of the Bible Department from 1944 until the wares? Having pitched a large tent or rented 1960s, he was the man who inspired them to Bible a hall, how could he expect to fill at least a study, to evangelism and mission service. He saw the majority of seats? He was not too reticent to good and the potential, through Christ, in every student. ring a bell near adjacent houses calling out, From India ("When I was in the Punjab") to Fiji, to "I will preach this evening in the large tent at Walla Walla College for an MA degree, to outstanding 7.30 p.m." Besides, the tent was an evangelism in South Australia, New South Wales, New advertisement in itself, and many came out Zealand and Tasmania, thence to Avondale and, in retirement, to honorary chaplainship at the Coronella of curiosity to see what they could see and Retirement Homes in Melbourne, he was ever a hear what they could hear. Christian gentleman who endeared himself to the In the early years of the twentieth century, people. there were disastrous events which gave urgency to his warning that Jesus would soon return and mankind must get ready to With his Bible in his hand and his charts meet Him. In one five-month period, unfolded, the evangelist expounded the 100,000 lives were recorded lost through prophecies, reasoned from Scripture of the volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, tropi- validity of the seventh-day Sabbath and cal cyclones and tornadoes, fires and mine reassured men of the hope of the resurrec- disasters, shipwrecks and train crashes—all tion, as opposed to the current popular grist for the evangelist's mill. He attracted a belief in the immortal soul. He sketched the good audience when he advertised "The rise and fall of empires fulfilling the Voice of the Volcano—God's Call to Repen- prophecy outlined in the second chapter of tance." Daniel—as Sir Isaac Newton and others had The political conflicts of our troubled done before him. With his sternly Protestant world he similarly put to good use to raise a

38 crowd. lie had no lack of material, for rial revolution, with its wireless telegraphy, conflicts of one kind or another prevailed internal-combustion engines, electricity, and wars threatened or erupted in many submarines, motor-vehicles, and aero- parts of the world— trouble in Ireland, planes, as grounds for prophetic comment. anarchists in Geneva, France pressing Conflicts erupted in the United States over claims on Peru, Colombia threatening war trusts and anti-trust laws, and, in the on Nicaragua, the Boxer Rebellion in China, religious world, debate over Sunday laws in and Russia as well as other European powers both America and Australia. These and the intervening in the war between Greece and issue of religious instruction in schools Turkey. The preacher promised on his provided springboards for evangelistic ad- billboard to speak about "The Battle of the vertising. What are the "Rights of Man"? Great Day of God—Divine Predictions Fulfil- When Pope Leo XIII died, the evangelist led." He saw an escalation of the conflict in asked, "Is Man Immortal?" What should one East Asia between the Japanese military think about a home for the Jews in bent on expansion and an ambitious but Palestine? How should one react to religious diplomatically clumsy Russian Government. intolerance in Spain? Tension mounted in Manchuria as Russian Having capitalised on world conditions to troops moved eastward, and there was attract an audience, the evangelist ex- much talk of battleships, cruisers, torpedo pounded on the prophecies to establish faith boats, cannon, and new rapid-firing guns. in the Scriptures, and went on to lead his The evangelist's billboard announced, "The hearers into an understanding of how God Eastern Question and the Russo-Japanese saves men, and the steps that follow in the War Cloud." Christian walk of faith. lie gave a clear He regarded the new and exciting ad- exposition of what is meant by "Justification vances in technology of the second indust- by Faith" and "Law and Grace." lie traced the history of the Sabbath in the Bible and since biblical times, and his caption read, "When and by Whom Was the Sabbath Changed?" The evangelist had, of course, to contend with the natural conditions of the time. Around the turn of the century, Australia suffered in the grip of a drought: stock died by the thousands, the land lay brown and seared, and times were hard. After the drought many areas experienced torrential rains. Victoria had dust storms, severe electrical storms and bushfires. In Queens- land a tropical cyclone struck Townsville, doing immense damage. Heavy rains inun- dated north Queensland and, drifting south, brought floods to New South Wales. It was not an untypical weather pattern for Aus- tralia. The evangelist, moving from place to place and often preaching in a marquee, had ROY A. R. THRIFT (1894-1975) many problems: he sweltered in the heat, endured discomfort and sometimes sick- Roy Thrift left Port Melbourne in October 1915, one of ness in the wet, repitched tents flattened by the first group of Australian missionaries to India. He later served as missionary, evangelist and adminis- storms, mended tents torn by the wind and trator in both and in many parts of moved tents to more sheltered locations Australia-forty-three years' service in all. when he had a run of boisterous weather. In 1919 Roy Thrift married Ethel James, of a pioneer Not only did the tent-master camp on the Adventist family, who had spent thirteen years in church work before her marriage and who is spot, but the evangelist often lived in a small particularly remembered for her youth leadership in family tent when he could not find a house to the Australian Union Conference. Always an ideas- rent in the town. maker, she challenged the young people of New South In the spring of 1904, a plague of mice Wales to adopt the Sterlings-missionaries to Tahiti-for overran the little Queensland town of special financial support in the years 1914-1918. Pastor and Mrs Thrift represent many such talented Swanfells during a tent mission series. The husband-and-wife teams, unstinting in their dedica- mice invaded the beds and the boxes of tion. clothing. They ate holes in the blankets and even nibbled the hats and songbooks. In

39 Parramatta church, New South Wales. Collinsvale church, Tasmania.

NM ERNI!!! 111111111111111111ir .20 va N North Fitzroy church, Victoria—still in use. Original Avondale Village church, built late 1890s.

4 kAiL Catherine Scott of Donnelly River, Western Australia, ready to drive twenty-five miles to church at Mandiimup.

40 Wahroonga church, New South Wales. Warburton church, Victoria.

Palmerston North church, New Zealand. Longburn church, New Zealand.

Avondale Memorial church, New South Wales.

41 To get to Avondale, Robert and Henry McMahon Dannevirke camp baptism. rowed and sailed from Gippsland Lakes, Victoria, to Sydney.

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Annual Conference, Magnetic Island, Queensland. Date: May 31, 1930.

42

"" evangelism. Evangelists Carter, Roennfeldt and Bradford at the Adventist Media Centre studio, Sydney.

Sydney Opera House evangelism— style.

Preparing for aerial evangelism. Take-off!

43 one week the family caught seventy-three Wahroonga, New South Wales, after having mice in their small living tent—but, in that met in the Sanitarium gymnasium for a district, nineteen people became Adventists. number of years, the congregation erected a Seventh-day Adventists have developed a large wooden church. A few of these early long familiarity with canvas. Tents were used churches are still in use. As church needs not only by the roving evangelist, but also by have grown, most of them have been church members in camp-meetings. The replaced by larger and more complex first camp-meeting was convened at Middle buildings, but there still remain one or two Brighton, Victoria, in 1894, with 500 people like the little church built by Robert Hare at living in tents neatly set out in rows. This Stawell in Victoria. Due to the fluctuating camp-meeting aroused much public interest population of this small town, the congrega- and many visitors attended the meetings. tion has never outgrown the building Two years later in Adelaide the evening designed for the original sixty members. meetings were extended beyond the close of Over the years it has been lovingly preserved the session itself for the benefit of those and redecorated. whose interest had been aroused. This Seventh-day Adventism in the first years of became a regular feature of camp-meetings, the twentieth century pushed out into many whether in city or country town; it continued of the more remote parts of Australia. In to attract the public wherever the camp- Western Australia, the Manjimup district, meetings were held. Usually a regular itself quite isolated, consisted of small evangelistic campaign followed. Arthur groups of houses deep in the forest where Daniells, who had become the leader of timber workers lived, and where a few Adventist evangelistic endeavour in Aus- isolated farms had been carved from the tralia, had tried it with success in New bush. A minister visited the district, follow- Zealand, and was enthusiastic about the ing up interests which had been aroused by results. Until it proved necessary to establish an Adventist canvasser. Close to Manjimup, permanent campgrounds, this pattern con- in the Warren-Springdale area, where the tinued. John Giblett family accepted the Seventh- People long remembered the Brisbane day Adventist faith, Jesse Giblett, one of the camp of 1898. Ellen White attended and sons, built a home not far from that of his preached with eloquent power. Hundreds father. He constructed it of broad slabs of came to the Friday-night meetings, and at jarrah timber, set vertically. It became the the closing meetings 1,500 people were regular meeting-place of the Warren- present. The decision to continue the Springdale church. Near the home, on meetings for another week was voted by Springdale Creek, was a pond where new 1,000 people, and twelve ministers stayed to believers were baptised by immersion. With assist with the visiting. In 1902 the first typical missionary zeal, members of the new Western Australian camp-meeting resulted Adventist company, as many as ten strong, in eight new Sabbath-keepers. At the close of riding horses, would escort the evangelist the Tasmanian camp in 1903 at Devonport, along bush tracks through the tall karri trees 1, 000 people lined the banks of the river to to visit others, singing as they went songs witness the baptism of eighteen new from the current hymnal, Christ in Song, believers. After the New South Wales camp of stopping sometimes to pray together. 1904 at Bathurst, three men were needed to The Seventh-day Adventists in the district visit interested people. Thus, little by little, inevitably became known to their contem- the Seventh-day Adventist Church became poraries as "The Seven-Days," and when established. Jesse Giblett and William Scott, with the aid Church members at first worshipped in of some young men, cut a track twenty-five homes or rented buildings, but as soon as miles through the forest to facilitate coming finance could be raised they set about together on the Sabbath for worship, their erecting churches for themselves. In Tas- road became known as "Seven Day Road," mania, the Devonport church, built of stones which is so named to this day. In 1924, when and timber, cost £110. In New South Wales, the members decided to erect an actual at Windsor, a larger church cost £540. At church in Manjimup, they hauled the timber Kadina, South Australia, and Narrogin, by bullock team along Seven Day Road. Western Australia, churches were built of Curiosity as well as piety led many to listen local stone. In South Australia, the Gawler to the Adventist preachers. Pastor James church was built of corrugated-iron and McElhany from the United States, later a lined with wood. Many churches were of president of the General Conference of weatherboard; a few were of brick. In 1911 at Seventh-day Adventists, conducted a series

44 of meetings at Coopernook in northern New influenced by the Adventist teaching pro- South Wales with the then young Harold vided the preachers and their families with Piper as associate. One elderly lady, great encouragement. To the wives who intrigued to know why Seventh-day Adven- shared the joys as well as the hardships of tists kept the seventh-day Sabbath, decided itinerant preaching, the winning of men and to attend the meetings until she found out. women more than repaid the sacrifice of a When, late in the series, the "Sabbath settled home. The families were actively Question" was advertised, she was ill in bed, involved with the work as members of the but not wanting to miss the topic for which team. Who else would distribute handbills she had waited so long, she left her and tracts, care for the tent, arrange the sick-room, attended the meeting and an- seating and the flowers, welcome visitors at nounced to the preacher at its close that the door, and play the organ? At first there "you are right and they are wrong." was no church membership to rely on, so Others showed remarkable persistence these activities usually fell on the shoulders once convinced that the teachings of the of the members of just two families—that of Adventists were true. A Mrs Smith, one of the the principal evangelist and his assistant. pioneer women of the St. Lawrence district Once interest had been aroused, the south of Mackay, Queensland, on visiting members of the team conducted Bible Rockhampton, had accepted Adventist studies in individual homes. These some- teachings after listening to an exposition of times developed into small cottage meet- them by two Adventist pastors, Starr and ings. After many weeks of doctrinal instruc- Hickox. She returned to St. Lawrence, and tion, converts were baptised and organised for eleven years maintained and practised into a church company. The team then her convictions until a Pastor G. A. Wantzlick moved on to another locality. visited her district and baptised her along Women other than ministers' wives played with six others. a significant part in these activities. By 1904, Adventist opposition to the use of tobacco Sanitarium-trained nurses were assisting was a stumbling block to many attracted to mission teams, giving cooking demonstra- the church. The story is told of two young tions and instruction in simple home men working in the bush. One lit a fire and treatments. Other dedicated women fol- his friend saw him throw something on it. lowed. Some had been teachers, others "What are you doing, mate?" office workers, some were married; most "I'm offering up a sacrifice—my pipe and were single. In this period of the church in tobacco." He never smoked again or felt any Australia, there are at least thirty names on desire to do so. Another man, fifty years a record in addition to the women who worked smoker, had a harder battle, but he alongside their husbands. The "lady Bible successfully gave it up too. workers" were dedicated, successful, and as One encouraging consequence of capable of accepting responsibility as the evangelistic activity was a steady flow of men. They were often able to move into young people toward the Avondale School family situations for the help of their fellow for Christian Workers—later Avondale women more effectively than the ministers. College—whence many of them became Several times when the evangelist moved part of the new denomination's workforce. on, a lady Bible worker was left to take Young people, "hay-seeds" from the bush, charge of a church and function as its found a new and broader life at Avondale. minister. They were also moved frequently For many of them from then on, the world and worked in towns from Charters Towers became their parish. in northern Queensland to the goldfields of The keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath is Western Australia. Some big city missions a key doctrine in the decision to accept the had up to three lady Bible workers on the Adventist faith fully. Men often had difficul- team. What John Ruskin has said is true of ties with employers and sometimes had to them: "The path of a good woman is indeed abandon one career for another. In rural strewn with flowers; but they rise behind her situations, a decision in favour of the steps, not before them." Sabbath was looked at askance by The work to be encompassed was so vast, neighbours, sometimes rather scornfully. the workforce so small in comparison, that However, there were occasions when the law men and women were constantly on the was invoked against labouring on Sundays, move, not only from town to town, but also though this was not usually pursued to its from state to state and country to country. ultimate. Arthur Daniells felt constrained to reply to The personal victories achieved by those the question, "Why so many moves?" by

45 saying, "We are connected with a living, seacoast, even though they had to travel ten growing movement. If our cause were dead kilometres by horseback, dray, gig and or paralysed, few changes would be re- carriage? The small caravan of vehicles and quired. But inasmuch as it is constantly horses branched off the road and over a developing, creating and following new plain covered in thicket, beautiful and green, openings, entering new fields, launching then up and over a series of sandhills to the new enterprises and institutions, we are beach, where the men busied themselves compelled to move experienced and effi- and pitched a tent made out of rugs sewn cient men from one country to another, and together as a shelter for the ladies. After the from one position and responsibility to evangelist had led in a service of consecra- another. . . ." But there is a heartcry behind tion, he baptised thirteen new believers in a the following words, which many would sunlit rock-pool. understand: "It was with feelings of regret similar to those experienced by my family, that I left. . . . It is with desire that the sower looks forward to the harvest. Our boy was as sorry to leave the prospects of his mission- ary garden as I was to abandon the plan of holding a series of public meetings. We know, however, that the work is in the Lord's hands and care, and so the seed will not waste, nor be in vain . . ."; or these, "Our experience in the . . . Conference has been a very precious and enjoyable one. We very much regret being called away from this field where we had hoped to spend at least three years . . ."; or again, "It was with feelings of sorrow that we left behind many dear friends. Our hearts went out to converts left behind. . . ." Nevertheless, in this era, the message of JAMES WILLIAM KENT (1890-1983) the Advent sounded with certainty and grew When 'IL W., "as he was known, was a child of five, his in strength. "The consciousness that all our father, Thomas Kent, by then a widower, became an ministers are actively engaged in aggressive Adventist through reading Ellen White's The Great work in new fields and that souls are being Controversy. Thomas kept the Sabbath for three years brought to truth . . . has been a source of on his farm at Eugowra before journeying to Sydney where he discovered and joined the Ashfield Seventh- encouragement to our churches." John day Adventist church. Thomas Kent ultimately won Wesley once exclaimed, "Give me one over his whole family as well as neighbours, a total of hundred men who fear nothing but God, fifty persons. hate nothing but sin, and are determined to '11.W." went to Avondale in 1905, aged fifteen, and know nothing among men but Christ and stayed until 1910, but did not graduate. He was canvassing The Great Controversy when, in spite of a Him crucified and I will set the world on fire." reputation for incipient rebellion, he was invited tojoin Adoniram Judson's son, writing his father's a public mission team. His speaking ability soon biography said, "Christianity will advance became apparent when the leader, J.H. Wood, was over the earth with long, swift strides when called away to tour camp-meetings. '11.W." thereafter ran a succession of public missions the churches are ready to send their best in eastern Australia and New Zealand. Altogether he men, and the best men are ready to go." baptised some Z 500 converts to Adventism, fourteen Like the Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists of whom were to become Adventist ministers. Later he follow the Biblical method of baptism by became president in succession of three conferences. There was nothing in J. W. Kent that was negative in immersion. The minister lowers the candi- play or country pastimes. He possessed a remarkable date right under the water and lifts him up gift of oratory. He loved his God and his church and again as a symbol of death to the old life and worked tirelessly in the service of both. He has been a resurrection to a new life in Christ. But in described as "a God-fearing gospel warrior." those early days it was not always easy to find places where baptisms could be When the Bendigo church in Victoria held performed. After the Geelong camp in 1900, their baptism in the city baths, the water was eight people were baptised in one of the city too cold for one elderly lady with a weak swimming baths. In 1901, the members at heart, so they baptised her in a warm bath in Bokhara in Western Australia planned a a private home. In 1904, at Bunyip, east of baptism. What more attractive place than the Melbourne, a stream which flowed through a

46 member's property provided a natural would have been able to make a much better setting for the service, and at Gawler, South financial showing, but this we cannot afford Australia, in 1905, six were baptised in the to do." Torrens River. In Victoria the minister at At the turn of the century the champions of Stawell held a winter baptism for which the humanism, the enlightenment and Baptists kindly lent their church with its evolutionary philosophy were mesmerised built-in baptistry, but the following January by the potential of science and education to the members travelled into the Grampian usher in a grand utopia, whereas Adventists mountains, probably to Halls Gap, to hold accepted the Scriptural view of marhand the their baptism in a cool mountain pool. certainty of Bible prophecy, which poirtted to Norfolk Island had no difficulty finding a the end of the world at the second coming of place, for a beautiful lagoon lay right at the Christ. rear of the church. To watch an affirmation In 1914 the Great War broke out and grand of faith of this kind is always a moving utopian dreams were shattered. To the experience. ordinary man it came unexpectedly; it was What was it like to become a Seventh-day hardly understandable with all its ramifica- Adventist in those days? It was not easy. tions and horrors. During those tragic four Religious prejudice between Catholic and years, many turned to the Bible for Protestant was strong in Australia at that reassurance. Adventist evangelists with their time. Cries of "Protestant dog" and ditties mission teams, operating in many cities and about frogs in the holy water were swapped towns, sought to meet the need. They along with stones by children on their way to geared their advertising headlines to the school. The Seventh-day Adventist preacher times once more: "Is This War Armaged- and his converts were opposed by both don?", "The Rise and Fall of Empires", "The sides, and condemned as a "sect" to be Next Universal Empire," "Will Universal despised, mistrusted, even hated. Looking Peace Succeed the Present War?" Newspaper at this new enthusiasm, they shouted, editors, long since more favourable than in "Christians beware!", "Impostors and de- the very early days, sought out the ceivers!", "Deep and exacting bondage," Adventists for copy and printed daily reports "False prophets, vipers, reptiles, devils," of meetings and synopses of sermons. "Send them all to hell!" Evangelists were busy all around Australia, Quite apart from Catholic versus Protes- and attendances were good. In Broken Hill, tant clashes, the Adventists often endured the silver city of New South Wales, an vigorous opposition from the Protestant American, Morris Lukens, used street prea- clergy. It might take various forms— ching and singing to attract crowds to the attending Adventist Bible studies (often to meetings in the tent. In smaller places, the their own embarrassment), house-to-house evangelists visited every home with papers visitation, newspaper articles, especially and tracts. arranged meetings. When they were By this time, where earlier missions had preached against in public, the Adventists been run, there was support from an would attend, take notes, and advertise a established membership. In 1914, the review and reply for the next night. The Brunswick church in Victoria raised money evangelist in fact found it easier to handle to pay a Bible worker for twelve months to opposition than indifference. visit every home in their district. In the same Popular evangelists were at times called in year, Queensland young people donated a to run a series in opposition to the Adventist tent for an evangelistic series in Roma. preacher, succeeding in taking his audience But there were still many unentered areas. while they were there; but usually the In the New England district of New South Adventist preacher outlasted his opponents. Wales, that vigorous practical campaigner He stayed on, advertised again and regained Charlie Paap, who loved to challenge his audience—as did Pastor R. D. Quinn in untouched places, pitched his round tent in Queensland, first in Maryborough, where he Tamworth. After a determined opposition baptised nine people, and again in Warwick tore it down and damaged the furniture, after a similar experience where he counted there was strong public sympathy, and when two young preachers and several Sunday the team repitched the tent, the audience School teachers among his converts. increased. The days were fine and warm, so Evangelism stood supreme in the minds they were able to stay with the tent for the of the leaders of the fledgling church. One whole winter. The evangelist saw "enough report stated: "If we had curtailed the work work here for years to come, absolutely new by cutting down our force of labourers, we territory for half-a-dozen tent missions."

47 There were other places where bad weather did not deter either preacher or people. Pastor Robert Stewart began meet- ings in a hall at Carpendeit, Victoria, a sparsely settled district where one lone member lived. The first night of his series closed in cold and dark, but despite the bad roads forty people attended. At the end, one family recently from England accepted the "Advent Message" and joined with the one member in Sabbath worship. Evangelism in one state sometimes resulted in quite dramatic events in other states. For example, Will Carstairs, a young man from Cunninghame (now Lakes Entr- ance) in south-eastern Victoria, travelled to Western Australia, with the intention of digging for gold. Disillusioned with gold mining, he joined the post-office, sub- LILIAN MABEL (BAE) COOK (1902-1975) sequently becoming an Adventist. The post-office required counter-work on the In her early years, Bae Cook owned a dressmaking Sabbath, so his accommodating superior and tailoring shop. Reared in a devout Christian home, she was attracted to John B. Conley's public meetings transferred him to the telegraph-office, in Melbourne in the early 40s. Ultimately he baptised where he received better pay. He was, Bae Cook and her sister, Mary McGrath. however, required to take holidays already A few years later she moved to Austinmer, New South accrued. During this break he returned to Wales, and began selling Adventist books. Her warm, Cunninghame. sincere personality and natural ability in meeting people soon saw her with an increasing number of Among the farmers of the district were the Bible studies, and she was subsequently invited to McMahons, owners of Rigby Island and a become a full-time Bible-worker. strip along the coast on which they raised She joined the work force in Victoria and there began cattle, and horses as remounts for the Indian a long friendship with fellow lady Bible workers Ruby Creelman and Elsie Moran. She worked with the Reeves Army. Robert, the eldest son, claimed to be City Mission in Melbourne and later became a valued an atheist. He liked his reputation as a member of Leo Rose's Shepparton mission team in the "parson-squasher," the state of the dead early 1950s. and the common practice of Sunday- From her little cottage in Croydon she did Bible work for other city missions, including those of Frank keeping without Biblical authority being Breaden, John Conley and Hector Kingston, and saw, among his special areas of controversy. One too, the fulfilment of her dream in the opening of the day Robert emerged from the local public church at Croydon. bar, to be confronted by Molly Carstairs, A shy person when it came to public appearances, Will's sister, who said, "Will is back here with she loved her Bible studies and was persuasive and effective in her efforts to lead men and women to Christ. strange religious notions. Come and put Bae Cook was a beautiful Christian woman who won him straight." Robert visited Carstairs; they the affection and respect of all who knew her. discussed religion for several hours, at the conclusion of which Robert declared that various houses to discuss the evening's Carstairs was the first sensible "wowser" he proceedings. These and other evangelistic had met. activities at Cunninghame resulted in a Carstairs's return aroused considerable Sabbath school (Bible study hour) of interest, which was fanned by a colporteur thirty-four members meeting from week to named Swain. A Pastor Waldorff with an week on Saturdays. associate named Driver, who were working The McMahon family, led by the father in Bairnsdale at the time, heard of events at Robert McMahon, Senior, were among those Cunninghame, and travelled to Cunning- who became Adventists. Later the eldest hame to see for themselves. Waldorff son, also Robert, and his younger brother returned to Melbourne, leaving Driver, who Henry, decided to attend the Avondale soon found himself exceedingly busy. School. They were excellent boatmen. They Pastor Morris Lukens later visited the area, built a five-metre pulling boat The Advent, conducted a baptism in the lake on May 12, with a lug sail, and rowed and sailed their 1914, and held two meetings which so way up the coast to Sydney, where they sold excited members of the audience that, as the boat and travelled by train the remaining they sauntered home, they stopped at distance. Thus the college gained another

48 two students from the work of the verbal sparring. evangelists. In 1929 an event occurred which gave Seventh-day Adventism awakened in the Adventist evangelists an opportunity to members of the McMahon family, as it did display their strong Protestant bias. In that those of many another rural family, not only year Mussolini, after prolonged negotiations new spiritual life, but also intellectual with Pope Pius XI, signed the Treaty of the interests and ambitions. Avidly they sought Lateran with the Pontiff, ending the long professional training, Henry, for example, feud which had existed since its inception becoming one of the best known, loved and between the Italian State and the Papacy. To respected Adventist doctors, and Ben a Adventists this was concrete evidence of the leader in the development of the Adventist "healing of the deadly wound" of Revelation school system. thirteen. Roy Allan Anderson, an evangelist Sometimes those who decided to keep the blessed with gifts of voice, appearance, Sabbath had work problems. A miner at eloquence and sense of conviction, drew a Broken Hill, well aware of the difficulties crowd of 3,000 in Queensland's capital city, faced in the mines, resigned from his job to Brisbane, when he advertised, "Rome keep the Sabbath after attending meetings Capturing Sydney." In subsequent meetings by a Pastor Chesson. The manager called he hammered Papal claims to authority in him in and offered him a special surface spiritual matters; the rejoinder of someone tunnel to work if he could find another in the audience was to place two bullets in Sabbath-keeper to help him, which of course the offering box. he did. Others were not so fortunate. After Anderson, a highly musical person, a twelve years of service, a young bank teller in violinist and conductor, assembled a choir Cairns, northern Queensland, was summar- of 130 voices with a supporting orchestra of ily dismissed on one day's notice. thirty-five for a performance of Handel's While many accepted the Adventist read- Messiah, which received very favourable ing of the Christian message gladly, the notice from the Courier. It revealed the hardest obstacle for the Adventist warmer, less combative, and deeply evangelist, as indeed for any gospel spiritual quality of the Anderson personality. preacher, was the indifference he met in the The influence of the Anderson mission in community. When the horses are running, Brisbane was felt throughout Queensland, the bets being laid, drinks shouted or boxing carried, as it was, in the columns of the bouts arranged, how likely is the average press. Australian male to want to listen to a During the Christmas holidays, meetings preacher? were continued with a steady audience of Towards the close of the war and after it, about 800. On the last day of the year, the larger missions were run in the capital cities. public was invited to participate in a Tents, now often lighted by electricity, were communion service. Communion glasses still extensively used, but in many places the borrowed from all the Adventist suburban evangelists began to hire large halls and churches as well as a large Congregational theatres. They were also given help and church made this possible. The 500 or so encouragement in improving their presenta- who accepted this invitation were greatly tion and public image by certain men well moved by the simplicity and beauty of the qualified in the area. service. There were still those of the cloth who The first baptism of the series was held in looked askance upon Adventist evangelists the theatre, using a tank donated by a firm of as thieves among the merinos, and the fact plumbers. Before an audience of 1,400, that Adventists were Sabbatarians capable forty candidates were baptised. All were of defending their position from Scripture dressed in white, the members of each was a matter for severe heartburning. family entering the font together. This Sometimes the contention flared up into a Brisbane City Mission, which lasted for debate such as that between James Kent, an twenty-six months, resulted at the time in Adventist preacher with a remarkable gift of 200 baptisms, with about fifty expected to language, and the Reverend Oakley of join the Adventist church later. It gave a Bathurst, New South Wales. A number of tremendous lift to the morale of the people were confirmed in the decision to Adventist city churches and especially to the join the Adventist Church in consequence of young people of those congregations. this debate, but the evangelists soon came There were many other successful mis- to realise that they had more appropriate sions. In Western Australia, the City methods of sharing Biblical truth than public Mission yielded twice as many names as the

49

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George Burnside advertises his radio broadcasts. Ready for the cue on Sydney Radio 2UE. An innovation in telephone evangelism.

A WORLD-WIDE RELIGIOUS BROADCAST PREACHING CHRIST TO THE MILLIONS .

Advertising VOP in the West.

50 ' 4 14. Adventist Media Centre, Wahroonga, Sydney.

AMC video suite. AMC on location in Papua New Guinea. The Bible Correspondence School at AMC.

"These Times" radio broadcast being taped. small team could handle. With forty-five New Zealand became irregular and to a converts already observing the Sabbath, degree hazardous. Camp-meetings were Erwin Roenfelt, a powerful and convincing replaced by regional meetings for the speaker, expressed his deep feelings in members in the towns, and presidents of the these words: "I have endeavoured not to conferences and some other administrators know anything save Jesus Christ and Him took to the road to visit country believers in crucified—I have endeavoured to present isolation, often enough with a charcoal- Christ IN the message of the Advent." W. M. burning gas-producer attached to the rear of R. Scragg campaigned for three and a half their vehicles. years in Perth and baptised 170 people. Roy Anderson and Erwin Roenfelt, who Louis Were, in spite of some determined had moved into administrative work, en- opposition, stayed three years in Newcastle. couraged the ministers in ministerial insti- As the church became established, the tutes held in each state. One participant evangelical impetus of the pioneering days reported, "We took off our gospel armour to seems to have slackened, with a greater polish, repair and renovate it after a year's number of ministers engaging in pastoral buffeting." work and home visitation to consolidate In the north, people were too unsettled for congregations. Church administration and the evangelist to hold an audience success- other duties claimed much of their time. fully, but in the south, in spite of difficulties Perhaps the most significant step forward with blackouts and brownouts, the in the inter-war years was the beginning of evangelist continued to draw good crowds. Adventist broadcasting. Pastor Charles As always, he adapted his advertising to suit Boulting had made use of the local radio the circumstances, as did Nelson Burns in station in Mildura, but it was the establish- Launceston, Tasmania, with "Peace, When ment of the Advent Radio Church, in and How Will It Be Achieved According to February 1938, that must be looked upon as Bible Prophecy?", "Why Hitler Can't Win," the more regular commencement of Adven- "Why God Permits War." tist use of the airwaves. The benign manner By the time peace came, the Adventist and pleasing voice of Pastor Laurie Naden message was being preached strongly over was heard over seven stations spanning five the air and, by the close of 1946, the Advent states. These programs, the Bible corres- Radio Church employed forty radio stations pondence course advertised in them, and for this purpose. Early the following year, the home visitation carried on by ministers, weekly broadcast became known as "The resulted in a large number joining the ," to bring it into line with Adventist Church. the worldwide Adventist radio ministry. In 1939 war came again. The Nazi armies Thousands of copies of the Book of the carved their way into Poland; Japan late in Month went into homes, and hundreds of 1941 attacked the United States and Britain names of people who had expressed an in the Pacific. Young Adventist men were interest through the broadcasts and the conscripted into the armed forces, chiefly as Bible Correspondence Courses were sent on non-combatants in the medical corps, a to ministers in the field for personal visiting. form of humanitarian service commended With the war over, missionaries returned by the church. to the Pacific to re-establish their work. The enrolment at Avondale College drop- Camp-meetings were held again and, ped. Many missionaries, returning from the though finances were tight, public missions South Pacific islands in front of the Japanese continued. With the horror of Hiroshima still drive south, were absorbed into public fresh in people's memories, Clifford Reeves mission teams. With finances tight, many a packed the Brisbane City Hall when he college theology graduate was not im- advertised: "The Superbomb That Will Rock mediately appointed to the ministry; in- the World," and George Burnside filled the stead, after brief training by someone Adelaide Town Hall on a comforting new experienced in door-to-door selling of emphasis, "What and Where Is Heaven?" denominational books, he took to In addition to using available books and colporteuring— marvellous training in tracts, the evangelist now moved to supply- meeting people, he was told. ing his own summaries of sermons Petrol rationing made transport difficult. preached, and therefore encouraged people Men could not be shifted as readily as to write their names on the request cards formerly, because even interstate transfers supplied. In Western Australia, Stuart had to be cleared with government transport Uttley's Fremantle mission received 300 officials. Also travel between Australia and names for visitation by this method. Some

52 evangelists bought their own duplicators, Biblical passages by page numbers. In many rather than go to the expense of having their places quests for the oldest Bible in a resumes commercially printed. Later, offset particular district aroused interest. While a presses were used to print one or two-colour Biblical approach did not usually attract as handbills as well as resumes. The presses large a first-night audience, the ultimate were rarely new, and one could tell many a result was a satisfying number of very stable tale of ink-stained fingernails and gremlins converts joining the church. in the works with deadlines to meet. Accompanying this approach was a desire The young people of the church were still to present the Adventist message in a more keen to help in public programs. When the winsome way, with a kindlier attitude to Wahroonga church ran a "Share Your Faith" other faiths. Yet the aim was the same as mission, the youth not only formed a before—to preach the gospel and prepare a 100-voice choir, but also helped with people to meet the Lord at His coming. cleaning, decorating, ushering and projec- Gradually more evangelists were granted tion. Tasmanian youth ran a "Voice of Youth" the opportunity to travel overseas, particu- mission in the Collinsvale Public Hall, and larly to the Bible lands and places rich in youth choirs gave support to other prog- Reformation history. This broadening of rams. Young people in Sydney's western experience improved the quality of their suburbs, with inspiration and guidance from preaching and the impact of their message. youth leaders and older church members, They were then better able to bring the past built a float for singing and street preaching to life and give their hearers a foundation for under the name of the "Advent Crusaders." trust in God and His written Word. Presidents of Adventist Conferences rec- As finances allowed, the evangelist kept ognised the need to train more men for pace with technological advances in the public evangelism, and young ministers equipment he used. Slide and movie who had spent some time on evangelistic projectors, a screen, and often an amplifica- teams were encouraged to run their own tion system were counted as basic needs. public campaigns, however small. They When overhead projectors were introduced gained valuable experience in planning, into the classroom, he borrowed that idea advertising, hiring halls, organising helpers too. Some used fluorescent chalks and and leaning how to make the Bible "black light" with their blackboards; others interesting to the ordinary citizen. For the made artistic use of coloured cardboard observation has proved true over the years, cutouts, and every evangelist had his calico that if a man is to be a good preacher, he charts and models of prophetic symbols. must know how to make the gospel clear to The preaching desk now incorporated the non-Christian. If he never addresses any control switches for his black light, spot- but a Christian audience, he can fall into the lights and flicker light for the projectionist. trap of using religious jargon that eventually The Hammond organ became a popular becomes meaningless. The pastor- accompaniment for his choir. However, evangelist finds himself in the happiest when one chose to run a simpler program, situation: not only does he introduce men he would use a tape deck or record player for and women to Christ and His church, but he music. also shepherds his flock, growing strong A valuable member of the evangelist's and mature along with them in Christian team until the early 1960s was the lady Bible living. worker. Unfortunately, with the changing Some of the more experienced preachers economic and social patterns, we have all were now appointed as Union evangelists, but seen the last of her ilk, and this is to our and these men were the first to travel to Bible ldss. lands on sponsored tours, bringing back Television provided evangelists with coloured slides to enhance their lectures. As strong competition, but the American public interest in archaeology grew television series "It Is Written" secured a stronger, John Coltheart's "Dead Men Do timeslot and thus gave the Advent message Tell Tales" was used by many men, and another means of communication. Semi- others developed related titles. nars were adopted from the business world An important innovation in the 1960s was by the "It Is Written" speaker George the introduction of the Gift Bible scheme and Vandeman, who came to Australia a number associate Bible-marking classes. The Bibles of times to conduct these in the capital cities. supplied had identical paging and could be Co-ordinated city-wide advertising attracted readily used by those who had never held a strong interest from people who had Bible before—instructors could now refer to followed the television series and so had a

53 towns, where they distribute Signs of the Times, Alert and Good Health, run "5-Day Plans to Stop Smoking," "Vacation Bible Schools" for the children, and participate in "Fly 'n' Build" teams to help build churches. The new church at Bourke, New South Wales, now stands complete because of the help of one of these teams. By 1980 we had happily left behind almost a decade when evangelism was at a low ebb. Public missions were said by some to be outmoded, too costly, and ineffective for this modern society. Nevertheless, evangelists continued working, and mem- bers were added to the churches. The church members themselves became involved in community outreach programs such as JOHN F. COLTHEART (1925-1974) 5-Day Plans to Stop Smoking, Stress Clinics, One of the most effective public evangelists of the later portion of the Seventh-day Adventist century of development has been John Coltheart of Tasmania. While still in his teens he resolved to follow in the footsteps of George Burnside, the evangelist who won him to Christ and to Adventism. Coltheart combined high intelligence, great diligence and an insatiable thirst for knowledge, with Christian dedication and a highly convincing forthrightness of presentation on the public platform. He became steeped in religious history and cognate areas of historical development. The Bible remained his central interest. Prior to his death as a comparatively young man, thousands in New Zealand, Australia, London, and the Continent heard him publicly proclaim Christianity as understood by Seventh-day Adventists. basic knowledge of the Bible, which helped them to appreciate the Daniel and Revela- tion Seminars. Evangelists have included a full-day Sabbath Seminar in their programs LAURENCE CHRISTOPHER NADEN (1906-1979) with the same effectiveness. Adventist radio "Laurie" Naden was one of the most loved men ever programs have gone to air continuously to have served the church in the Australasian Division of since 1946, and the Bible Correspondence Seventh-day Adventists. After fifty years of unstinting courses have remained popular, helping ministry his life ended in the course of making a speech at a meeting of the General Board of the Sanitarium people of all ages to a greater appreciation Health Food Company. of the beauty and truth of God's Word. Laurie He was first and foremost a pastor and evangelist Naden, Ross Piper, George Burnside, Walter with a winning personality and a mellow voice, both for Scragg, Roy Naden, Ronald Vince were singing and speaking. Added to this was his gift of familiar Australian voices to hundreds of leadership and organisation. Both as speaker and administrator he developed the weekly listeners, as is now the challenging radio outreach of the Adventist Church. Many people voice of Russell Kranz. who were not Adventists listened to him regularly and Over the years several coordinated claimed him as their pastor. approaches have been used in the public He became secretary and later (1962) president of the Australasian Division. He was a clear thinker, outreach of the Adventist Church. "Mission forthright preacher, a splendid expositor of the Word, a '72" saw public campaigns run by ministers, sound administrator, and above all a Christian laymen and youth. It resulted in record gentleman. baptisms, nearly 1,300 new members being added to the church in Australia and New Weight Control Classes and Cooking De- Zealand. monstrations. In these programs they not A retired missionary pilot, Len Barnard, only endeavoured to give people physical pioneered aerial evangelism in Australia. lie and emotional help, but also encouraged and his fellow pilots continue to ferry them to find answers to their spiritual needs. volunteer lay men and women into outback However, numbers added to church mem-

54 bership directly from these activities were not overwhelming. Church leaders em- phasised the importance of every church member becoming an active "lay evangelist," but under the pressures of modern living this did not add the hundreds expected either. Nevertheless the work went steadily on and the church continued to grow—albeit more slowly. Now another image of the role of the church has been added through Church Growth, a concept used by many of the evangelical churches. Progressing from this concept is the reality that to become a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, one ac- cepts distinctive Bible teachings and com- mits oneself for the love of Jesus Christ to live by them. Therefore Church Growth has CHARLES BOULTING (1884-1974) been seen to work best where it is closely Charles Boulting, formerly a doctor in training in linked with public evangelism, as has been England, then a member of an opera company, and demonstrated in Albany, Western Australia, later a farmer, eventually became an Adventist by Lyn Uttley, and in south New South Wales minister. and South Australia by Graeme Bradford. He was, as far as can be ascertained, the first There are also new programs proving Adventist in Australia to broadcast regularly; before he was ordained, church members in Mildura persuaded workable and successful for the lay man and him to go on the air. Subsequently Charles Boulting's woman in door-to-door visiting. But in talks, given over the radio at Warragul in Victoria, sponsoring new methods Adventists have created considerable interest in Adventism in Gipps- not discarded the old tried and true; Church land. Growth is now working hand in hand with the to a God who makes life worth living today. evangelist and the lay member. When the first baptism was held on stage In September of 1982 the General in the Concert Hall, one million dollars worth Conference of Seventh-day Adventists set in of insurance had to be taken out against motion another concerted evangelistic out- damage by mishap. The baptismal font held reach to encompass the world field: "The eight tonnes of water. The heated water was 1, 000 Days of Reaping." Over 1,000 persons brought by tanker and pumped through fire per day have been added to the church hoses up to the stage—not a drop of water around the world since then. was to spot the carpets—and the team of By the end of 1983, Australia and New forty ministers along with assisting laymen Zealand had seen more than 520 evangelis- were busier than ever that day. The whole tic campaigns under this impetus, including experience was a very impressive one, both the most successful campaign the difficult for those who were baptised and for the city of Sydney has ever known. John Carter, members of the audience. Initially, 220 a man whose innovative ideas had already people joined Sydney churches, with sub- proved successful in Melbourne, transferred sequent baptisms held in the suburban to Sydney. Operating on a scale to match the churches themselves. It was unfortunate exciting atmosphere of Sydney, he hired the that when the mission moved into a tent for Opera House Concert Hall, flooded the city 1983, Sydney had continuous heavy rain, with impressive television advertising and but, true to the spirit of the pioneer drew an opening crowd of 17,500, the evangelists, the team was not daunted and largest the Opera House has ever known. In the meetings continued. twenty-three weeks, the attendance totalled Technology has moved on. Some men over 100,000. The audience was treated to have perfected the use of multi-projection, modern religious songs, recitals on the with computerised selection and control for great Concert Hall organ, and from week to showing slides, to attract people now week the unfolding of Bible truths in a familiar with computers in everyday life; yet well-planned program. Life-sized models of again, others are still happy with beasts from Bible prophecy, prophetic blackboards. But the message is the same. charts and symbols, and Bibles for everyone At the Lay Evangelism seminar held at made the presentations alive and interest- Avondale College in the summer of ing, while he took care to point the audience 1982/83, Geoffrey Youlden had a team of

55 Sydney's famous Opera House has been the venue for many archaeological evangelistic series.

• to, IA, eituU10 u WIIV, I SAW DIVINE PREDICTIONS FULFILLED

MOM ti FRI./9101U

Tent missions still attract crowds. technicians record his complete evangelistic several volumes on the subject of series on video. In Western Australia, Bryan evangelism and evangelists. In this small Wood ran a public mission with Geoff offering we honour all evangelists. Under Youlden as his preacher on the screen, while the blessing of God, each one has worked the man himself conducted a campaign in and prospered according to his abilities, the northern Queensland. Also recognising the available finances, the quality of his church value of video, other evangelists have support, the faithfulness of his team, and produced their own series, and so these men the nature of each individual Australian or have provided a very effective method which New Zealand town in which he has worked, church members can use to share the good obeying the injunction of his Lord: news about Jesus Christ with friends and neighbours. Evangelists will continue to find "In the morning sow your seed, new ways of reaching people with the And in the evening do not withhold your gospel, for people are their priority. hand; We have mentioned some names in this For you do not know which will prosper, brief chapter, but there is no way we could Either this or that, tell the whole story without encompassing Or whether both alike will be good."

57 4*fr. lung a e Girl Know r ' 1 1 41 11 1

Adventist ess Donald Hansen

V Seventh-day Adventists have always be- lieved the distribution of denominational literature to be one of the most effective methods of sharing their faith. On this point, best-selling author Booton Herndon, in his book The Seventh Day, has written: Though most of the men and women who first brought the new faith to distant lands were ordained missionaries and medical workers, they were also, in more than one sense of the word, travelling salesmen. Their line consisted of tracts and books published by the Seventh-day Adventist publishing houses. This was so in Australia. When the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church sent its first missionaries to the land "down under," two of the five men who comprised the mission team were directly connected with the publishing work, and for some weeks every member of the team HENRY SCOTT (1857-1908) spent time distributing denominational Henry Scott came to Australia in 1885 in Stephen publications. Haskell's pioneer Adventist party. He was a native of Both full-time publishing men encoun- Wisconsin who had come to California where he studied tered difficulties as they engaged in their at Healdsburg College, the forerunner of Pacific Union College. Scott had become a printer at the Pacific Press, respective tasks. For the printer, Henry where the American Signs of the Times was printed. Scott, the major obstacles were lack of With this background of experience he was equipped to finance to purchase equipment and the set up the first Adventist printing press in Australia. problem of finding suitable premises from which to operate. For the canvasser, William Arnold, the problem was a combination of religious apathy and religious prejudice: apathy exhibited by people he met in his door-to-door sales activities, prejudice by clergymen who viewed him and his fellow missionaries as types of the grievous wolves which the Apostle Paul had warned would enter in at some future time, "not sparing the flock." But these difficulties were not unexpected, and the mission team pressed on undeterred. Though an adequate supply of denomina- tional literature was available from America, within a few weeks of their arrival, the missionaries decided to produce a paper locally. Stephen Haskell gave their reasons: a locally produced paper would better meet the needs of the cause in Australia than any imported publication, and the newcomers would gain standing in the community by publishing their own. So, in the closing WILLIAM ARNOLD (1854-1922) weeks of 1885, £120 was invested in the In his late twenties William Arnold decided to give his purchase of a small press and some type, life to the sale, door to door, of Seventh-day Adventist and a two-storey brick building at the corner books. Three years later he sailed in Stephen Haskell's of Rae and Scotchmer Streets, North Fitzroy, pioneering group to Australia as a self-supporting was rented for use as a mission base and missionary. Though difficult at first, his work was publishing house. "Burnham House" had ultimately successful. Later he visited London for two six-monthly periods. formerly been a shop, but was well suited for He made five trips in ten years to the West Indies. He its new purposes as it had nine rooms and sold Adventist books in places as diverse as British additional outbuildings at the back, all of Guiana, Canada (Ontario), and, in the United States, which were pressed into service. One of the Alabama and Tennessee. In the later years of his life he sold Adventist magazines in the cities of the west coast front rooms of the shop served as the of America. He was a man of great faith and courage. headquarters of the Australian Branch of the International Tract and Missionary Society,

60 the body under whose auspices the mission Stockton, L. A. Romero, and W. E. was conducted. Another room was reserved Wainman — to try their skill at canvassing. On for midweek meetings with interested May 4, 1888, when Arnold left for England, persons. Mendel Israel and his family he and his associates had sold 2,168 books. occupied the rooms upstairs, the printery Initially, these men had worked wherever being located in the outbuildings at the rear. they felt inclined, but in August 1888 the In January 1886 the first issue of the Australian Tract Society was organised locally produced paper appeared. Entitled under Israel's presidency and thereafter the Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, the new sales side of the publishing work was placed journal was a sixteen-page production, the on a more organised basis with each purpose of which was stated in its initial canvasser being allotted specific territory. editorial: Early in 1889, it became apparent that As this, the first number of our paper, meets the eye "Burnham House" could no longer offer of the public, we may expect that many honest adequate accommodation for the expand- queries will arise in reference to its design, and the ing publishing operations of the mis- scope it will occupy in the religious field. To many sionaries, and land was purchased in Best the name of the journal Bible Echo and Signs of the Times will be a sufficient explanation. For the benefit Street, North Fitzroy, to enable more of others we will state that the design of the spacious premises to be erected. The new publishers is to make the paper a thorough building was a three-storey structure, thirty- exponent of the Bible. . . . It will also be a chronicler three feet in width and sixty feet in depth, the of events which mark the times pointed out in the prophecies. upper floor of which was initially used as a place of worship. April 1889, saw the In addition to producing the Bible Echo, establishment of the Echo Publishing Com- the mission team, via the International Tract pany Limited. Those who attended the and Missionary Society, kept a small stock of Company's inaugural meeting were invited American publications which could be to purchase shares at £1 each, having been purchased by interested members of the told that they would receive no dividends public and also carried a comprehensive here for their investment, all profits to be range of tracts for free distribution. Tracts paid "on the other side." To enable were too impersonal to make any appreci- distribution to keep pace with production, a able impact on the populace at large, but on class for would-be canvassers was started by occasions they were effective in reaching M. Morrison, when he arrived from religiously minded individuals. In Ballarat, America in October to take charge of for example, following the 1886-1887 canvassing, and about twenty people at- mission, an officer of the newly formed tended his first lessons. church, himself a new convert, used tracts The early 1890s were years of severe imaginatively to share his faith with a economic depression in Australia, but member of his family. As reported in the business remained brisk for the Echo Union Conference Record: Publishing Company, and its high standard The one chosen for elder had a sister in an interior place, a Mrs. Alexander Stewart, whom he visited. lie of workmanship attracted some prestigious took literature on present truth with him, and left it customers, including Lord Brassey, Gover- under his pillow, as though it were for his own nor of Victoria. The Governor had been special use. His sister found it when making the bed, much impressed by a pamphlet prepared for and she and her husband read it when her brother was not in. Soon after he returned home they sent a foreign consul. He ordered a pamphlet in a for a minister to come and teach them the doctrines similar style and was so delighted with the advocated in the literature they had found under his result that he had his aide-de-camp, Captain pillow. Freeman Thomas, send a card of While low-cost tracts could be given away in patronage which read: "Echo Publishing large numbers, it was Arnold's responsibility Company, Limited. You are hereby ap- to find people who would purchase the pointed publishers to his Excellency Lord relatively expensive subscription books he Brassey, K.C. B." carried. His main book, Uriah Smith's epic During the 1890s the physical expansion work Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, of the print shop and its facilities was was priced at nineteen shillings and six- undertaken. A major extension was added to pence at a time when the average weekly the Best Street building and additional wage was barely twice that figure. However, printing presses were installed. An office his dedication and enthusiasm were so great was opened in the central city area of that in January 1886 it was reported that he Melbourne to secure more business and had taken over 500 orders for Thoughts and provide additional opportunities for Echo had persuaded three new converts—J.H. workers to witness to their faith. By 1889,

61 the Echo Publishing Company employed Press from outside businesses, and itself eighty-three people and was the third largest contributed both machinery and material. Seventh-day Adventist publishing house in As ever in Australia, distance was a problem; the world. In addition to the Bible Echo—an heavy costs were incurred in transporting eight-page weekly selling for one penny— the equipment thus obtained to its new and a new monthly journal called the Herald location. Further, as much of the type and of Health, in that year the company other material arrived in poor condition, it published the following books and tracts: was thought advisable to transfer an experienced printer from the Pacific Press in Title Pages Copies America to ensure that the enterprise be Printed established on a sound footing. Thus in The Coming King 290 5,800 February 1900, Elliott Chapman arrived to A Friend in the Kitchen 128 30,000 direct operations. Later in the same year, the Scripture References 44 3,000 Avondale Press was able to take over the The Alarm of War 32 10,000 publication of the Herald of Health and the Wonders of the Union Conference Record. Much of the Nineteenth Century 32 6,600 labour was provided by students attending The Perpetuity of the Avondale School, those who showed the Law of God 24 3, 000 particular aptitude being engaged as regular The Coming of Our Lord 8 9,000 workers. Approximately one year after active The King's Royal operations commenced, the new press was Insurance Company 6 3, 000 operating at a profit, and was producing True Temperance 4 3, 000 publications in English, Tongan, Fijian, Without Excuse 4 3, 000 Rarotongan and Maori. Complementing these efforts to ensure an As is evident from their titles, most of adequate and reliable supply of denomina- these publications dealt with doctrinal tional literature, renewed efforts were made issues, but books such as A Friend in the to augment the work force engaged in its Kitchen and True Temperance reveal the church's parallel concern for healthful living. The local publication of The Coming King was of particular significance as this was the first subscription book the company had produced, and the success of this venture was a great encouragement to Echo workers who doubted the company's ability to reach the required standard of production. Another significant step was taken in 1889 when Ellen White, addressing the biennial session of the Union Conference, suggested that a second printing plant be established at Avondale, New South Wales, where a school and health retreat were already operating. The Union Conference Record Extra gives details of the case Mrs. White presented for the new publishing venture: We cannot always send to Battle Creek for our ALBERT W. ANDERSON (1868-1949) publications, or even to the Echo office; for we cannot get them soon enough. We must have a Albert Anderson was a man blessed with many printing press here, where pamphlets and leaflets abilities so that he contributed effectively as musician, can be printed, and more especially that students editor, author and minister. may be educated in the art of printing. If there were He worked with the Echo Publishing Company in two or three presses it would be none too many. Melbourne in its early days and later the Signs Back in the United States, the church's Publishing Company of Warburton, influencing many through his editorial role with the Signs of the Times Foreign Mission Board responded by di- and Life and health. From 1916 on he also gave recting that their small printing plant in the vigorous leadership to various departments of the Society Islands be removed to Avondale, church. His published works include, The Battle for while a second plant originally intended for Freedom and Through Turmoil to Peace. Three sons became ministers: Roy Allan, evangelist; Rarotonga was also directed there. In Clifford, medical doctor and minister; and Ormond, Melbourne, the Echo Publishing Company evangelist. solicited liberal donations for the Avondale

62 a drug on the market. Our old and tried ministers are earnestly praying that the day may soon come when thousands of workers will go forth with such a preparation. Plans and publicity of this nature contributed to the steady increase in the number of canvassers, though the postulated thousands did not appear. Following the federation of the colonies and the establishment of the Common- wealth of Australia in 1901, new laws compelled church leaders to revise some publishing policies. Towards the close of 1902, for example, they were requested to show cause why the Bible Echo should not be removed from the list of publications CHARLES MILES SNOW (1868-1933) designated as newspapers, since it con- tained little actual news. The new postal Before Charles Snow came to Australia from the regulations demanded that at least half the United States he had been editor of the American Signs content of a "newspaper" be devoted to of the Times, the Advent Review and the Sabbath Herald news items, but it was felt that this (now the ) and Liberty. This brilliant man of letters loved to set his thoughts proportion would be incompatible with the in poetic rhythms. On the other hand his Religious name Bible Echo. So it was decided to cease Liberty in America penetrated with uncanny accuracy publication of that journal and introduce a the dangers of the future. From 1916 to his death in new periodical which would be classified as a 1933 he was editor of the Australasian Signs of the Times and Life and Health, and published On the newspaper under the new regulations. The Throne of Sin. new peAodical, called the Australasian In 1926, after attending the Milwaukee session of the Signs of the Times appeared soon after- General Conference, Snow with wife and daughter wards and was an immediate success. As a 'vanilla visited many countries, calling at denomina- newspaper it enabled the Echo Publishing tional publishing houses. Widowed in 1929, Snow later married Rhoda Company to take advantage of the Com- Petersen who cared for him in his final illness. monwealth's reduced postal rates for these Charles Snow was a man with finely honed skills in items with the result that the cost of a single writing and editing, making a remarkable contribution subscription was reduced from 6/6d. to to the literature of the church. The Signs Publishing Company, a strong and virile publishing house today, 4/6d. per year, and the number of single owes much to Charles Miles Snow, as do we all. subscriptions increased threefold. An even more important change resulted distribution. To this end the Union Confer- from a resolution which the Board of the ence Record carried reports of monthly sales Echo Publishing Company passed on July 5, in the various colonies, recounted stories of 1903. This resolution requested delegates orders taken in difficult or unusual cir- to the next Union Conference to consider cumstances, and exhorted readers to con- moving the Echo Publishing Company to a sider entering the canvassing work them- rural location, in harmony with the views put selves. A typical article which appeared in forward on a number of occasions by Ellen April 1900 made the following observations: White, a powerful and consistent advocate of To place in the hands of the people books and country living. It was recognised that any papers containing the third angel's message is a such move would involve the loss of virtually most important and dignified line of work, and it is all commercial printing—at that time about impossible to separate canvassing from any department of God's cause without destroying the two-thirds of the company's work—but the usefulness and life of the department. Board felt that the company had reached a The perfect health of the church now depends upon stage where it should devote all its energies the circulation of its literature as much as the perfect to denominational enterprises and did not health of the human body depends upon the perfect see the loss of the commercial work as an circulation of the blood. . . . Canvassing is considered so important that our over-riding consideration. At the Union College management is endeavouring to give all Conference session in September, Mrs. students a practical working knowledge of its true White's recommendations were approved principles. Workers who love to deal with men and Board members were authorised to individually, to do personal work, who feel it a pleasure to present the truth to men in the shop and search for a suitable site. Several places on the farm, who will hunt out the people, and leave were visited between September 1903 and the truth with them in the printed page, will never be March 1904, before agreement was reached

63 Office of the Australian Tract Society. The rented premises of the first Echo Publishing House.

Echo staff prior to the Warburton move.

Early Signs Publishing Company and Food Factory.

64 on Warburton, a small township some eighty tower up some 3,000 feet. Some of the most beautiful scenery in Victoria is to be found about kilometres from Melbourne. Warburton, and it is becoming a very prominent The decisive factor in Warburton's favour pleasure and holiday resort. was water, for it was planned that the factory We have found the climate here this summer ideal. generate its own electricity, and Rocky Creek While we have shared the hot weather with other in the hills above the town had a sufficient parts of the State, at no time has the heat been oppressive or the nights too uncomfortable for flow to drive a waterwheel. However, gaining sleeping. Very seldom do we feel the effects of the permission to divert some of the water in this hot north winds. creek to a proposed reservoir and thence to Even the redoubtable Warburton winter the factory occupied many months, and it failed to diminish Salisbury's enthusiasm, was October 1905 before work could be and a few months later he wrote: started on the water supply system and The health of our employees has been excellent. factory proper. Four months later progress Most of them take an interest in improving their on the all-timber building was sufficiently property, and the out-of-door work has been of advanced for the move from Melbourne to marked benefit to them. The bracing air, the pure mountain water, and the vigorous hill-climbing that be made, and twenty trucks were employed all have to indulge in twice a day, have greatly to carry the 110 tons of machinery and improved some in health, and all in weight and equipment to the new location. Following strength. this move, all denominational work was The beautiful surroundings, the songs of the birds, transferred to the newly established Signs of and, above all, the blessing of our kind heavenly Father, should enable us to produce some of the the Times Publishing Association Limited, at best literature the world has ever seen. Warburton, while the greatly depleted Echo The extent to which this exalted aim was Publishing Company continued its commer- actually achieved cannot be determined, but cial operations at North Fitzroy until it was it is evident that within Australia, the Signs sold. Publishing Company standards com- For a time it was thought that the loss of manded respect. This was shown in 1903 commercial printing would result in periods when the company, trying to get ahead of its of unemployment for workers at the Signs orders, sent 600 books to an outside Publishing Company, and many of those publisher to be bound. Though a highly who moved to Warburton purchased large respected firm was chosen, the standard of blocks of land to enable them to grow food workmanship was such that two hundred of during the anticipated slack periods. This the books had to be sold as damaged precaution was found to be unnecessary, for copies, while the majority of the others, the there was no shortage of work at Warburton. manager reported with engaging frankness, On the contrary, as early as September 1906 had to be passed off "with our eyes partly the company had forty-two persons on the shut." Wisely, he declined to say how buyers payroll and needed many more to cope with reacted to these substandard productions. the backlog of work resulting from the move. But accommodation was in short The move to Warburton solved most of the supply. Some houses had been built on what publishing department's immediate physi- became known as Signs Hill, behind the cal problems, and for a time its greatest factory, but there were few places where difficulties were financial. Increases in the unmarried workers could live. Company prices of paper, cloth and leather, together officials spoke of building a boarding house with wage increases made it almost impos- for denominational employees, but finance sible to maintain production costs, and for this project depended on cooperation therefore prices, at acceptable levels. And from the various conferences which was not the cost of producing periodicals was a forthcoming and the problem of inadequate recurring headache. As Salisbury observed accommodation persisted for some years. in October 1909, only three years after the move: For the most part, those who moved to The loss on our periodicals has been a great drain on Warburton were delighted with their new this institution. Up to the present time it has been no surroundings. Wilbur Salisbury, for exam- less than £4,313. Very few of the periodicals in our ple, the former manager of the Echo denomination pay, on account of the small Publishing Company and the new Chairman circulation, and no religious nor any other papers or magazines of the world pay without resorting to of Directors of the Signs Publishing Com- advertisements. pany, expressed his feelings in glowing However, as these periodicals were one of terms: the church's main methods of missionary The site of our factory is 610 feet above sea-level. In front of the factory the mountains rise to nearly outreach, there could be no question of 2,000 feet, while at the back their majestic heads, curtailing their production. Instead, greater which in winter are sometimes covered with snow, efforts were made to increase sales. Church

65 members, already purchasing an average of two copies of the Signs of the Times per member, were exhorted to double that figure. Young people were advised that they could earn scholarships tenable at denomi- national colleges and schools by selling denominational literature. Canvassers' insti- tutes were held regularly in most States to improve canvassers' professional skills, and attract others to the canvassing work. A Canvassers' Training School was estab- lished at Warburton in 1913 to provide instruction in the fundamentals of door-to- door salesmanship. And the Union Confer- ence Record continued to devote space to canvassers' reports. Many of these were simply accounts of sales made under difficult circumstances. W. G. Hodgkinson, FREDERICK WILLIAM REEKIE (1863-1937) for example, reporting from South Australia, Frederick Reekie was a Londoner who came to described how: Australia in his early twenties and a few years later . . . two canvassers who were delivering books came accepted Seventh-day Adventist teachings at the hands to a place where the husband refused to allow his of John Corliss. wife to take the book. He proceeded so far as to lay He almost immediately became a colporteur, to violent hands upon one of them, and after using all which activity he gave practically the whole of his sorts of threats and strong language, he called upon working life. He travelled over rough terrain on his his man to help him throw them out of his paddock; bicycle in Western Australia, Adventist communities but by the grace of God, and being firm with him, he springing up in his wake. When he established a home finally took and paid for his book, and this incident at Avondale to educate his children, he continued to closed by his inviting the two canvassers to have make colporteur expeditions to remote parts of New dinner with him. South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Reekie ultimately became a supervisor and promoter Other accounts told of sales made to of colporteur and home mission work for the whole of persons of prestige or influence. Thus, J. New S9uth Wales. van de Groep wrote of his experiences It is difficult to overestimate the value of Reekie's canvassing State dignitaries in Adelaide: work to the progress of the Seventh-day Adventist This morning . . . I went to the Government House Church in Australia. and explained our work to the secretary, at the same time showing him some of our publications. I told seemed, supplies continued to arrive. At a him my desire was to secure a subscription for time when huge quantities of goods were Daniel and Revelation from His Excellency. The stockpiled in England awaiting shipment to secretary then went into the next room and told him Australia, the Signs Publishing Company what I had said about our work. During this time I was engaged in prayer that a subscription might be obtained a large consignment of paper only the result of my work. After a short time the secretary two months after placing the order. On told me that the Governor wanted a book, for which another occasion, materials from Pacific he wrote his name. . . . Press in America were, for no apparent I sold a copy of Daniel and Revelation to His reason, sent by an expensive mail steamer Excellency, one to the butler, and one to the kitchen matron. The butler also purchased Past, Present, instead of the more usual cargo vessel. On and Future, Coming King Matthew Twenty-four, this occasion the cargo boat which would and several copies of Armageddon. ordinarily have been used was torpedoed, In addition to the perpetual problem of while the mail steamer arrived safely. finding ways to increase sales, the publish- Similarly, a ship carrying a supply of binders' ing department had also to contend with cloth from Manchester caught fire at sea, difficulties which had not been foreseen: a destroying the contents of an entire hold. flood at Warburton in 1911 and, of much Subsequently it was found that the cloth had greater significance, a serious shortage of been stowed elsewhere, and was quite raw materials resulting from the outbreak of undamaged. Again, when gold leaf, used for war in Europe in August 1914. titles on leatherbound books, was said to be During the early days of the war the slogan totally unobtainable, the company was able "Business as Usual" was given great to purchase 25, 000 sheets from Japan. In prominence, but it was not long before this situation, it was small wonder that many essential raw materials, particularly paper publishing company workers felt God's hand and gold leaf, were difficult to obtain, even at to be over their enterprise. greatly inflated prices. Yet, miraculously, it When the war ended, materials became

66 Some of the first Australian colporteurs.

67 QO.ID I • -F- 4' Editorial tent, Warburton. Signs Publishing Company and Signs Hill.

The flood that precipitated the change of venue. Building the present premises on the west bank of the Yarra River.

.4.69 ass.SA. US•1111141 CIRO •

The Signs Publishing Company is now a well-established and respected publishing house.

68 The Warburton Brass Band—mainly publishing house personnel.

Neville Westwood—pioneer colporteur.

Letterpress was the best way—then! The old bindery.

69 easier to obtain, but the publishing depart- ment found itself facing a new set of problems. Foremost among these was the spirit of the age. In the 1920s, Australians, reacting to the experience of war with its attendant stresses, shortages, and sacrifice, showed little interest in the future. Their major concern appeared to be the present and the opportunities it afforded for financial gain and physical enjoyment. Throughout society there were feelings of apathy and indifference to anything requir- ing protracted effort. In this self-centred, materialistic atmosphere, religion was held in low esteem, and few people wanted to buy religious publications. However, so effective were the efforts made by canvassers that 1922 was a record year for sales. In the JOHAN MARIUS JOHANSON (1860-1928) mid-1920s a few courageous canvassers J. M. Johanson, of Danish birth, having learned of made news by working in outstandingly Adventist teaching through Adventist books, made a remote and difficult places. Neville remarkable contribution to the spread of Adventist Westwood, for example, reportedly set a literature as a canvasser, organiser of literature sales, world record when he secured a contract to and twice as manager of the Signs Publishing Company. He was ordained to the gospel ministry in canvass a 1,600, 000 square mile area of the 1913. He served as principal of Avondale, supervisor of Australian outback. In fulfilling this contract, Adventist missions in Japan, Korea and Manchuria, and finally as general manager of the Australasian Conference Association, responsible for all Adventist finance and property in this field. His three sons, Walter, Bertram and Eric, all became leading executives in the financial operations of the Adventist Church.

Westwood had to travel by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, horse, camel cart and motor car, and in his most thickly settled territory, the stations were thirty miles apart. Others toiled in less newsworthy places: the mountainous regions, the sunlit plains, the bustling cities. In all these areas sales were hard to secure, yet by 1930 it could be stated that since the inception of the publishing work in Australia some forty-five years earlier, more than 700, 000 books had been placed in Australian homes. According to Signs statistics the following numbers of FAIRLEY MASTERS (1869-1954) books had been sold: On September 15, 1894, the S.S. Himalaya sailed 81,566 Bible Readings from Western Australia carrying a missionary to India. 23,546 Christ's Object Lessons lie was twenty-two-years-old Fairley Masters, son of an The Coming Icing 54, 480 English army officer and born in India, who joined the 24, 643 Adventist Church through a tent mission held by The Desire of Ages A. G. Daniells in Ponsonby, New Zealand, in 1888. Daniel and Revelation 44, 000 Soon after his baptism, Masters began colporteur 69,761 The Great Controversy work in New Zealand, then transferred to Sydney to Our Day 23,186 canvass Bible Readings for the Home in the Balmain area. Patriarchs and Prophets 23,370 69, 436 In 1892 Fairley Masters became a charter student at Ladies' Handbook the Bible School in Melbourne, which prepared him to 30,915 Home Nursing become a literature evangelist and a leader of literature Practical Guide 80, 000 evangelists for more than sixty years. He is for ever honoured as Australasia's first overseas missionary. Sixty-six per cent of these books were His son, Pastor George Masters (b. 1899), carried on the religious works, the balance being medical tradition of ministry to the Indian people, both in India publications. and Fiji. It was, of course, impossible to maintain

70

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An early encouraging letter from Corliss to his fellow salesmen in Bendigo.

Adventist Book Centres operate in all major cities.

71 Printing ... Now empty, once the Trans-Pacific Publishers, near Suva, Fiji.

Case-making ... T.P.P. presses rolling in the 70s.

Ready for dispatch ... Printing in the Cook Islands.

72 sales figures at these levels during the early publishing operation precluded any feelings 1930s when the Great Depression brought of complacency. Many of the machines in the poverty and unemployment to thousands of Signs Publishing Company's factory were Australians. However, the difficulties of upwards of fifty years old and, though finding conventional employment led to an operational, were no longer efficient or increase in the number of full-time canvas- capable of producing quality work. sers and, as the economy revived, books Obviously, new equipment was needed and journals were again sold in large and in the early 1950s several new presses numbers. An innovation which helped and associated printing machinery were canvassers to increase their sales during the obtained. It was then decided to extend the late 1930s was the introduction of a "lay-by" actual factory, and in 1957 and again in plan. Lay-by cards were left with customers 1961, major additions increased the availa- who made regular payments on their books ble floor space to a total of 40, 000 square until the full price was paid and the feet. Perhaps the company's most signific- effected. Canvassers reported that because ant acquisition during these years was a of their regular visits to collect payments, Roland Offset Press, purchased in 1959. deliveries were easier to make, additional This press enabled the company to begin orders were often taken, and a greater production of the ten-volume Bible Story, a proportion of homes was opened for Bible superbly illustrated set of books which studies. rapidly became the canvassers' mainstay, Notwithstanding the depression, accounting for about one-third of all their throughout the 1930s, constant efforts were sales. The cost of producing these volumes made to maintain and improve production was alarming. The initial cost before printing standards. As funds permitted, machinery in was £213,000. Each of the first six volumes the Warburton factory was updated and, cost an additional S.,17, 600 to prepare, and following a disastrous flood in November the cost of preparing the final four volumes 1934 which resulted in nearly £9, 000 worth was S26,700 each. But the end result amply of damage, a major rebuilding program was justified this expenditure, as became clear undertaken there. Additional high land near when prominent people examined the the river was purchased and a new brick finished product and expressed their opin- publishing house of modern design was ions. Norman Allan, the New South Wales erected, becoming operative in the early Commissioner of Police, spoke enthusiasti- months of 1938. At the same time the Signs cally of "the beautiful illustrations"; Roger Publishing Company assumed responsibil- Knott, the Administrator of the Northern ity for printing the Australasian Record and Territory, commented that the books were the Missionary Leader, leaving the Avondale "beautifully printed and illustrated"; and Press, which had been producing these Major Harry Martin of the Salvation Army journals, to concentrate on caring for the observed that the books' coloured illustra- Cooranbong Health Food Factory's exten- tions were "a constant source of delight." sive printing needs. Gratifying as these comments were, the It has frequently been said that interest in public response was even more rewarding. spiritual things tends to grow during periods In 's first year, more than of adversity, and this proved to be true 11, 000 sets were sold, and Australian during World War II. Despite the shortages of canvassers recorded higher average sales materials and the price increases caused by per hour than their counterparts in any other the war, sales figures for the years 1941 and part of the Western world. 1942 were the best until that time, easily Obviously, the main reason for The Bible surpassing those of 1922, the previous best Story's outstanding success was the value it year, while in 1943 the circulation of the represented, but there was an additional Signs of the Times reached a record weekly reason: the introduction of "payment-by- peak of 33,000. During the following year a mail." In effect, this plan enabled canvassers large group of women responded to the to sell books on terms, a necessary move in challenge of the hour and became part-time the light of contemporary marketing prac- canvassers. As a result the sales force grew tices. Not unexpectedly, when the plan was from 100 to 224, and the value of orders introduced in 1961, some initial difficulties taken increased proportionately, reaching a were encountered, so in 1964, it was maximum in 1945, when £119, 000 worth of reorganised, with the establishment of a books was ordered. Hence the war ended on Central Credit Office in Sydney to serve the an encouraging note as far as sales were entire Australasian Division. Australasia concerned. But the production side of the thus became the first division in the world to

73 have an office of this nature. evangelists' Big Week in 1970. As O'Neill told During the 1970s additional printing the story: machinery was obtained to maintain stan- All day Monday we laboured, concluding with a dards and increase productivity. Major showing of a drug film, and a display of books to ten priests, six nuns and some members of the Catholic purchases included two new two-colour community in the area [where we were working]. The offset presses and a huge near-new four- result of the day's work at 10.30 p.m. was NO colour press, secured from a Sydney SALES—not even a Good Health magazine! publisher at a very attractive price. In 1979, Again we sought in earnestness, our Maker . . . And . . . with confidence born of Heaven . . . we set forth, the factory was extended yet again, giving a in heavy rain, on Tuesday morning. further 21,000 square feet of floor space. At Lunchtime—still no sales! the same time canvassers or, as they had At last our faith was rewarded with a sale of Modern come to be called, literature evangelists, Ways to Health. Our ignition was turned on and in continued their efforts to sell Signs Publish- our mind's eye we could see the green light for GO! From that sale on Tuesday at 1 p.m. to the following ing Company products. Probably the most day at 3.30 p.m., not one canvass went unrewarded. successful was Stan Rex who delivered In all, eleven calls were made, orders to the $18,000 worth of books in one year, a value of $1,056.25 were taken and, as performance which resulted, mid-way O'Neill observed, precious seeds were through 1970, in his receiving the Distin- scattered as the leaves of autumn. guished Salesman of the Year award from Soon after this remarkable experience, the Australian Institute of Sales and Market- O'Neill was transferred to South Australia ing Executives. Some months later the where, as Publishing Department Secretary, Australasian Record carried an account of he occasionally employed aircraft to reach super salesman Rex and innovative assistant the more remote areas of his territory. His Publishing Department Secretary C. 13. first such flight took in the opal fields of O'Neill's experiences during literature Andamooka and Coober Pedy, while a second covered parts of Arnhem Land in Australia's far north. On each of these expeditions numerous meetings were con- ducted, many orders were taken and, in O'Neill's favourite phrase, "precious seed was sown." In Arnhem Land, for example, the head of a Methodist mission—an Aboriginal with two wives and a large number of children—purchased a copy of every book O'Neill carried, and a Catholic priest ordered nearly $400 worth of books. Prominent among the books sold on these aerial expeditions were the latest editions of the old favourites: Bedtime Stories. Over the years, canvassers had sold enormous numbers of these books—more than 300,000 in the period 1970-1974 alone— building up a tremendous amount of goodwill. Something of the impact these books had on purchasers may be discerned ROBERT ARCHIBALD CALDWELL (1879-1966) from the statement that a Sydney woman, whose husband had deserted her and their Seventh-day Adventism reached out from Australia four small children, made to a visiting and New Zealand to the islands of the South Pacific, but moved also to southern and eastern Asia: India, literature evangelist: Singapore, China, Japan and the Philippines. Robert You may be surprised to know that, during the dark Caldwell made a major contribution to this. Caldwell and dreadful days of anxiety that followed when my became a colporteur, selling Adventist literature. He husband "walked out" drunk, all I had to go to for accompanied pioneer Adventist missionary help, psychologically and spiritually, were those G. F. Jones to Singapore and then went on via a wonderful books of yours. As I read them to the number of South-East Asian ports to blaze a path for children alone at night they were a genuine comfort Adventism in the Philippines. He worked there almost to us all. I truly do not know how I could have carried continuously between 1906 and 1919, thus laying the on without their lovely and simple stories about foundation by the sale of books for the later quite Jesus and His love for all people, all the time, spectacular growth of Adventism in that archipelago. In everywhere. a similar role he served in China and also briefly in These books helped me to pray as I had never Japan. He was a true pioneer of worldwide Adventism. prayed before; they gave me renewed courage, and enabled me to encourage my children and explain

74 the inexplicable to them. Today my husband has extent? In reviewing its story, three factors returned, and we have worked out a happy solution are immediately apparent: first, the consis- to our problems. You have no idea how deeply I treasure the Bedtime Stories. tent emphasis on high qualityworkmanship; second, the solid support given by the Statements like this provide a fitting rank-and-file members of the church, who tribute both to the books which Australasian have themselves purchased a substantial literature evangelists have carried over the proportion of the total output from the local years and to the devoted workers who presses, and who have also provided the produced and sold them. At the Signs bulk of the workforce in the areas of both Publishing Company and in the various production and sales; third, the dedication Conference offices, scores of similar tes- and persistence of those who have carried timonies have been received from the tens Seventh-day Adventist publications from of thousands who, having purchased door to door throughout urban and rural Seventh-day Adventist publications, have Australasia. To these three factors many been instructed, inspired and comforted by church members would unhesitatingly add a them. fourth: a factor difficult to document, but too This, then, is the story of the Seventh-day compelling to ignore. They would argue that Adventist Church's publishing work in the publishing department's achievements Australia: a story of constant struggle, but of give real credibility to the belief, expressed commendable achievement. As we have so many times over the years by employees, seen, no publisher of religious books and that God's hand has been over the whole periodicals could expect to have an easy publishing enterprise in a special way. And, time in Australia, for the potential market is if this is indeed so, it seems certain that the small by world standards and the people, upward sales trend—with yearly sales though nominally Christian, have never throughout Australasia topping $100,000 in been deeply religious. Why, then, has the 1942, $500,000 in 1961, $1 million in 1975 publishing work prospered to such an and $2 million in 1983—will continue.

75 , _ K Toward the northern end of the facade of Washington was bled four times, the fourth the Sydney Adventist Hospital, there are five occasion yielding thirty-two ounces of tablets, the work of Australian sculptor Ann blood. Three doses of the highly potent Graham. They were commissioned to depict tartar emetic (antimony tartrate) resulted in the ideals and goals of Seventh-day Adven- a large bowel movement, but no apparent tist health-care systems as agencies of the improvement in the patient. Since in church's world mission. These ideals and addition blisters were applied to various goals include: parts of the body, one wonders whether The fostering and practice of EXCELLENCE in anyone of less robust constitution would vocation as a tribute to the Creator and His creation. have survived as long! Without attempting to A CONCERN for others as an acknowledgement of the brotherhood Of man and the Fatherhood of God. explore the curiosities of the pharmacopaeia A COMMITMENT to reform the lifestyle in acceptance of the time, it is perhaps illustrative that of the gift of life-in-trust. Fowler's solution, containing arsenic as its The practice of HEALING MINISTRY as a way of active ingredient, was a favourite tonic, and touching and rehabilitating lives with the love and wholeness of Jesus Christ. that opium and later morphine were also EDUCATION as an effective means of introduction widely employed. and advancement of ideals and methods. It is then entirely understandable that the SPIRITUAL POWER as the motivating and enabling health reform movement which initially had force in the striving toward all higher goals. a strong anti-alcohol emphasis, striking at The elements thus stated characterise and the obvious evils of American heavy drink- account for the vigour of the worldwide ing, should progress toward rejection of health program of the Seventh-day Adventist much in contemporary medical practice. Church, carried forward in Europe, America, The alternative was to seek a way of Australia and in the countries of the Third fortifying the body by means of improved World. In 1983 the needs of over six million lifestyle, including dietary reform. This people in all parts of the world were cared for explains the Sylvester Graham emphasis in the church's 450 health-care units, which upon preserving man's vital force. It also range from university teaching hospitals in explains why reformers turned with en- the great centres of population to specially thusiasm to the hydropathic practices outfitted launches in some of the world's initially advocated by Vincenz Priessnitz of remotest byways. Silesia. Anyone who has enjoyed the relief Those who have watched this work which comes from the application of hot closely, or have been actually involved in it, fomentations to a painful throat can believe that it has enjoyed providential understand why James Jackson, a New York guidance and blessing; it has nevertheless physician, may have achieved some success been heavily demanding of human and in combating the then dreaded and often material resources. Countless men and fatal diphtheria. Two of James and Ellen women have found in it an opportunity to White's boys were successfully treated in this express the urgings of the. Christian spirit way. James White was so impressed with within them. Thus cooperation between Jackson as to publish Jackson's own human and divine agencies has been and description of his methods in the Review and still is fundamental to Adventist faith and Herald of which White was at that time editor. practice. It was Jackson too, who established "Our The healing ministry of the church in Home on the Hillside" near Dansville, New Australasia began approximately ten years York, 130 kilometres from the Niagara after the pioneering party of American Falls,an institution which depended for its Seventh-day Adventist missionaries arrived. results on fresh air, vegetarian food, ample Rooms for hydrotherapy treatments were water inside and out, sunlight, healthful established in 1895, and a little more than dress, exercise, sleep, rest and social seven years later the Sydney Sanitarium and recreation. Hospital was opened on January 1, 1903. "Our Home on the Hillside" suited the These beginnings in Australia came at a time ideas of the early Adventists very well: when two streams of reform in medical Joshua Nimes, John Andrews, Hiram Edson, thinking and practice were emerging. John Loughborough and Uriah Smith all Through the nineteenth century medical took advantage of its facilities. James and practice was primitive and even sometimes Ellen White paid a visit first in 1864, and dangerous. In 1799, George Washington began a long stay in 1856 after James had was undoubtedly hurried to his grave by the suffered a stroke. ministrations of physicians. Altogether, in Seventh-day Adventists did not settle into the course of his final illness of just two days, a pattern of health-reform teaching until

78 1863, when, in June of that year, Ellen White It was on these same two principles that wrote a thirty-two page article, published in Adventist medical work in Australia became 1864 as part of Spiritual Gifts. She wrote established at the turn of the century. The against violating the laws of health, struck beginnings were small. A cottage in hard against tobacco, tea, coffee and the use Ashfield, Sydney, rented for ten shillings a of meat. Her most vigorous shafts however week, became treatment rooms run by two were reserved for contemporary doctors. "If Australians, Alfred Semmens and his wife there were in the land one physician in the Emma, who had trained as nurses at Battle place of thousands, a vast amount of Creek. A massage table, an electric bath, a premature mortality would be prevented." sitz bath, a fomentation bucket and a gas Ellen White mainly accepted Jackson's burner formed their basic armamentarium. Dansville practices, but was disillusioned by House-to-house visitation was employed the card-playing and social dancing among as a method of advertising. A woman other social recreations at his establish- crippled with arthritis was their first patient. ment. Apparently the treatments gave relief to local She advocated and saw fulfilled the sufferers for, in January 1897, they moved opening of an Adventist institution at Battle with much trepidation but vigorous encour- Creek, Michigan, the Western Health Reform agement from Ellen White, to a large Institute. , a protege of sixteen-room home called "Meaford," in the Whites, became its medical superinten- Gower Street Summer Hill. A local physician dent in 1876 at the age of twenty-four. He was impressed by their methods and sent was an ardent health reformer, but had his patients. Next a training program for sought and obtained as good a medical nurses was commenced with a class of six: training as America could offer at that time. Lizzie Hubbard, Minnie Steel, Mary Pallant He was intent on providing the new Medical Carl Ulrich, and Arthur and Louis Currow. and Surgical Sanitarium, erected under his (Louis Currow's grandson, Elwyn Currow, guidance, with a new dimension in the was to become a successful surgeon, who in science and art of healing. Since 1863, when Ellen White had written against current medical practice, scientific medicine had progressed rapidly. Just a few years before, in 1857, Louis Pasteur had published his findings on the germ theory of fermentation, claiming that various or- ganisms also caused disease. In subsequent years Pasteur advocated hospital practices which would minimise the spread of infectious microbes. Building on Pasteur's work, Joseph Lister in 1867 published a paper which led to the adoption of antiseptic surgery. Ignaz Semmelweis in Europe had already independently pioneered antiseptic surgery and obstetrics, his views gradually becoming known during the sixties. In England, Alexander Gordon led in the asepsis crusade. By the end of the century CM B. HARE (1894-1982) many disease-carrying germs had been identified; antiseptic surgery using Eric Hare, second son of Robert and Henrietta Hare, chloroform for anaesthesia had been well pioneer Adventist workers, was a medical missionary to Burma from 1915 to 1934 and again in 1941. He and established; and the importance of strict Mrs Hare pioneered the Adventist work among the tribe cleanliness in hospitals was well under- known as the Karens and worked there until the stood. It was on these dual grounds: bombing of World War II forced them out in 1942. He is improved lifestyle and hydrotherapy on the remembered affectionately as "Dr Rabbit, " who began one hand, and rapidly developing scientific the brass band in thejungle. Later he became Youth and Sabbath School leader in the Pacific Union Conference, medicine on the other, that the Battle Creek and with the General Conference Sabbath School Sanitarium, founded by Ellen White, with Department for twenty-seven years. John Harvey Kellogg as its continuing A vibrant combination of energy, enthusiasm, driving force, became one of the largest and wisdom, wit and storytelling skill, all in consecration to Christ, his life attested to the title of one of his thirteen most famous centres for restoration of mind books: "In his presence there is Fullness of Joy." and body in America.

79 1985 is general superintendent of the Royal Newcastle Hospital, New South Wales.) When the Summer Hill team was supplemented in 1898 by the arrival of Dr Edgar Caro, who had trained at Battle Creek, the name "Medical and Surgical Sanitarium" was adopted and a medical laboratory added to the facilities. Natural healing principles and scientific methods were again combined as at Battle Creek. In July 1899, Dr Caro reported that up to that time he had performed 127 surgical operations at the institution, and the staff had increased to nineteen. Soon the main building, "Meaford," was too small and two additional large houses, "Linda" and "Moyne Hall," were rented as supplementary facilities. While this Summer Hill Sanitarium was MURIEL HOWE (1908-) consolidating its position in Sydney, the Australasian Medical Missionary and Be- Muriel Howe grew up in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, nevolent Association of clergy and laymen, deeply impressed that she should become a missio- nary nurse in China. She fulfilled this goal in the 1930s, encouraged ventures elsewhere. In 1898 the gaining her basic training in the Shanghai Sanitarium. Napier church, New Zealand, opened the She fled China in the late 1930s when the Japanese Bethany Rescue Home. It was staffed on a invaded, but returned in 1945. In addition, she gave volunteer basis and financed by public many years of mission service in North and South subscription, supplemented by the work of Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Taiwan. Her life has been one of courage and purpose, inmates. At one time the cottage housed typifying and inspiring all those other missionary twenty-five women, eleven of whom were nurses who have heard the call to leave their homeland discharged prisoners. For lack of a more to go "into all the world." secure financial base this welfare project She lives in retirement near Kettering Hospital, Ohio, USA. was in 1915 given over to the Salvation Army. Small "treatment room" establishments ing with twenty rooms on eight acres of sprang up here and there; many soon to fade ground was purchased for £1,800. Dr F. E. away. However, three Sanitarium-type in- Braucht, who had been working in Samoa as stitutions established at this time endured: a medical missionary, was appointed to one in Adelaide, another in Christchurch, superintend adaptation and enlargement of New Zealand, a third in Cooranbong, New the facility. The staff consisted of twelve South Wales, near the school which was later nurses. The medical and surgical work was to develop into Avondale College. supplemented by the beginning of a It was in April 1898, some months after Dr health-food industry. Beatrice Greenfield, Caro had become superintendent of the who became matron of the Christchurch Summer Hill Sanitarium, that Alfred Sem- Sanitarium, used to recall how she assisted mens, his wife and Mary Pallant, one of the in prising open the first case of health foods recently trained nurses, departed for from the United States! Adelaide to pioneer the Adventist medical There were periods of instruction from work there. They rapidly gained the confi- doctors, but no formal training for nurses. dence of a number of Adelaide doctors, but Essentially, they learned on the job. The for some time their financial situation matron herself, though by then regularly remained precarious. The rooms were right assisting in surgical procedures, felt her own in the heart of the city, in Victoria Square, but training inadequate and sought leave to later a move was made to the outskirts of the transfer to the nursing course at the recently city. opened Sydney Sanitarium at Wahroonga. Similarly in Christchurch, New Zealand, in Ethelbert and Lydia Thorpe, newly 1898, Australian nurse Gordon Arthur graduated from that institution and married Brandstater began a Health Home in a immediately prior to sailing, replaced her. six-room cottage. As the work developed, The Christchurch Sanitarium continued until the Health Home moved to a large house of 1921, when it was closed, chiefly for thirteen rooms at 71 Hereford Street. financial reasons. It would scarcely have Part-way through 1900, a two-storey build- lasted so long, with rapid improvement in

80 Christchurch public hospital facilities, had it and is conducted in a scientific manner and in a not been for the enterprise, dedication and liberal, Christian, and humanitarian spirit. . . . generosity of the layman Sydney Herbert When the Sydney Sanitarium and Hospital Amyes. The grounds are now occupied by in Fox Valley Road was nearing completion, the factory and beautiful gardens of the the Drs Kress moved there, and with them, Sanitarium Health Food Company. the nursing school. The work at The Retreat The Avondale Health Retreat, Cooran- was continued for seven years by that bong, built facing College Drive and devoted and skilful married doctor couple opposite Avondale Church on land sloping Thomas Sherwin and Marguerita Freeman. down toward Dora Creek, was a venture Thereafter it progressively lost ground to the which grew out of the dire needs of the Sydney Sanitarium. Eventually it was de- surrounding community and Ellen White's molished. The grounds where it once stood enthusiasm. The Cooranbong community are now occupied by units of the 'Cressy'Ile had no doctor nearer than Newcastle, Retirement Village, surrounding the Charles twenty-one kilometres away. Added to the Harrison Nursing Home. In this way its list of physical ills common at that time were essential functions have been preserved. the sometimes ghastly injuries suffered by The principal achievement of Seventh-day Adventist health and medical activity in workers in the local timber industry. Nor was snakebite uncommon. A number of sick Australasia has been the building and people were nursed in Ellen White's own operation of the Sydney Sanitarium and home, "Sunnyside," by Sara McEnterfer, Hospital, opened in 1903. Seventy years Ellen White's nurse companion. later it was rebuilt, extended and given its present name. The moving spirit in this The retreat was formally opened on major venture, as in so many others, was December 28, 1899, by the Hon. J. L. Fegan, again Ellen White. Her counsels directed New South Wales Minister for Mines and believers to God's Word and to the practical Agriculture. Ellen White delivered a special outworking of faith in daily life. It was address. The facility comprised a commodi- fortunate that she lived and worked in ous two-storey building with adjacent out- Australia in the days of "small beginnings." buildings. Wide verandas were a joy to With extraordinary vision, at a meeting of resident patients. Robert Conley, father of church leaders at Avondale College, she Pastor John Conley, a prominent Adventist called for the establishment of an institution evangelist, was the plasterer. that would rightly represent the work that Besides supplying the district with a was to be accomplished. She pressed the much-needed hospital and rest home, it need for a major institution, and outlined the served the Adventist Church as a place where principles upon which it should be based. its ministers, worn with toil, might find Characteristically her counsels were not strength and refreshment. It gave oppor- confined to generalities; she was concerned tunity for students of the nearby Avondale with the concrete realities of location, School to obtain medical instruction and environment, fundraising, staffing, fur- experience in health care, valuable for their nishing and operation. The objectives so more remote outposts. At first The Retreat clearly defined in those early years still guide was under the direction of Mr and Mrs H. the Sydney Adventist Hospital. The con- Hellier from Victoria, and Dr Silas Rand of tinuing successful operation of this institu- Newcastle was available on call. When Drs tion in this century of breathtaking advance Daniel and Lauretta Kress arrived from in science and health care is a testimony to America in 1901, a training school for her wisdom and inspiration. nurses was begun. Dr Lauretta Kress, There was indeed practical need for just though a medical practitioner, also relieved such a broad statement of policy and many a local sufferer through her dental purpose. Seventh-day Adventist medical prowess. work, as we have seen, had been com- It might be said that The Retreat lived up to menced at Ashfield in 1895, and then moved its plan of management as stated in a small to Summer Hill. The enterprise had de- advertising brochure: veloped into a medical and surgical institu- To equip and maintain an efficient medical tion occupying three large buildings and institution, for the treatment of the sick and afflicted. employing a doctor and considerable staff. To make the facilities of the institution available By 1898 it was abundantly clear to those at to all who are in search of health, by the proper adjustment of charges, and by the use of surplus Summer Hill that a move had again to be earnings in the treatment of the worthy sick poor. made. The lease of the principal building The institution is self-supporting and philanthropic, was running out and the fears of the staff

81

k

--anlrensillogt 9 At IL-9-19-9 t ' -4 • . I „ . - . 1 '...j .Z." ., 4IP I 1• 104.„,,

' * 1.1r1°`..r , 141 • 4 li tit titilint* . ',10...4 II 4111141111t1111P141 11 41i ,;411114:11; 't1t ' ;1 i';' ' .,!,,IFT‘,• it -4- ' - ',Y11.411 .. I, k;4 ., ,,z, ', :. , z.1, "ft ... 'il. :.• : .': '''': • ' i - .. 1 , ;1, 11,,r ,,.' .,,_119111-- . •-._..... II ...... ' ail!". • P'','" r,, i , 4 , _ The first health retreat was this cottage in Christchurch Sanitarium (under snow). Ashfield, an inner Sydney suburb.

Dr Caro's Summer Hill Sanitarium, 1897. Avondale Health Retreat, late 1800s.

Adelaide Sanitarium, 1908. Sydney Sanitarium takes shape, 1902.

82 The Warburton Sanitarium and Hospital—early days.

A close-up of the chalet-type Warburton Sanitarium in the 30s.

Warburton Health Care Centre as it is today.

83 were realised when "Meaford" was actually "churchman," he doubted whether Provi- sold. The medical work had to be main- dence worked in this direct way. At the same tained in the two subsidiary buildings, while time, he challenged his brother to follow some patients were redirected to The God completely. This, he stated, would Avondale Health Retreat. involve, among other things, the keeping of Ellen White, in July 1899, stated un- the Sabbath. Up to this point, neither John equivocally what ought to be done, referring nor Pieter had heard of Christian Seventh- to what had been accomplished in America day Adventist Sabbath-keepers. at Battle Creek. The rented buildings at In the meantime an old miner from Summer Hill, she declared, had represented Nevada in North America, William Hunt, had merely a makeshift arrangement. A arrived at the diggings. He was a Seventh- Sanitarium should be built which, through day Adventist who brought with him supplies the dedication of its staff, would exert a wide of tracts and papers. Soon word of a influence for good, upholding spiritual Sabbath-keeping people came to the Wes- values and sound principles of physical and sels brothers. They were amazed, but also mental healing. It would require personal overjoyed to find what they both believed to sacrifice in the same way that the earliest be God's will for them. Pieter and a friend Christians had set aside their own personal interests for the benefit of the cause of God. The response of the Australasian Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association on July 20, 1899, was to pass the following resolutions: That we earnestly invite a hearty cooperation of our Conference and Association, and friends of our cause in general, in the erection of a Medical and Surgical Sanitarium, to be located in the vicinity of Sydney; and that we suggest that this enterprise be undertaken according to plans for a building capable of accommodating 100 patients. That we undertake to raise the sum of g8,000 for the purpose named in the foregoing resolution; and in so doing that we unitedly look to God for guidance and help in this time of great need, praying fervently that He will, out of the abundance of His resources, provide for our necessities, by putting it into the hearts of His people to deny self and practise strict economy, that all may have means to offer for this cause; by moving upon the hearts of men of means THOMAS SHERWIN (1885-1964) to assist in the work; and by any means He in His MARGUERITA FREEMAN (c. 1885-1979) wisdom may choose. A further meeting the next day, again Of all the husband-and-wife teams who have worked for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australasia, the addressed by Ellen White, sought to fulfil the longest-serving has been that of the Doctors Sherwin dictum that God often answers our prayers and Freeman. They married in 1912, the year Sherwin through ourselves. Seventy-one individuals completed his medical course. or couples made pledges according to their Dr Marguerita Freeman was a Perth girl who studied medicine at Sydney University and completed her wealth, in amounts varying from £500. A training at the Maternity Rotunda Hospital in Belfast. total of .E905.10/- was pledged, and there When she married Thomas Sherwin she had been was also response from afar. On September driving a horse and buggy on medical rounds in the 12, Ellen White had written to John Wessels Cooranbong area, based at the Avondale Health of South Africa: "Brother John . . . we need Retreat. Thomas Sherwin from Armidale studied at Avondale you to come . . . let there be no delay." John and then in Sydney prior to entering Sydney University. Wessels was a man of substance and For twenty years the two doctors cared for the business capability and a committed Chris- Sydney Sanitarium, taking a special interest in training tian. He and his brother Pieter were missionary nurses. This interest prevailed when they were given an overseas study break: Sherwin studied members of a large rural South African tropical medicine, Freeman gynaecology. Dutch family which had prospered in When Dr Sherwin was placed in charge of the consequence of the great Kimberley Warburton Sanitarium, Dr Freeman practised in diamond discovery. Pieter had been afflicted Melbourne. They returned to the Sydney Sanitarium before with a lung condition and believed his health retiring in Western Australia. Their interest in the needs to have been restored by divine action. Out of the senior citizens of that state led to the naming in of gratitude, he resolved to live a life of their honour of Sherwin Lodge and the Freeman devotion to God. Although John was a Nursing home.

84 who knew Hunt decided to write to the four-wheeled buggy. (John and Mary Rad- church in America for more information. ley's granddaughter, Rose Marie, is in 1985 They enclosed $50 in a letter, expressing the the administrator of nursing services at the hope that it might be possible to send a Sydney Adventist Hospital.) The men had a missionary to Africa. This was perceived by less comfortable ride with John Radley in a the convocation of the church then in its farm cart. Radley had to lead the white buggy 1886 session as a "Macedonian call." Its horse through the shallow stream which still message electrified the Conference dele- forms the upper reaches of the Lane Cove gates, who rose and sang the doxology. River. John Wessels answered the plea made to There, on the highest land in the Sydney him by Ellen White by coming to Australia area, with the prospect of ripe fruit and the and taking up residence in the Strathfield charm of surrounding bush, objections on area. He was one among a number who the ground of "remoteness" faded rapidly. A made substantial financial contributions to four-roomed cottage on the property would the new sanitarium venture. There were provide useful temporary accommodation. others. A Mr and Mrs Geiss, in recognition of The site was pronounced excellent. The deal the help received at Summer Hill, donated was sealed by John Wessels with a down £800, then almost a king's ransom. A payment of £ 100 on November 1. The Tasmanian Adventist farmer, Edward Mur- remainder of the £2, 200 purchase price was phett, of remarkable generosity, gave due in instalments over twelve months. £3,000 when building operations, well Ellen White and Sara McEnterfer took a under way, had ground to a halt for lack of little holiday in the cottage in January 1900, funds. removing themselves from Cooranbong's John Wessels provided more than finan- midsummer heat. The cottage was comfort- cial support. With a countryman's eye for able enough after Sara had undertaken location, he, with Frederick Sharp, manager some thorough house-cleaning. It proved of Summer Hill, searched the wooded ridges anything but quietly remote, however; north of the harbour for a property which visitors, with their interest aroused in the would fulfil the requirements for an Adven- newly acquired property, so wore the ladies tist Sanitarium for Sydney: a country down that they very nearly fled back to environment, yet one not too far removed Cooranbong. from the main centre of population. Ellen One arrival was especially welcome, that White, too, had quite a deal to say about the of Dr Merritt Kellogg, medical missionary benefits of clean country air spiced by the from Tonga and older half-brother of John perfume of forest and orchard. Excessively Harvey Kellogg of Battle Creek fame. Merritt, idealistic? Today look out from an upper the eldest son of John Kellogg Senior's first window of the Sydney Adventist Hospital, family, had helped his father on the farm, where the breezes blow freely, toward the becoming proficient in carpentry and build- pall of smog above the Sydney Harbour ing. lie had then taken a short medical Bridge and the concrete skyline of course at Trail's Hygieo-Therapeutic Col- downtown Sydney, and ask yourself whether lege, where in fact John Harvey Kellogg had or not that was old fashioned faddism. also commenced his medical training. His One by one various sites were rejected. combined skills were now applied to One because Ellen White realised that the designing a 100-bed multi-storeyed hospital prospective purchase would deprive a to be erected in Australian hardwoods. The tenant of the fruition of many years of toil estimated cost was £8, 000. and hope; a touching incident revealing Building began in faith before all the sensitivity and compassion. Price was a necessary money had been obtained. barrier to other prospects. Progress often depended upon extended Toward the end of October 1899, Wessels credit granted by local suppliers of mate- found, fairly close to Hornsby, a property of rials. At times building was interrupted, seventy-five acres with pleasing prospects. awaiting further financial assistance. The Fifteen acres were in orchard. Was it too Sanitarium was barely habitable for the remote from the city? An inspection party official opening on January 1, 1903. At least including A. G. Daniells, W. D. Salisbury, the weatherboards had a priming coat of John Wessels, Frederick Sharp, Sara McEn- paint and a few rooms for patients had been terfer, and Ellen White was taken to the site fully painted and furnished. The staff from Thornleigh railway station by way of the camped, as well as they could, on the third bush track around Dog's Head Rock. The floor, without windows, with hessian drapes ladies were driven by Mary Radley in a in the doorways and hessian on the floors.

85 Mr and Mrs Lewis Butler, Sydney San's first Sydney Sanitarium staff in its first year. patients, 1902.

Dr T. A. Sherwin and staff, Sydney, 1912.

Alfred Semmens and Mrs Semmens.

86 Dr and Mrs Merritt Kellogg. Mr and Mrs Moulds (nee Radley).

Medical and Surgical Sanitarium

:raining School for Purses.

toted at '::;tionner s Certifies that r /7 4» 7/4c4 /3, //, Sanitarium Craininu School for Purses,

pa- A 1902 graduation certificate. Sydney Sanitarium staff, 1920.

Sydney Sanitarium kitchen, 1914. Dr Marguerita Freeman and staff at Avondale Retreat.

87 Fortunately it was January. Kerosene lamps Within that rugged old building the work of provided light for the staff. The lower floors healing moved on from decade to decade, were lit by gas and when it became needed, holding firm to three criteria: scientific heated by wood-fueled open fires. Life was excellence, health reform and spiritual rugged but exciting and full of the sense of power. Rapid progress in scientific urgency and mission. medicine, combined with natural healing Patient response was gratifying, but methods, in the hands of Christian doctors embarrassingly swift. Lewis Butler, a and nurses, conscious of a deep obligation Wahroonga businessman and property to God and their fellow men, was the secret owner, desperately ill with rheumatic fever, of success. In the treatment rooms, human was hurried to the Sanitarium in a hansom bodies sluggish, tired and sometimes obese cab. He was installed, after some pleading were refreshed, invigorated and reduced by his family, in makeshift quarters while with heat, cold and massage. Who could work continued feverishly in the main forget the sight of heavy businessmen in the building. Under the ministrations of doctors shower cubicles, water descending and and devoted nursing staff, and with the spurting needle-like from all directions while blessing, as they all fervently believed, of the a male nurse commanded, "Turn-turn-turn!" Good Lord, Butler recovered. After careful as jets not unlike fire hoses were played on study, he later became a Seventh-day them. Then came massage, with the aroma Adventist. lie fathered several generations of coconut oil and long, restful sleep. of Adventist ministers and church adminis- While "treatments" were a regular feature trators. (His grandson Lance Butler, played of "San" life, so was the progressively an active part in planning finance for the new broader application of scientific diagnostic Sydney Adventist Hospital opened in 1973 methods, medical knowledge and surgical and in 1985 is Treasurer of the General skills. Three husband-and-wife doctor Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in teams were successively responsible for the Washington, DC. Another descendant, Dr medical program: Daniel and Lauretta Russell Butler, is a leading physician in the Kress, Franklin and Eulalia Richards, institution.) Thomas Sherwin and his wife Marguerita The plans Merritt Kellogg drew in 1900 for Freeman. Dr Freeman was a graduate of a 100-bed sanitarium and hospital created a Sydney University and the first Adventist building elegant as well as durable, and woman to graduate from an Australian which attracted notice for decades; a medical school. landmark from both air and ground. The The "San" very soon became established grand old building continues to linger in in the minds of the Sydney community and fond memories, photographs, the work of especially among Seventh-day Adventists, artists, and in an interesting collection of near and far, as a home away from home, a memorabilia. Even today, instruct a north refuge, a much-loved place of healing. Sydney taxi driver "The San please"; as likely Accident victims and the acutely ill came for as not he will proceed to the Sydney surgery, the less ill for treatments, restora- Adventist Hospital without hesitation or tion and rejuvenation. They obtained, too, need of further inquiry. instruction and experience in healthful Those who have carried the administra- living, vegetarian diet, rest, exercise and tion of the Sydney Adventist Hospital, and devotion. Babies were born in the little especially those who worked in the old house behind the main building especially building, believe that its preservation over set up as an obstetrics suite. A resident of the seventy years of its use was scarcely less Cooranbong, Reuben Palmer, at the time of than providential. It was a wooden building, writing (1984) a little bent and deaf, claims hollow-walled, ultimately highly electrified, with satisfaction the honour of being the first with gas jets and open fires and, at the baby born in the Sydney Sanitarium. Not the beginning, surrounded by Australian bush, least of its functions was the training of often tinder-dry in summer. It suffered no nurses, continuing the work and tradition of major fire. In 1919 the famed cupola the Avondale Health Retreat. surmounting the building was burnt down Sydney was now "provided for." Indeed, without threat to the remainder. Fifty years other prospective patients did not hesitate to later, in 1969, a small fire was started in the travel interstate and across the ocean to dead of night by a faulty electrical appliance. enjoy the benefits of the new institution. But The next morning a window frame in one of there were those, especially Ellen White, who the woodlined offices was found charred, wished to see a proliferation of Seventh-day but the fire "had put itself out." Adventist medical facilities. In 1905, having

88 returned from Australia to her home "Elmshaven" in St Helena, California, she wrote suggesting that efforts be made to establish Sanitarium-like institutions close to every major centre of population in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia, was particu- larly mentioned. An opportunity to provide a Victorian medical institution presented itself in 1910, a little more than seven years after the opening of the Sydney Sanitarium. The Echo Publishing Company, which had been located in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, had been moved to Warburton, in the ranges east of the city, and had been renamed the Signs Publishing Company, with W. D. Salisbury the first manager. When he CHARLES HARRISON (1888-) returned to America in 1910, his home, a large Iwo-storey wooden building, was For more than thirty years Charles Harrison was medical director of the Sydney Sanitarium and Hospital converted into a small sanitarium. The (now the Sydney Adventist Hospital). An American born building had a large bathroom and good in Indiana, he added to his basic medical training in the water reticulation; each bedroom had a United States, study in London and Edinburgh, in the fireplace and was lit by electricity drawn from United Kingdom, where he gained the degrees MRCS, the Signs Publishing Company's hydro- LRCP and FRCS. Not only was Harrison a highly skilled surgeon and electric generator. Hot water had to be physician, he was a doctor loved and respected by staff manhandled in buckets. The crowning piece and patients in a quite remarkable way. He was greatly of apparatus was the electric light box, appreciated as a teacher and lecturer. calculated to make the patient under it On departing for his own country he became Professor of Anatomy at Loma Linda University, perspire profusely. The' necessary altera- operated by Seventh-day Adventists in California. tions to the building cost £200. The facility, The Charles Harrison Memorial Home at Cooranbong opened in August 1910, had accommoda- is a tribute to his contribution to Adventism in the South tion for five patients. The standard weekly Pacific. tariff was three guineas, with an additional Though ninety-six and no longer robust, he still lives two for hydrotherapy treatments. at Loma Linda, California. Remoteness from Melbourne did not prove to be an impediment. The Warburton This building was to form the nucleus of later settlement at that time was a railway extensions. In the 1930s, while Dr Tom terminus, a kilometre or so from the Sherwin was medical superintendent, east Sanitarium. The first patient, a clerk from and west wings were added. Modernised and Melbourne suffering from nervous exhaus- altered, these are still in use, housing tion, was met and transported in a vehicle among other facilities a medical centre and drawn by two Shetland ponies driven by a administrative offices. A small hospital and youth, Roy Allan Anderson. This driver was casualty wing was built in 1925 to look after later to become a most prominent the acute medical, surgical and obstetrical evangelist and church leader. needs of the district. Twenty-five years later, The Warburton Sanitarium benefited from a larger weatherboard hospital was erected. the services of Dr Howard James, an Brick extensions were added to this in 1972 Adventist from Sydney, who set up practice and 1980, bringing the bed capacity to in Warburton and served as physician to the thirty-five. Ancillary departments included Sanitarium until 1931. His work in those delivery room, central sterilising, pathology, early years was not easy. Serving a rural radiology, physical therapy and occupa- community he travelled over rough roads tional therapy. and even rougher and steeper bush tracks During the 1950s and 1960s, with Mr by bicycle or on horseback. Sidney Greive as manager, considerable No sooner had the sanitarium begun than impetus was given to expansion. A dental the Salisbury home was found to be too and medical clinic was erected in the small to meet public demand; in 1912 a new township and a physical therapy unit added building, a little lower on the hillside, was to the institution. In 1962 the Health Care built and named Victoria's Home of Health. Centre's main four-storey accommodation

89 The distinctive Sydney "San."

Changing the facade . . . . from wood to concrete. CT Scanning. Nuclear medicine.

MITES AXON

ANEMPROU SYNAPSE

Heart surgery. 5-Day Plans. Intensive Care. Health Education. wing with sixty-four beds was opened. acute care hospital. The emphasis is upon Finance for this came wholly from the estate prevention and rehabilitation. This orienta- of a former patient, Barkley Grenville Bell, a tion has been the strength of the Warburton retired engineer with no surviving relatives. centre in the past, and also secures its future lie wished to acknowledge the kindness in the health-care services of the church and shown him in the form of a lasting and community. worthwhile memorial. In the nine decades since Seventh-day The Warburton Sanitarium at this time was Adventists began medical work in Aus- performing a dual function. The nursing tralasia, great changes have taken place in staff under such matrons as Nita d'Ray and the world of health and medicine. The Edna Mitchell cared equally for guests acceleration of knowledge and technology visiting the institution for rest and recreation has been remarkable. Not forsaking their and those who were ill. principles and basic spiritual objectives, In 1965 Dr S. A. Kotz took up duties as Seventh-day Adventist health-care centres Division Medical secretary and brought with have adapted their practices and updated him the concept of health education and their facilities to keep pace with these preventive medicine, not only for church developments. When the Sydney Sanitarium members, but for the public at large. His was about to be established, the party ideas influenced the direction of develop- inspecting the property travelled there by ment at Warburton considerably. He and horse and buggy; in 1983 an injured patient Pastor John Keith, chairman of the Warbur- was brought to its successor, the Sydney ton board, planned the establishment of Adventist Hospital, by helicopter. This is specialty clinics. Accordingly, one of the symbolic of the rate of change at this medical officers, Dr Errol Thrift, com- institution. In 1903, the resident physician menced overseas training in rheumatology depended almost solely on ear, hand and and rehabilitation the following year. After eye. Now doctors are assisted by sophisti- studying European health programs he cated X-ray technology such as CT and returned as medical director and estab- nuclear scanners, ultra-sound apparatus, lished specialty clinics in Warburton and laboratory tests, stress electrocardiograms Melbourne. A few years later he was joined in and cardiac catheterisation. Remarkable this work by Dr Raymond Chapman, a techniques enable the diagnostician to physician returning from mission service in inspect many internal organs by direct Pakistan. Several staff doctors long remem- vision. bered in the district include Drs John Less spectacular, but as relevant, has Letham, Calvin Palmer, Bert McLaren (who been the extension of the methods of had the distinction of serving for three physical therapy. The change from the use periods interspersed with mission appoint- of the electric light box to the popular sauna ments), and Percy Harrold. and spa does not represent a remarkable For the past fifteen years regular health technological change, and the massage of education courses have brought hundreds tight and strained muscles remains an of people wishing to improve their lifestyle important aid to recovery. But high- and health to the Health Care Centre. The frequency rays penetrating deep into mus- fine three-level health education wing cular tissue have substantially replaced the provides excellent facilities for those who fomentation cloth, just as cooking has seen attend. Each week of the month a different the development of the microwave. Much of program (stop smoking, stress manage- the work of nurses early in the life of ment, weight-control and physical fitness) is Adventist sanitariums was in the treatment available. Guests may also choose between rooms. Today it is the physiotherapist who an unstructured program and formal fulfils the physician's instructions in the courses in health enhancement. The ongo- application of specialised physical therapy ing alcohol recovery program has resulted in techniques. the rehabilitation of over 100 alcoholics of Developments in surgery have been both sexes and from all walks of life. These spectacular. Spinal surgery enables those various activities provide an introductory who suffer pain and disability through and backup service for a holistic outreach accident or attrition to revert to normal life; ministry by local conference churches. corneal grafts which restore eyesight are The Health Care Centre and Hospital is performed regularly; bypass surgery gives unique in that it continues to operate as at its new lease of life to those with circulatory inception, with a Health Care Centre impairment. While the removal of tumours is considerably larger than the associated not always the complete answer to cancer,

92 the skilful application of a combination of accepted the administrative duties of methods has increased cure-rates signific- superintendent. Excellence in every en- antly. In recent years a very high degree of deavour was the hallmark of his work and specialisation has developed in medical leadership. During and after the war years he practice. Hospitals accredit for particular became one of Sydney's particularly emi- functions only those doctors who are nent surgeons. Other names long to be appropriately qualified and experienced in remembered from this period include the their fields. brother-sister team of Allan Forbes (man- What is true of the practice of surgery is of ager) and Rita Rowe (matron). In time the course also true of medicine. Highly double responsibilities of principal surgeon specialised services have been developed in and administrator became excessive, and Dr the fields of gastroenterology, cardiology, Tulloch chose to concentrate on his chosen renal medicine and geriatrics. For decades profession. In 1968 he was succeeded in the hospital has operated a pharmacy, one administration by Dr Herbert Clifford, a of the few found within private hospitals in British surgeon with administrative and Australia. Its activities are now highly surgical experience, who at that time was developed and include the preparation of engaged in Southern Africa. Other members sophisticated solutions for intravenous of the team that was to lead the hospital into nutrition and cancer therapy. These are a new phase of development were George examples only of the range and develop- Laxton (hospital secretary) and Drs Calvin ment of the hospital's clinical services. The Palmer and James Price, with Rita Rowe still institution has also had a flourishing matron. obstetric practice for many decades. In this By the 1960s it was abundantly clear that a connection the names of Audrey Mitchell more extensive building development than and Phyllis Yettie, two recently retired anything formerly undertaken would have to midwives, whose work "spanned the genera- be attempted if the Sanitarium was to tions," will long be remembered. continue to provide up-to-date health care When Dr Charles Harrison from the United and its nurse-training program. Long wings States became superintendent of the Sydney at right angles to the original building had Sanitarium in 1926, he was considered been added, together with a surgical block highly competent as both physician and and nurses' residences. But the main surgeon by the standards of his time. His building needed upgrading to modern impact on the "San" was immense, for he hospital standards. A new hospital was combined with his clinical skills the ability to called for. teach and to minister to the spiritual needs An adequate building would stretch of staff and patients alike. The Charles denominational finances to the limit. De- Harrison Home for the Aged at Cooranbong tailed research and planning was underta- commemorates his work. ken by a Division-appointed building com- During World War II the development of mittee. An efficient building of the size the Sydney Sanitarium might well have required to meet new demands for nurse- come to an abrupt halt; it was very nearly training had to be considered in the context commandeered by the Allied authorities of local council regulations. The Sanitarium under their special powers. Although the site is an elevated one, said to be the highest church would gladly have contributed in any in the greater Sydney area. Would the humanitarian way to the war effort, and did proposed ten-storey building set a prece- indeed do so through many avenues, the dent, leading to a concrete jungle in a mind of the Government changed and the garden suburb? Some thought so. During identity of the hospital was preserved. It is 1970 the Municipal Council deliberations fervently believed by those who were continued week after week, until it was involved that this was a specific intervention feared that at that time of accelerating of Providence in response to devotion and inflation, any further delay might jeopardise prayer. It is certainly open to conjecture the rebuilding altogether. whether it would ever have been possible to At a critical time in the delicate negotia- pick up the severed threads to make a new tions, one councillor proved to be an start had the takeover occurred, not to indispensable facilitator. He had been a mention the interruption of nurse training prisoner during World War II, and along with and other special programs. many others who subsisted on a diet of In 1956 Dr Allan Tulloch, who had joined polished rice, developed beri-beri. He owed the Sanitarium staff during the Harrison era the recovery of his strength and sight to and who had become its chief surgeon, Marmite, thoughtfully despatched to prison

93 Training class, Sydney Adventist Hospital, 1983.

The old windows, "Sydney Sanitarium." Below: Sydney Adventist Hospital staff in overseas The chapel stained-glass display. service.

94 camps by the Australian Red Cross. Marmite 1983 The opening of a CT Scanning is, of course, manufactured by the Centre. Sanitarium Health Food Company, the 1984 Operating Theatre Extension from Sanitarium's sister organisation, and is rich six to seven theatres, with a new in thiamine, the anti-beri-beri factor. The recovery room and other adjacent support of this one-time prisoner, now an facilities. Commencement of ex- influential councillor, enabled the plans to tensions to the Nursing School. be passed as presented. Redesign at this stage would have been costly not only in Thus through the years the Sydney terms of money, but in terms of time and Adventist Hospital has sought to fulfil the function also. goal of clinical excellence. At the same time Toward the end of rebuilding in 1973, to a special sensitivity for caring for all in the amazement of the business world, the physical or spiritual need has been nurtured prestigious firm carrying out the construc- and cultivated. A comparatively routine tion was suddenly declared insolvent. Other incident at the hospital testifies to this. of the firm's projects, proceeding simultan- One Saturday morning a small boy eously, suffered financial loss and long crushed the pulp of his finger in a car door. delay. On our site, to their great credit, a He was taken to a hospital where the mother party of workers from the firm formed was advised that the operating theatres were themselves into a team and finished the closed. The condition was described as building almost on schedule. The enlarged "minor," and the mother told to bring the and rebuilt hospital was to have a bed child to the regular clinic on Monday. In a capacity of 304. It was opened and renamed desperate search for help, because a painful The Sydney Adventist Hospital by His haematoma was collecting, mother and boy Excellency the Governor of New South came to the Adventist hospital. The nurse on Wales, Sir Roden Cutler, on June 10, 1973. duty responded by calling a doctor; within a Immense development has continued un- very short time a theatre was prepared and impeded from that time, as this list of major the condition relieved by a small incision. innovations shows: This is really no more than might be 1973 Commencement of a Volunteer expected or, for that matter, demanded. Auxiliary. What is significant is that the family first 1974 Establishment of a Health Educa- avoided the Sydney Adventist Hospital, tion Department, operating the believing it not to "work on Saturdays." In a following programs: Stop Smok- letter of tribute to the hospital, the mother ing (5-Day Plan), Fitness, Nutrition, disclosed with some candour how the Trimnastics, Executive Health As- family's view of Adventists had changed. She sessment, Weight Control, Stress now knew them to be a "people of love as Management. well as law." 1976 Opening of the Radiotherapy and This type of experience could occur• Oncology (cancer treatment) anywhere. No human institution is exempt Clinic. from failure and oversight. Commitment to serve is, however, fundamental to the 1978 Commencement of a medical Adventist ethic and is responsible as much residency program for doctors. as scientific excellence and lifestyle de- Accreditation by the Australian velopment for the influence of the worldwide Council of Hospital Standards— Seventh-day Adventist health enterprise. the first private hospital in New Important developments in New Zealand South Wales to receive this recog- almost coincided with the redevelopment of nition. the Sydney Sanitarium. In 1974 a sixty- 1979 Commencement of advanced car- seven-bed acute care hospital was opened diac investigation and open-heart on a premium site in the suburb of St surgery. Heliers, overlooking two of Auckland's great 1980 In association with Avondale Col- waterways. Like Adventist hospitals lege, Cooranbong, the com- everywhere there is a strong chaplaincy mencement of the Diploma of team and attractive health-education prog- Applied Science (Nursing) course. rams. Now, just ten years later, enlargement The first graduates received their to 110 beds is in planning. The first officers diplomas in July 1983. of the institution were Dr Ray Swannell 1981 The establishment of an Ultra- (medical director), June Ivey (matron) and sound Department. Maxwell Mitchell (hospital secretary). The

95 Reunions are popular events each year. 1956 Sydney Sanitarium graduation.

School of Nursing administration. Facilities second to none.

Nurse training in Atoifi, Solomon Islands.

96 present officers (1985) are Dr Allan advantage being of the order of five years' Laughlin, Jude Michel and Mr Richard Milne. additional life. A recent survey undertaken in THE ADVENTIST HEALTH ETHOS Sydney (Webster and Rawson, 1979) out- lines many benefits for Adventists in the It is not unfair to expect that Seventh-day qualitative aspects of life also. Depression, Adventists should themselves take most sleeplessness and the use of psychotropic notice of the principles of healthful living drugs were all significantly less frequent which they advocate. Over the past twenty than in the general population. In only three years some sixty studies have been con- of ninety-eight items and one of twenty-five ducted and published on the health of measurements were Adventists "inferior" to Seventh-day Adventists. While the emphasis their neighbours, and these were predomin- has naturally varied among the different antly in the admittedly annoying but studies, the general outcome has not. The comparatively benign field of allergy. following table (Lemon and Waldan, 1966) The authors concluded their paper with illustrates the contrast between the health of the following remarks2: Californian Adventists and that of the We have demonstrated that in this defined general community. community, prevention of a number of disease categories is effective. Consequently, it is suggested AGE-SPECIFIC MORTALITY OF SEVENTH- that the manifestations of chronic disease can be DAY ADVENTIST MEN MEASURED AGAINST reduced by lessening the age impairment of health EXPECTED LEVELS GIVEN AS 100% 1 which is related to lifestyle. Emulation, if not CONDITION replication, of Adventist lifestyle may result in ACTUAL LEVEL significant personal and community health benefits. Cancer 49% Adventists seem also to have a sense of personal lschaemic Heart Disease 45% worth, reinforced by belonging to an accepting and Respiratory Disease 32% caring community. . . . Accidents 55% All Causes 50% F. R. Lemon and R. T. Waldan, Report in J. Amer. Med. Association, October 10, 1966. Statistics derived from Australian research I. W. Webster and G. K. Rawson, Health Status of are very similar. They tell us that Adventists Seventh-day Adventists, Med. J. Australia, 1979, die later than their neighbours, their 1:417-420.

97

CubRANI3,2. Star 41.. MARX-RM. s- CARRARA. A, °MCI: , 4. AMINO As FACTORY • GOODS R. TOURS

AUSTRALASIAN E 000 RESEARCH LABORATORIES

IA, PLANT reVEIOPYENTVlStON

of. Ellen White called the health food work to be one of the early "greats" of the "The property of God." Those four words are Sanitarium Health Food Company. Fisher recorded in the sentence that precedes the was a devout Christian, a Seventh-day much better known one which says, "It is Adventist who believed he saw in the health God's gift to His people, and the profits are food business a divine calling. to be used for the good of suffering But who would buy the wares, transported humanity everywhere." across the water, and stored in the corner of Some may feel it paradoxical to say in one a small publishing house? The answer breath that something is the property of God seemed to be "no one" except the staff of the and in the next that it is God's gift to His publishing house. Who else had heard of people. Yet a few moments' thought will these health biscuits and other gastronomic convince the most perfunctory reader that concoctions? Reason suggested that the the two thoughts are in apposition rather thing was doomed to failure before it got off than opposition. Today, God's-property- the ground. The amazing thing is that the which-is-also-a-gift is a gentle giant of which publishing house staff didn't listen to every Australasian Adventist has a right to be reason. That very year they began to talk humbly proud; humbly, because we cannot seriously about making health foods right claim credit for the phenomenal growth of here in the Antipodes. And they did exactly this great company; proud, because it is a what Adventists have done since the dawn of case of "What hath God wrought for this their history: they formed a committee to small-in-numbers people?" discuss the matter. This eager group of It was Ellen White who suggested the embryonic health food magnates soon beginnings of an industry that makes its located a bakehouse—also in North mark on all six continents; it has been the Fitzroy—which they duly registered on April inspiration for recent similar ventures in 27, 1898. South America, Africa and Asia. The year it Within a short time, these men were began was 1893; the place was Brighton, negotiating for an experienced baker to Victoria; the occasion was the first Sunday come from the United States. As soon as it afternoon of a Seventh-day Adventist was possible, a Mr E. C. Halsey arrived from camp-meeting. Ellen White, at the time Battle Creek, USA, and began making his about halfway through her Australasian Granola and Caramel Cereal, advertised as sojourn, gave a powerful address. In it she "a deliciously flavoured Health Drink, to ranged over the various aspects of Adventist substitute for tea or coffee." It was further work: evangelical, publishing and medical described as "a harmless beverage, free missionary. In the last-named, she included from all deleterious and poisonous proper- some views on the establishment of health ties." There was nothing wrong with Halsey's food and restaurant work. So the acorn was products; the only problem was that planted; no one could then envisage the notwithstanding the advertising, very few mighty oak to which it would grow. people wished to buy them. The hearers were understandably dis- The minutes of the Health Foods Commit- mayed. No one had any money nor yet the tee of this early period reflect the rather requisite know-how; no one knew how to parlous state of affairs. From the report of make health foods; no one was obviously the meeting held March 17, 1898, this rather endowed with marketing skills; no one had ominous sentence is extracted: the faintest inkling where all the expertise or, . . . the Chair presented the results of certain tests in the bakery to determine the present cost of for that matter, the finance, would come manufacturing Caramel Cereal and Granola, to from. But they began anyway; not in determine the present capacity of the bakery, also manufacture, initially, but as importers and the profits on the present business, providing the distributors. In 1897 they received, as a gift, goods can be sold. (Emphasis ours.) twenty cases of health foods from Battle Clearly, it was felt that the market for the Creek, Michigan. The contents were mainly new foods about to flood the market at nine biscuits, but included Granola, Gluten and a pence a pound for Caramel Cereal and six now long-forgotten coffee substitute called pence a pound for Granola was hardly Caramel Cereal. The entire stock was buoyant. The same minutes also noted, trundled off to the Echo Publishing Com- "That Freddie Williams be paid one shilling a pany in North Fitzroy and stored in the day or 11/2 pence an hour," which suggests packing department of the printing estab- that Freddie Williams would not have had to lishment. pay much income tax that year. But that was The young man in charge of the packing the way of things in the nineties of last department was George S. Fisher, who was century; a depression was stalking the land,

100 and Freddie was doubtless grateful for his Victoria to New South Wales. There was still five shillings a week to take home to mother. no problem about manufacturing; it was the At that very time of crisis, Ellen White came marketing that was fraught with every along again with timely counsel. "Take this conceivable difficulty. The main outlets were operation to the newly established school at the Tract Societies, the precursors of the Avondale," she suggested, "and connect it Adventist Book Centres, and these were with the educational work. The students will hardly the contemporary version of benefit from the employment, and the present-day supermarkets. business will prosper." Of course, there were To add to the problems, in January 1901, astute men at hand who saw immediately Halsey was transferred to New Zealand, that this was the wrong way to go. Because where he set up that country's manufactur- they knew a thing or two about business— ing of health foods in a small building much more than Ellen White—they opposed behind the old Christchurch Sanitarium. the move heartily. However, Mrs White's Today, the Sanitarium Health Food Com- counsel prevailed and the health food work pany's large and modern factory stands on was duly moved to the site on Dora Creek, the site of that first, tiny venture into New Cooranbong. Zealand's manufacture and commerce. At first it appeared that the move had Fortunately, Halsey was one of those merely transferred the problems from meticulous people who kept a diary of his doings, and equally fortunately, that diary remains with us to this day. His daily jottings make fascinating reading, revealing how he diversified his tasks, ignoring such trifles as demarcation of workloads. Here are a couple of random extracts taken from that historic volume: June 15, 1902: Roasted a batch of wheat. Ground Caramel Cereal. Kept fire in boiler. June 16: Made Caramel Cereal and did some grinding. June 19: Made one batch of Caramel Cereal. Let the water out of the boiler and got it ready for inspection. The inspector was up. There was variety, however, on June 30, as this entry indicates: June 30: Used an oil stove to keep the bread warm. It did not work well today and set the box on fire. Soon put it out. And there were troubles in the Quality GEORGE SEPTIMUS FISHER (1872-1947) Control Department, as witness: August 28: Am not having any success with bread While ever the Sanitarium Health Food Company lately. Am not sure where the trouble is, whether the remains, the name of George Fisher will hold an flour or yeast or both. honoured place. Known affectionately in his later years Then there was trouble with the law. Notice: as "Daddy Fisher," he deserves to be considered as September 5: The Police were over to the San to see father of that organisation. why we had not got a certificate for the boiler. Bro. He was originally a seafaring man who, on becoming Amyes called to see if I knew anything about it. I did an Adventist, worked in the fledgling Echo Publishing not. Company in Melbourne. When that company began September 6: The Police called to see me about importing health foods from America, he took an running the boiler without a certificate. interest in this new concern, nursing it through its darkest days and, with Ellen White, resisting the threat Unfortunately, the diary does not reveal on the part of its principals to close it down. whether he was fined or imprisoned for this He travelled thousands of kilometres by boat and non-compliance with the law. train to promote its interests. In spite of difficult times, People were also a problem back in those his vision, his fortitude, his astuteness, his plain days, as is revealed by the entry for October old-fashioned hard work brought it prosperity in the end. 9, 1902: This indomitable man managed the whole enterprise The San folks borrowed my horse and trap for a and the Sydney Sanitarium at the same time for a picnic at Sumner yesterday. As they did not bring tne period. He did not falter when personal sorrow, the loss horse back, I had to walk to work this morning. of both his only son and his wife, in a six-month period, About three miles. Was a little late. swept over him. Meanwhile, back in Australia, church It is said that the Sanitarium Health Food Company workers remembered that they had also never removed his name from the Board of Manage- ment even in his declining years. It was their been advised to open restaurants. Accord- reasonable tribute. ingly, in 1902, a small shop was opened in

101 Northcote, Victoria, 1893—the first factory. The original factory in New Zealand at Papanui.

Auckland factory.

The Warburton factory—and truck. Christchurch factory.

102 Cooranbong factory. Auckland head office and factory.

Christchurch factory, famous for its gardens.

Head office, Wahroonga, Sydney. Palmerston North factory.

103 the Royal Arcade in Sydney. It was a success, boards. and emboldened by this, the men at the top They were able, also, to buy a hand-cart, determined to take a plunge. They rented and it was a common thing to see such men two adjoining shops in Pitt Street near Park as A. W. Cormack, E. B. Rudge (a later Union Street for £10 a week and thus began the Conference president), L. J. Imrie, and shop-and-restaurant business. George Fisher himself, trundling the cart In 1904, George Fisher left the Echo loaded with vegetables along Pitt Street in Publishing Company and joined the health the early hours of the morning. food work as a full-time worker. "The About this time they were having difficulty outlook was not at all promising," he wrote in paying their accounts, and a prayer later. "The factory at Cooranbong," he said, meeting was held to help them determine "was in debt to the Sydney Sanitarium and what should be done. The outcome was that Benevolent Association to the extent of the workers decided to take a cut in wages. £5,000, a large amount in those days. The Many years later, Fisher wrote: "All fell in with cafe-and-retail shop was losing about £20 a this plan, and thus helped the work over a week, and the wholesale store then located critical period. The Lord honoured this in Clarence Street was only just about sacrifice by increasing our patronage sales." making ends meet. Many committee meet- Then an event half a world away brought ings were held, and it looked at times as prosperity to the fledgling company. Upton though the whole business would have to Sinclair, one of the most respected and close. Many of the leaders expressed popular writers of the day, scathingly and themselves as being in favour of closing responsibly attacked, in his book The down, fearing the results if they attempted to Jungle, the unhygienic methods of the continue. . . ." It was hardly an auspicious Chicago meat-packing houses, the cruelty to beginning. How easy it would have been to the animals, and the horrors of working apply the logic of "Why throw good money conditions for the employees. This pro- after bad?" and walk away from the whole duced a reaction throughout the Western thing! Fortunately there were some who world, and even in Sydney, a considerable were positive thinkers; they believed that number of people turned away from eating God was in this thing, and they had no right flesh foods and found their way into the to close down what would be beneficial to Vegetarian Cafe. Like all such negative His work. Thus the pathetic little business publicity, the whole thing quickly subsided, was continued against apparently insupera- but many of the new-found customers ble odds. remained with the health food institution. Someone with a keen eye noticed that the Strangely, the bulk of the patronage came main problem with the shop was its position. from men. Very few women were seen at the Accordingly, it was agreed to shift, and counters, buying the specialised products. eventually a basement was found in the Several of the men, however, implored the Royal Chambers, at the corner of management to do something which would Castlereagh and Hunter Streets. Earlier in its interest their wives in health foods and their history, this new site had been used as a preparation. Cooking classes were therefore Cobb and Co's Coach stable, and Fisher commenced. But though some ladies came, described it as being "in a very dilapidated there was by no means a mass conversion to condition." However, the place was reno- vegetarianism. However, while progress was vated and served acceptably for fourteen slow, there was progress. Every day, the years. dining room was filled with satisfied A restaurant was opened in March 1904, customers who told their friends about the with a patronage of between sixty and superior quality of the meals. Soon there seventy people each day. Things, however, was hardly enough space to accommodate were not easy. Money was in short supply, the upsurge of patronage, and more room and when the leaders of the Health Food was urgently required. Company approached the Union Conference Next door was a Catholic repository where for a loan or donation of £50 for the the owner purveyed statues, pictures, and purchase of floor coverings, they were Catholic books to the populace. Fisher paid turned down on the grounds that there was this kindly man several visits, became very no money available. Undismayed, they friendly with him and at length explained his determined that there would be something need for more space, "Might it be possible to on the floors; strict economies were en- have your shop?" Surprisingly, this coopera- forced and coconut matting runners were tive fellow agreed, moved out, and secured eventually purchased to cover the bare premises elsewhere in the city, giving the

104 vegetarian cafe space for about thirty more loaded to its utmost capacity with gold sovereigns. customers. It should be added, however, On one of the sails was printed the well-known words, "The isles shall wait for Thy law." In an that much prayer and discussion went on at appropriate speech, Mr. Fisher, on behalf of the cafe the committee level to bring this progressive workers, presented this ship, with its golden cargo, move to pass. to the writer for the island missions. It was found that By 1906, things were moving along with the value of the cargo amounted to £25. encouraging momentum. The health foods The suddenness of the surprise nearly took away the breath of the writer, but we managed to express our were becoming better known; the factory thankfulness to the happy-faced cafe family for the was moving from the red to the black; handsome gift. Adventists were becoming more health The following year was the beginning of conscious; and members of the general expansion. Melbourne was selected as the public were increasingly aware of the need next city to be "invaded" by the shop-and- for better foods. cafe work, and, though there seemed no When the new dining room was ready for suitable location, Fisher, who was in the business, someone dreamed up the idea southern metropolis especially to locate a that it would be an excellent means of suitable venue, discovered what was publicity if they were to make the occasion thought to be just the right place. Later, very special. Accordingly, invitations were when the original building was sold, they sent out to all the Sydney Adventist churches shifted to Little Collins Street, and occupied to attend a meeting at the enlarged cafe. premises there until 1958, when that About 100 people attended. Before the building was demolished. business of the evening was commenced, Melbourne was followed by Adelaide, then however, there was a dinner provided; it was Brisbane and Perth. In New Zealand, the cafe a triumph of planning and expertise. Every work was established in Auckland, Wel- dish was prepared from Australian-made lington and Christchurch. These, with the health foods. The guests were very impres- little shop conducted by Arthur Brandstater sed. This was followed by a program at the Christchurch Sanitarium, served planned and presented by the cafe workers. notice that the Health Food work was And then came the magical moment: invading New Zealand and any who, at that Twenty-five golden sovereigns were handed time, were inclined to scoff at such an over by Fisher to Pastor Gates, then ingenuous group trying to change the superintendent of Mission Fields. It was the breakfast eating habits of New Zealanders first such contribution to the work of the would have found general support. Rolled church that the health food work had ever oats, oatmeal and semolina were the made. mainstays of the breakfast table in those Gates's description of the proceedings, as days, and the homes of oatmeal-eating reported in the Australasian Record, - Scots of the South Island might well have tured the atmosphere of the occasion: looked askance at the little newcomer. A few days ago there arrived in Sydney a ship loaded Today, that cheeky newcomer is the giant with gold sovereigns for missions. It happened on this wise: The new extension of the Pure Food Cafe among the breakfast-food manufacturers in was dedicated on 19 August. After an excellent New Zealand, and its three large factories dinner had been served to about 100 guests, all work around the clock to give every New adjourned to the new room and listened to some Zealander the best foods that money can good music and the reading of interesting papers by different members of the cafe staff of helpers. At the buy. conclusion of these exercises, Mr Fisher, the The second decade of the new century saw manager of the cafe, read the following recommen- the rapid growth of the health food work. Up dation, passed by the Union Conference Council in to the end of 1908, the management of the Melbourne last September: Cooranbong health food factory had been in "That we recommend our various conference committees and managing boards of our institu- the hands of the faculty and Board of tions to consider the advisability of giving each year, Management of the Australasian Missionary from the ordinary income of these conferences and College, now Avondale College. But the institutions, a donation towards foreign mission expansion of the work was such that this work." Mr Fisher then stated that the cafe family had been arrangement had become onerous. C. W. making an effort to carry out this recommendation, Irwin, who had had the oversight of the and that all had united in practising economy in management of the college and its factory, various ways in order to save something for the was returning to America, so the factory was island missions. handed over to the Sanitarium Health Food At the conclusion of his remarks, he lifted a covering which concealed some object on the table, and Company in Sydney. It proved to be a very revealed to the gaze of all in the room a miniature wise move. The same period saw the ship, made of pearl-shell from keel to top-mast, erection of new buildings and more com-

105 A selection of old packs and labels.

106 modious premises in many areas, all was a Federal minister of the day, the indications of expansion. Minister for Munitions. He saw to it that The holocaust of the Great War brought commodities in short supply were channel- further growth to the Sanitarium Health led to the company, which was making basic Food Company, though there were prob- foodstuffs for the civil and military popula- lems which, at times, seemed insuperable. tion. On one occasion, when tins were Prices of wheat rocketed and hit the, then, needed for the cereal coffee Kwic-Bru, there astronomical level of twelve shillings a was no tin plate to be had. The Minister saw bushel. However, the value of the flake- to it that the company received just enough biscuit, Granose, was well appreciated by tin for its needs. However, it somewhat some in high places, and many of the troops rocked the management when one gentle- sampled Granola for the first time. Indeed, man who had bought a tin of the cereal several consignments of this splendid food coffee brought back the empty container were sent to the Australian and New Zealand and showed them what was printed on the troops in Europe. A friend of the company inside. There, for all to see, were the words MUST DIE. Apparently the tin-plate container had originally been intended for a pest- control company's product. Fortunately, the gentleman who bought the "must-die" Kwic-Bru was not without a sense of humour, and mockingly asked the man- agement's permission not to die just then. Today, perhaps, he would have sought professional opinion with a view to legal action because of mental distress. In 1908 Marmite practically fell into the hands of the Sanitarium Health Food Company—at least, that is how it appears. Fisher had become friendly with one of the regular customers of the restaurant and health food shop. One day, this gentleman mentioned that he had recently returned from Europe and England, and had brought some samples with him. lie invited Fisher to GEORGE THOMAS CHAPMAN (1896-1982) come to his office to inspect them, even though he, himself, had not gone through George Chapman is almost a perfect example of a them as yet and did not know what was man who can "rise through the ranks" in the service of the church to become one of its leading administrators. actually there. The S.H.F. man found Of Western Australian farming stock, he attended nothing to interest him until he came to the church school and the Darling Range School (now last sample. It was Marmite, but he had Carmel College). He became an employee of the never heard of it. However, the label had Sanitarium Health Food Company, becoming succes- sively storeman and lift attendant, accountant, and been badly torn and underneath there was after a brief period as an auditor, department secretary another wrapping on the jar and he could (chief executive) of that organisation. see the word VEGETABLE. Chapman piloted the company through the difficult Fisher took the small jar to his office and years of the Great Depression, watching it grow at a sampled the product. It is thus reasonable to period when many businesses went to the wall. He combined insight and managerial expertise, with a believe that George Fisher was the first strong faith and trust in God. He reorganised sales person in Australia to taste this valuable methods, and began a building program believed by vegetable extract. It seemed that the many to be visionary. Extensions to buildings erected "too-much-spoils-the-flavour" spread would in his time have given the lie to his critics. In 1936 he was called to the United States to apply his have an appeal; he therefore lodged an skills to the production and distribution of Loma Linda order with the merchant to indent twenty Foods, a task which he continued until his retirement in pounds' worth of it. Marmite was on its way 1962. to the Australasian palate, and it is still there. When he died in 1982 the Sanco News provided this Eventually, after a hiatus during the Great accolade: "George Chapman grew in stature with the years. . . . He learned to keep silent when words would War when the British Government comman- wound a fellow worker; to be patient when moved to deered all the supplies, to be used as a impatience, to be deaf to destroying scandal, and secret weapon against Germany, Marmite, through it all emerged the courageous respected leader again thanks to Fisher's personal negotia- without peer in the denomination's food work." tion, came into the Sanitarium Health Foods'

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An extract from the diary of Mr E. C. Halsey, 1900. Some protein products.

1 08 hands as the sole agents. That situation in New Zealand. remained until World War II. Now, Marmite is In the thirties, forties and early fifties, in made locally. spite of the intervention of World War II, the Sunday, March 31, 1918, marked an physical plant of the Health Food Company historic date in the health food operation. expanded out of recognition and is still The first-ever Health Food Convention was continuing to do so. In those years factories held at Wahroonga, Sydney. Fisher noted were built or bought in all capital cities of that the meeting had to be kept to one day Australia. This came about because during because the Sydney Royal Easter Show was the war, interstate goods transport was all on; the company had an exhibit there, and but impossible. Factories were also estab- the delegates just had to see it. lished, or the existing ones expanded, in One of the most significant moves that the New Zealand at Auckland, Palmerston North Sanitarium Health Food Company made was and Christchurch. In the mid-seventies, the to acquire the business known as Grain Health Food Company has looked toward Products in 1928. The details are fascinat- the Pacific islands. At present there are ing. In the early twenties, four men, Arthur tentative plans to establish a factory in Shannon (who owned a brick and tile works Papua New Guinea. at Wentworthville, west of Sydney, and who Some notable names must be mentioned put up the money), Ben Osborne, Norman in connection with the expansion of the Jeffes and Fred Footes commenced manu- Health Food Company. We have already facturing flake biscuits in Sydney. Mr seen something of the sterling work of Shannon was a member of the Stanmore George Fisher; without his expertise, vision Seventh-day Adventist church and was the and tenacity, it is doubtful whether the work financial entrepreneur behind the develop- would have prospered as it did. But when ment of Grain Products. Osborne and Jeffes age crept up on the Grand Old Man of the were responsible for the actual production Health Food Company, others were there to and distribution of the goods. So far as can take over. Men such as George Chapman, be ascertained, Osborne was the general who negotiated the Grain Products transfer, manager while Jeffes was the factory George Adair, Carl Ulrich, Andrew Dawson, manager. Footes was almost certainly the Bertram Johanson, Wilfred Kilroy, Frank foreman of the factory in Leichardt, Sydney. Craig and Cameron Myers have held the It is also believed that the idea of a position of general manager—now manag- sweetened, malted biscuit was first discus- ing director. Under each succeeding leader sed at a camp-meeting in Sydney about the steady progress has been maintained. 1922, and Shannon was involved in those In today's economic climate the public discussions. By 1927 there was a very good clamour is for new and more taste-titillating business in train, and the company's two products. Nevertheless, the slogan, main products, Weet-Bix and Cerix Puffed "Sanitarium, the people who believe that Wheat, were taking increasing slices of the food should not only taste good, but that it breakfast-food market. However, Shannon should be good for you," has been no empty was not averse to having an offer made for catchcry. While others have loaded their the business, which had also branched out products with sugar, even to coating the into New Zealand. In 1928, the Sanitarium flakes of wheat and maize with sugar Health Food Company acquired the Weet-Bix frosting, our leaders have remembered that side of Cereal Products, and the following we have more than a product to sell—we also year Cerix Puffed Wheat was taken over. have a health message to give—and they Later, the Weet-Bix making was transferred have kept to the guidelines of their slogan. to Cooranbong, and Puffed Wheat manufac- Thus we have seen them turning away from ture to the Lewisham factory, which situation the temptation to coax the jaded public remains to this day. palate with products inconsistent with our A minute on the S.H.F. books indicates principles. It is not an idle boast to say that that Shannon had accepted the S.H.F. offer the Sanitarium Health Food Company is well for his Cerix business for the sum of respected in the marketplace; it is a strong £26,148. However, the legal formalities to competitor for the shopper's dollar; it is wind up Grain Products as a company, and foremost in its desire to keep up the quality those to have the S. H.F. take over all aspects of its products, and its rapport with the trade of the business, lasted until April 5, 1932. is maintained with no yielding of principles Today, Weet-Bix remains the single most or lowering of standards. popular breakfast food on the Australian We live in a highly competitive age. No market, and is by far the top seller in its field longer can an excellent product be marketed

109

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AUSTRALASIAN FOOD RESEARCH LABORATORIES A DIVISION Of SANITAMOM HEALTH FOOD COMPANY ILESIAI.CII AND DLYCLOtMINT LASOAATORY

The early food laboratory. Australasian Food Research Laboratories, Cooranbong.

The first traveller's car The Adelaide way. The present fleet is distinctive. in New South Wales.

HEALTH FOOD CENTRE

Auckland shop, early 60s. Rockingham Park shop.

1 1 0 unless it is thoroughly market-researched methods of production necessary, it was before it arrives on the supermarket shelves, decided that an Engineering Department unless it has been backed by the most should be incorporated into the company. sophisticated technology, unless the pro- Accordingly, in 1920, Henry Clifford Tem- duct is attractively, some might even say pest (affectionately but irreverently known to seductively, packaged, unless it is adver- his junior engineers as "Storm") established tised nationally on television and in the such a department. This,, with the rest of the glossy magazines, unless the quality does company, grew until it became a separate not vary so much as a hair's breadth from entity in its own right: the Plant Development one packet to another, unless there is a Division. This invaluable subsidiary to the continuity of supply, unless the price is company designs and/or installs much of competitive, unless, indeed, a thousand the new and regularly updated machinery in other conditions are met. For instance, if you all the factories throughout Australasia. It do not market a new product before goes without saying that there is a tremend- September, you can forget it until February; ous amount of technological expertise the supermarkets must have time to get it within the confines of this aspect of the into their computers before Christmas. company, and the savings that have resulted Such conditions imposed from without from having our own Plant Development demand a highly trained management. Division can well be imagined. For example, Once you might have been able to pluck out the whole process of making Weet-Bix has a George Fisher from his job in a publishing changed through its creative genius from house; not any more. Management must be being predominantly a manual operation to as qualified as the product is sophisticated; being one which is almost fully mechanised. it must be trained, experienced, com- Raw wholegrain wheat enters the system and municating, articulate. Behind it must be emerges as packaged biscuits. scientific technology that is first-rate and Apart from providing the public of innovative. For this reason, long before Australia and New Zealand with healthful many a comparative organisation even food, the Sanitarium Health Food Company thought of it, the Sanitarium Health Food benefits the whole community by providing Company had established the Australasian funds which strongly support the medical, Food Research Laboratories. In 1933, educational and humanitarian and institu- William Leech was called from the United tional work of the Australasian Seventh-day States to establish the Australasian Food Adventist Church. The Sanitarium Health Research Laboratories at Cooranbong. lie Food Company provides a remarkable arrived in 1934 and set about his task with example of that manner of thinking com- typical American enthusiasm. By present mended by our Lord in Luke chapter 16, in standards, his laboratory was limited and that it applies physical resources to spiritual small, even pathetically inadequate. ends. Nevertheless it was a start, and from it there What of the future? Who dare tell that? We grew a modern and strongly staffed organ- are not devotees of the crystal ball. But isation which has not only maintained a surely we have reason to believe that the quality control which is second to none, but same God who has changed a frail babe into has developed new products and upgraded a gentle giant giving material support to the existing and accepted lines. spiritual work of the church will continue to With new and exciting products, with an prosper the Sanitarium Health Food Com- increasing share of the breakfast-food pany as a tool in His service. "If God be for market, and with more sophisticated us, who can be against us?"

111 V.7

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Hannah More, a Protestant missionary in their private resources. They also chose to West Africa, wrote on January 2, 1864: return for a second period of service, Thank God I now see clearly that the seventh day is 1893-1896. Three of the five Corliss children the Sabbath of the Lord my God, and am keeping it died during their parents' terms of mission according to the commandment. Mr Dickson also is keeping it. It is quite singular to keep it here. service in Australia and England. Mendel and I do not know of any others on the [Liberian] coast Lizzie Israel devoted a decade to planting who keep the seventh day. Adventism in the Antipodes, working in such Within months Hannah's new belief in the places as Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania seventh day as the Sabbath estranged her and New Zealand. from her mission society. Described by Ellen So missionary women were there from the White as "this humble missionary whose beginning in Australia. One early, typical whole being was aglow to be engaged in her reference occurs in an 1886 book for which Master's service," an early death silenced Stephen N. Haskell wrote a chapter called Hannah's witness on March 2, 1868. Even "The Australian Mission." Haskell recounts so, in a sense Hannah More is responsible that "on the 10th of May, 1885, Elder Corliss for the first attempt to plant the Seventh-day with his wife and two children, Elder M. C. Adventist Church in Australia, through her Israel and his wife and two children, and convert Alexander Dickson. But his part of Brother H. L. Scott of California, Brother W. the story is told in the first chapter of this Arnold of Michigan, and myself, took volume. passage on the steamer Australia." But, In the early years after the First Fleet although the women were not usually arrived at Sydney Cove in 1788, most of the named in such dispatches except as wives, women in the new colony were marked with records of the Adventist Church which the stain of convictism. The pervasiveness of enable the historian to piece together the the penal system, together with the fact that past were most often kept by them. A many of the free women who came to this minute-book produced by the Review and country were from the poorest classes of Herald Publishing House, with neatly printed England, Scotland and Ireland, has caused preface and headings, carries a careful, some historians to speculate at length on half-page record of each weekly Sabbath the ways in which this heritage may have School meeting. At the first such occasion in influenced Australian concepts of female Australia, held on July 4, 1885, the identity and role. But conditions were membership was ten, the attendance was changing by the last quarter of the listed as 100 per cent, plus one visitor. And nineteenth century: the gold-rush era had the secretary added: "By suggestion of Elder caused the population to treble; the cities Israel, Brother H. Scott was elected superin- were growing in size and importance; tendent and Jessie Israel [daughter of industries were proliferating; a federal Mendel and Lizzie] chosen sec." sentiment was being nurtured. Women were A year later, secretary Jessie Israel kept beginning to gain economic independence, records for a much larger school; her legible to qualify for pensions, maternity allow- handwriting recorded a membership of ances, admission to the professions and the ninety-two on July 3, 1886, an attendance of franchise. eighty-three, with two visitors. Interestingly, Into this dynamic setting came eleven those who were absent were expected to members of the First Fleet of Seventh-day furnish written excuses. A small sheaf of Adventists in 1885, including four children these has been preserved. A typical one and two women: Mrs John Orr Corliss and appears in this copybook hand: Mrs Mendel Crocker Israel. It is easy to imagine Julia Corliss and Lizzie Israel feeling isolated, far distant from their country and loved ones, as they settled in Melbourne. Their husbands were aggressive evangelists, confronting stiff opposition culturally, due to their North American /a.age-r, origins, and doctrinally because of their g Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. With sad hearts, John and Julie Corliss returned to the United States, due to illness, in 1887. But they left behind them earnest converts and a vigorous evangelistic journal, The Bible Echo, which they had helped to fund from

114 Many other missionary women came White referred to her as "my bookmaker." before the turn of the century. Without any Then she asked and answered an important doubt the most significant group set foot in question in a letter dated April 23, 1900: Sydney on December 8, 1891. Nellie Starr Now are my books made? Marian does not put in her accompanied her husband, Pastor George claim for recognition. She does her work in this way: She takes my articles which are published in the Burt Starr, a one-time associate of papers, and pastes them in blank books. She also evangelist Dwight L. Moody. The Starrs were has a copy of all the letters I write. In preparing a to give eighteen years to building up the chapter for a book, Marian remembers that I have church in Australia and New Zealand. They written something on that special point, which may arrived in 1891 in company with a five-foot- make the matter more forcible. She begins to search for this, and if when she finds it, she sees that it will two-inch widow, Ellen Gould White (1827- make the chapter more clear, she adds it. 1915), her son William, and her staff of four The books are not Marian's productions, but my women: Marian Davis, May Walling, Fannie own, gathered from all my writings. Marian has a Bolton and Emily Campbell. large field from which to draw, and her ability to arrange the matter is of great value to me. It saves Although short in physical stature, in her my poring over a mass of matter, which I have no accomplishments Ellen White towered time to do. above all the other Adventist women in the The sterling work of the women who formative years of the church in Australasia. supported Ellen White in her literary role But even so, the women of her staff would have been relatively simple if she had contributed richly to the life of the church in only been an author of books. But beyond their own right. Fannie Bolton was best the several large tomes produced in known as a poet. In the heyday of Henry Australia, Ellen White wrote thousands of Lawson and Andrew Barton (Banjo) Pater- letters and hundreds of articles. Usually The son, her name often appeared at the end of Bible Echo carried an article from her pen in poems in The Bible Echo. Fannie's verses each issue, as did the church's international covered many topics, and they had a quality weeklies, The Signs of the Times and The not always present in the religious verse Advent Review and Sabbath Herald. Fre- found in small church papers. quently Ellen White felt overwhelmed with Ellen White's support-team of Christian the pressures of her office: letters demand- women changed from time to time during ing answers, churches needing visitation, her 105 months in Australia and New speaking appointments, interviews, Zealand. Even relatively new converts joined periodicals requesting articles, institutions what she lovingly called her "family." Marian needing counsel. On October 25, 1894, she Davis provides an apt illustration of the confided to Dr John Harvey Kellogg: important role of these women, a contribu- I am sorry that I have not more literary help. I need tion known mostly through Ellen White's this kind of help so very much. Fannie could help me letters, diaries and articles. a great deal on the book work if she had not so many The work of Marian Davis is best illustrated articles to prepare for the papers, and so many letters and testimonies to edit to meet the demands of my with reference to the 1898 masterpiece The correspondence and the needs of the people. It is of Desire of Ages, Ellen White's crowning no use to expect anything from Marian until the life achievement during her Australian years. of Christ is completed. I wish I could procure another Ellen White had written copiously on many intelligent worker who could be trusted to prepare matter for the press. Such a worker would be of great facets of the life of Christ, especially since value to me. But the question is, Where shall I find 1858, and the publication of the first of her such an one? I am brain weary much of the time. I volumes entitled The Great Controversy, write many pages before breakfast. I rise in the portraying the cosmic conflict between morning at two, three, and four o'clock. Christ and Satan. From diaries, letters, So the women most closely associated articles and books, Marian gleaned every- with Ellen White during her South Pacific thing to do with Jesus and His ministry, ministry shared both her toil and her sense pasted up scrapbooks, and organised of awesome responsibility. The literary chapters. Marian also read books, attended output was hers, even as Solomon's temple Bible classes, and gave suggestions to Ellen was his. Yet the accomplishment was White on topics and content. Like Ellen achieved with the help of many hands, White's other secretaries, she removed shaped by many minds dedicated to the repetitious matter, transposed thoughts, glory of God. honed grammar and punctuation. But The men who pioneered the planting of throughout her toil she kept clearly in mind Adventism in Australia and New Zealand that the thoughts and expressions were included giants of faith like Stephen Haskell, Ellen White's responsibility. Thus it was in Arthur Daniells and William White. There open recognition of Marian's work that Ellen were men skilled in presenting the spoken

115 and written word: John Corliss, Mendel onward. During her nine years living in Israel, Willard Colcord, George Tenney. Melbourne, New Zealand, Sydney and Without their contribution the church would Cooranbong, her work became better have been seriously disadvantaged. But known in these lands at close quarters, and without Ellen White it may not have survived, Ellen White's contemporaries felt a growing or ventured to the South Pacific, at all. sense of participation in the production of Among the reasons why this is so, seven her masterpieces of the nineties: Steps to must be mentioned here. Christ, 1892; Thoughts from the Mount of Adventists remember Ellen White as a Blessing, 1896; The Desire of Ages, 1898; co-founder and sustainer of their denomina- Christ's Object Lessons and Testimonies for tion in its difficult early period. She and her the Church, Volume Six, 1900. Several of contemporaries firmly believed that God these writings best express her contribution had appointed her to a challenging, even in the crowning era of her lifework, from controversial, prophetic role in the new 1888 to 1915. In these years, to quote Dr movement. Historian Gary Land aptly notes Land again, "she turned Adventist attention that "from 1844 to 1863 Ellen White helped toward Christ and prevented the church the sabbatarian Adventists to keep their from pursuing several theological aberra- Advent hope alive and coalesce as a group." tions that had arisen in its midst." Land credits Ellen White, between 1863 But Ellen White the speaker also greatly and 1888, with expanding the Adventist moved the Adventists of the lands "down- understanding of religion to include health under." On her initial journey here, she and education. Among other things she spoke at Auckland, twice in Sydney, and, on visualised and fostered the major institu- arriving in Melbourne, she repeatedly ad- tions which gave form and effectiveness to dressed the 100 leaders assembled there the Adventist movement. Her emphasis on from as far away as New South Wales, health helped to develop continuing hospi- Tasmania and South Australia. For months, tals in Sydney, Warburton and Auckland, and during her 1892 illness, she endured what caused Adventists to plan eleven Sanitarium she called the "humiliation" of having to Health Food factories in places as different speak, even in public halls, seated in a chair. as Christchurch and Cooranbong. Her In New Zealand during 1893, from Kaeo to concern for education was indispensable to Wellington, she spoke in the open air and in the founding and progress of Avondale a variety of church and public buildings. In College and to what became the largest the rough triangle bounded by Hobart, Protestant worldwide parochial school sys- Rockhampton and Adelaide, from 1894 to tem. 1900, she spoke outdoors, in halls, homes Ellen White's sense of mission helped her and churches, but above all at camp- contemporaries grasp the possibility of a meetings. Meditating on the Middle Brighton global work that included Australasia. Her camp-meeting and conference, December vision of Adventist institutions in many 29, 1893, to January 25, 1894, Ellen White countries, including Australia, fired the recorded that she spoke "at length" seven- evangelistic imagination of men like teen times and in addition made several Stephen Haskell and John Corliss. In reality, presentations at ministers' meetings. Ad- it created the impetus that brought the first ventists and the general public joined to official Adventist missionaries to New Zea- make audiences of up to 2,000 persons to land and Australia. On June 20, 1878, Ellen hear her in Ashfield, Armadale, Hobart, White confided to her husband James, by Stanmore, Brisbane, Newcastle, letter, that she would go anywhere, even to Toowoomba, Maitland and Geelong. Thus, Australia if the Lord so directed, little as a public speaker, Ellen White had a thinking He would ever do so. But that formative role in shaping Adventist ethos commitment brought her across the Pacific and mission. in 1891 and caused her to stay until 1900. Ellen White both stimulated and focused The literature of the Adventist community the spirit of reform in the Adventist shaped the thinking of its members and the movement. Especially since 1863, health message of its spokesmen, as well as reform had been an important feature in her reaching potential converts. Ellen White was writings. A natural diet, free of flesh and clearly their most-pqblished author from the excessive condiments, continued to be one outset of the Adventist mission in the South of her emphases in the 1890s. But she also Pacific. The Bible Echo carried her articles, promoted a range of other reforms: in dress, advertised her pamphlets and books, and in abstinence from liquor and tobacco, and quoted her pithiest sayings from 1886 in educational practice. In fact, Ellen White

116 Alma Wiles treating babies in the New Hebrides.

117 epitomised the Adventist determination to of the planned building so that it would transform not only the individual lifestyle, accommodate 400 people. Ellen White but also the substance of religious belief, by preached the sermon on October 16, 1897, a return to Scripture and its principles. This when the new structure was dedicated free of concern for salvation history led to Sabbath debt. So a building erected in less than two reform, and found a natural partnership with months, in a time of comparative depres- the determination to look for and hasten the sion, was to serve for seven decades as the second coming of Christ. Pioneer Adventists main spiritual home for the Adventists of believed their role was to consummate the Cooranbong and its vicinity. Protestant Reformation by preparing a Despite her prominence, however, it is people for the Lord's return. Their reformat- vital to remember Ellen White was by no ory thrust found its most important origin in means the only woman to contribute the mind of Ellen White, and its most intense significantly to the Adventist Church in the expression in her written and spoken Antipodes. The founding mothers of the messages. early years included numerous others, in So Ellen White was remembered as a addition to those already mentioned, who co-founder and sustainer of Seventh-day came from North America and served here Adventism; the principal architect of its with distinction. institutions; the stimulator of its mission; the Miss Eliza J. Burnham invested her first articulator of its message in print and nine years in Australia as a proofreader and spoken word. The reforming nature of the assistant editor of The Bible Echo. Not only movement was paced by her dynamic did Eliza's talents shape the Echo during its spiritual heartbeat. Hers was a decidedly formative early years, her writing made her prophetic role; she was recognised by her well known as a student of Scripture and contemporaries as a modern mouthpiece history. When Eliza transferred to Cooran- for the God of creation and redemption. bong, to "assist Ellen White as amanuensis Thus Ellen White's ministry, in addition to in preparing manuscript for the press," the fulfilling the half-dozen functions already Echo was "sorry to part with so valuable a discussed, formed for the Adventists of the helper." But, it commented: "the work is all South Pacific an archetype, a model par one wherever performed or in whatever line excellence of how their faith should be pursued." Eliza Burnham arrived back in San expressed in human flesh. Her possibility- Francisco on October 22, 1896, together thinking epitomised the inner character of with three Israels—Mendel, Lizzie, Jessie— Adventism; her liberality set the standard for and the widowed Sarah Belden. The Israels' sacrificial giving; her breadth of vision called other daughter, May, left Sydney for her evangelistic ventures into being; her sense homeland on December 21, aboard the of impending crisis focused the Adventist same steamer, Monowai, thus completing a opposition to Sunday laws, trade union chapter of female missionary effort in militancy, and church interference in secular Australasia. affairs; her motherly attributes set the Other women also proved their skill with pattern for Christian people-helping, from the pen. The Woman Suffrage League of New the various Helping Hand Missions to the South Wales declared in 1894 that it chose neighbourly care of the sick and the "to fight the great battle for Equal Rights" destitute. with the pen—"mightier than the sword" and One incident must suffice here as an "lighter to work with." But the Adventist example of Ellen White's influence on the women authors knew no such causes. The Advent movement in Australasia. A church Christian life, the Bible, and the second building was an obvious need in Cooran- coming of Christ were their focus. The Echo bong, to serve both the growing Adventist of September 1, 1890, published "the first of community and the new college. Yet the a series of articles relating to the women of purchase of 1,500 acres and the erection of the Bible" by Mrs A. Muckersy. These articles buildings for dormitory and classroom use worked their way through the Old Testament loomed so large that even pragmatic souls and by 1893, number forty-nine reflected on like Stephen Haskell hesitated to promote "The Scriptural Model Woman." Sub- the idea of building a house of worship. sequently they moved on to such exemplary Hence, it was Ellen White's persistent figures as Mary the mother of Jesus, enthusiasm that brought the idea into sharp Elisabeth, Anna and Peter's wife's mother. focus in discussion during July 1897, Perhaps one issue of The Bible Echo might initiated the formulation of plans in August, be used to indicate the level of female and caused the almost-doubling of the size competence in sharing the church's mes-

118 sage in print. The Echo of December 15, fostered work as diverse as bringing 1893, carried both an article and a poem by seventeen physicians, nurses and other Fannie Bolton, an article "Christ Our Life" by workers from the Nurses Training School Anna L. Ingels, plus a piece "Religion in the and Medical College in Battle Creek, Home" by Ellen White. On the back page was Michigan, to promoting what was to become another quotation from Adventism's most the Sanitarium Health Food Company. Two prolific author, exemplifying her viewpoint women were the treasurer and correspond- and that of her sister authors. "Christ," she ing secretary of this new organisation: said, "is not to be hid away in the heart and Misses Edith Graham and Anna Ingels. locked in as a coveted treasure, sacred and Anna's association with the South Pacific was sweet, to be enjoyed solely by the posses- cemented by her marriage to James sor." Rather, He must be confessed "openly Hindson in 1898, but the responsibilities of and bravely," that the beauty of His holiness a wife and mother did not deter her witness. might refresh all who came in contact with Marriage transplanted her to Perth, where His people. This motive moved the pens and she became secretary of the Helping Hand shaped the lives of the pioneer Adventist Mission and secretary-treasurer for the women. Western Australian Conference. It also gave The career of Anna Ingels demands her the name by which she is best further mention. Not only was she a remembered as an innovative Sabbath founding mother of the church in the South school leader, Union Conference committee Pacific, her writing long nurtured its de- member, and editor of the Australasian velopment. Arriving in 1893 by "the incom- Record. Death in 1933, at seventy-one years ing American steamer," as one of "the of age, ended Anna's editorship of the labourers designated for the Australian field Record, an association which she had begun by the late General Conference," Anna soon as assistant editor with Arthur Daniells in took leadership as corresponding secretary 1899. Andrew G. Stewart wrote of her on of the Australian Tract Society, of which all December 11, 1933, "The messages sent members of churches were members. In this out, the thousands of printed pages capacity her articles enlivened The Bible compiled, constitute a wonderful monu- Echo and her travels encouraged its witness. ment to a devoted, unassuming life." The Society had a broad range of interests: Anna Hindson is probably one of the "'Bible-readings held with inquirers," mis- best-known female identities, but she was sionary letter-writing, distribution of reading not alone as a woman writer and church matter. According to Anna, Christian-help leader of the founding years. Other women work "administering to the necessities of the were secretaries of the various societies in destitute," was a means through which local churches, and secretaries of local and "many of the poor and needy have had their union conferences. Some, belonging to far wants relieved, and the gospel has been countries, came to the South Pacific with the preached unto them." The vigour of this impulse of mission: Hattie Andre, Josie work is pictured by a letter from a newly Baker, Florence Butz, Mary Daniells, Vesta organised Tract Society in Brighton, Vic- Farnsworth, Hetty Haskell, Nellie Starr. toria. Although consisting of only "twelve Others were linked to the Adventist work in Sabbath-keepers who have received bap- the Antipodes by marriage, conversion or tism," this Society could report: profession: Hilda Anderson, Eva Edwards, We have eighteen families under observation. The Emma Faulkhead, Rita Freeman, Lizzie majority are women and children; some are widows, Gregg, Edith Graham, Susan Gurner, Hen- and the husbands of others have left their homes to rietta Hare, Annie Higgins, Catherine seek work. We have been able to relieve several by drawing the attention of people living near, who Hughes, Faith Johanson, Helena Lewin, have kindly and promptly rendered assistance, and Elsie (Matron) Shannan, Julie Steed. given a little work. All the others have been supplied The torch lit early by North American with food every week; 135 quarts of milk have been women missionaries was ably carried by given, and articles of clothing numbering 109 their Australian sisters. And their focus was pieces. Five men have been provided employment. Each case is visited by some member of the band not only Biblical, it was also practical. For every week, and the opportunity of sowing the good instance, Anna Concord wrote A Friend in seed of gospel truth is not neglected. There are the Kitchen in 1898, and Lauretta Kress about 100 packages of tracts in circulation, and penned her Good Health Cookery Book in fifty-eight Bible-readings have been held. 1904. But a home-grown woman, Laura By April 1898 the church was ready to Ulrich, followed in this tradition with her organise the Australasian Medical Mission- Good Food and How to Prepare It, long a ary and Benevolent Association which Signs publication.

119 Of course, to name one worthy woman is wholeheartedly endorse their conclusions. to be open to the charge of omitting equally As a case in point, The Bible Echo, January deserving others. But there is more. Behind 20, 1896, cited a "celebrated physician" who the known are the far greater number of the said a female patient of his was "dying, and unknown. And some women's names are beyond all help" because her husband was remembered chiefly or only because the "steeped in tobacco until the insensible tragedy of death overtook them. perspiration from his body has become a "Medical-men tell us," The Bible Echo of deadly poison, and his wife has absorbed July 23, 1900 declared, "that far more enough of this, and had before I was called people are dying from tuberculosis than in, so that she will die." Adventists' emphatic from all the other prevalent diseases." The faith in their campaign for better living article gave an extended list of "rules to be caused them to grasp such opinions and to observed by those afflicted with consump- use them as effective weapons. On February tion," and declared: "We avoid the leprosy 22, 1899, The Echo told of a woman with dread, but tuberculosis is more deadly, "roasted from head to foot," who died after a far more infectious, and an hundred-fold spark from her husband's pipe ignited her more prevalent." Adventist obituaries of the dress. The same fire destroyed twenty acres 1890s indicate something of the toll "the of grass, threatened wheat stacks and a dread disease of consumption" took on later homestead. "No good ever comes of well-known family names like Lacey and smoking," was the Echo's stated moral. Adair. Some fought TB for a decade before We, today, can admire their spirit, if not they succumbed. every opinion the Adventists proclaimed. On According to the brittle, yellowing pages October 14, 1901, The Bible Echo quoted an preserved from the 1890s, other pioneer American doctor's "strong opinion" against Adventist women died from such illnesses as cycling. It is not a "wholesome exercise," he cancer, typhoid, or "violent fever." Those stated, nor does it "make girls healthy and who left large families particularly register pretty" since "the lady cyclist may be on the reader's sympathies. identified by her squeaky voice, large, A Norfolk Islander who was an "excellent broad, and flat hands, coarse skin, wrinkled nurse," Mrs Alfred Nobbs, left eight children face, and small piercing, bloodshot eyes." motherless when she died on November 11, And so the Adventists campaigned for 1896. "Paralysis and haemorrhage" took temperance in all its forms: in eating, Alice Jane Kuhndt of Adelaide from her drinking, dressing. Their dietary reforms "grief-stricken husband and ten sorrowing rested on solid conclusions drawn from children" on August 18, 1901. And the three decades of reading, writing, lecturing, church became conscious of its "firsts." and thinking. Wives and mothers had a holy Hannah Raninini, "one of the first native responsibility towards husbands and chil- Sabbath-keepers on the island [North New dren to select the best of nature's fruits, Zealand], and perhaps the first who has grains, nuts and vegetables, and to serve fallen asleep," died at Tolaga Bay on January them grease-free in an attractive form. 17, 1899. Miss Sarah Ward, "among the first Adventists affirmed the same principles as members" of the Auckland Seventh-day The Women's Christian Temperance Union, Adventist church, organised by Pastor A. G. even though they stopped short of fully Daniells in 1887, "quietly fell asleep in supporting the Union because the sanctity of Jesus" on February 19, 1900. And one death Sunday was a plank in its platform. Some of in particular underlined the profound cost of the most colourful language of the 1890s mission. Dr Merritt Kellogg's pioneering was selected in the fight against "DAME demanded two years of lonely separation FASHION AND HER SLAVES," especially the from his ailing wife in the United States, who "immorality" of "tight-lacing" which cause "never desired her husband to forgo his "lingering death." "Divine truth," it was said, work for the Master for her sake," and "died "could not find its way into a heart squeezed in the triumphs of a living faith" on and cramped by corsets." And they illus- November 4, 1894, while her husband was trated their convictions by the graphic shape in the South Pacific. in which they delivered their burning words: Perhaps the passing of such people THIS helped the Adventists of the early years to is the determine, wherever possible, to rid earthly shape of life of its destructive habits. Sometimes we a woman's waist might question the scientific accuracy of on which a corset tight some of their supporting data, even when we is laced. The ribs deformed

120 tile4 Tongan Welfare worker—typical of many. Pastor and Mrs Wiles in heathen company.

Mr and Mrs James Hindson, Californians. Brian Dunn and Val. Brian was killed on Malaita.

Jan Fleming, nurse, ready for canoe trip.

121 by being squeezed, press such as Melbourne, Cooranbong, Wallsend on the lungs till they're and Maitland. But they were largely unpaid. diseased. The heart Ellen White saw a crying need for "just and is jammed and equal remuneration" for ministers' wives cannot pump, and other women "bearing responsibilities." The liver The motive for her counsel in this regard was is a plainly stated: "The ways of the Lord are just tor- and equal." Hence she called the church to pid lump; "study the Scriptures for further light" on the the stomach, fact that the capabilities of husband and wife crushed, cannot are needed in "missionary efforts." digest; and in a mess How to secure the money to pay these are all compressed. There- women was Ellen White's problem. "In the fore, this silly woman grows to past I have appropriated the means to be a beautiful mass of woes, sustain this kind of work, but my fund is now but thinks she has a lovely exhausted," she lamented in 1899. So to fill shape, though hideous the lack she called for families to "cut off as a crippled ape. every needless indulgence;" she attempted to borrow money, and she felt it to be her duty, she said, "to create a fund from my This is tithe money to pay these women who are a woman's accomplishing just as essential work as the natural waist, ministers are doing." Only the conviction which corset never that "many men and women" have the ability yet disgraced. Inside it and the call "to preach and teach the Word" is a mine of health. Outside could enable a Seventh-day Adventist to so of charms it has a wealth. use the sacred tithe. It is a thing of beauty Women were both providers of and true, and a sweet joy participants in the church's early educa- forever new. It tional efforts. The minister of Agriculture needs no artful sent W. S. Campbell to Cooranbong in 1899. padding vile Campbell observed there a "large two- or bustle big storeyed building for girls, and saw some to give it "style." splendid, solid-looking specimens of young It's strong and solid, vegetarians running about." While both plump and sound, and sexes were required to participate in the hard to get one arm farming and gardening, Campbell said he around. Alas! If women was impressed by the array of subjects upon only knew the mischief that which young ladies were examined in "the these corsets do, they'd let science of housekeeping." And The Avon- Dame Nature have her dale School for Christian Workers, now way, and never try her Avondale College, from its earliest time to waist to "stay." the present, has focused the dedication and Adventists in 1881, at their General skills of a galaxy of women, from Hetty Conference, voted "That females posses- Haskell, Hattie Andre and Maude Sisley Boyd sing the necessary qualifications to fill the to Marjorie Greive and Louise Vetter. position, may, with perfect propriety, be set In no sphere were women more visible apart by ordination to the work of the than in the church's medical outreach. Some Christian ministry." During her Australian came as apostles of mercy from North years, Ellen White added to this, recom- America. A small stream flowed there to mending in 1895 that women be set apart secure training in the skills of nursing. And for the service of the Lord in local they staffed the sanitariums/hospitals that congregations "by prayer and the laying on grew from the Adventist determination to of hands." Probably neither of these increase physical well-being. Some, like proposals was implemented to any great Doctor Rita Freeman and Matron Elsie extent at the time, but pioneer women of the Shannan, are remembered most for their 1890s were deeply involved in ministerial- contribution while at the Sydney Sanitarium type roles. and Hospital, now the Sydney Adventist Female "Bible workers" proved their Hospital. But a host of others went from effectiveness over several years in places Wahroonga to meet human needs in the

122 home and mission field, like Nurse Annie foreign field, "an event of great interest," Conley, midwife for a thousand births in the was to become a constant pattern within a Cooranbong area. few years. Although the missionary ship Motherhood was prized among the Pitcairn brought North American mis- founding mothers of the church and their sionaries in 1890 to the South Pacific families. Adventist literature stated boldly islands, a decade later the Albert Pipers were that "the physical well-being of the coming appointed from their home base to the front generation depends upon the mothers," and line in Rarotonga. By 1901 Hester Piper was hence it called for the highest standard in holding "regular meetings with our native every aspect of child care and nurture. It was sisters," and, when Albert was ill, even apt to inveigh against any practices that conducting a Sabbath service to the "pro- undermined the physical fitness, mental found interest" of the local populace. development or spiritual growth of a child. A host of missionary names have become That some of the requirements placed upon household terms in the homelands of mothers of the 1890s needed correction is Australia and New Zealand. But those evident from a non-Adventist magazine, The women who made the supreme sacrifice Ladies Home Journal, of September 1, have been most firmly rooted in the church's 1894, which declared that an infant needs memory. It is hard to distinguish which is the feeding every one and a half hours for the greater sacrifice, to surrender one's own life first two weeks, then every two hours until he on an isolated island, or to give up one's life is three months old; and after that every partner in such circumstances. Pearl three hours. "Regularity with children is of Tolhurst sailed with her husband to Tonga in great necessity, and lays the foundation of 1915 and died there of "Spanish influenza good principles in after life," the Journal and pneumonia" on March 14, 1919. Since affirmed. The Adventists opted for the her husband, Pastor Hubert L. Tolhurst, had importance of regularity, and they believed to conduct her funeral service, he chose for "good principles" laid an essential founda- the basis of his discourse the message of the tion for the rest of life. But they seemed resurrection in 1 Thessalonians, chapter unimpressed by the "excesses" of the four. Hubert was undeterred from further demand-feeding notion. mission service, as was Alma Wiles after the It did not take long for Australia and New tragic death of her husband Norman in the Zealand to double as both a focus of New Hebrides. Alma's detailed diary records Adventist mission and as a home base for the physical pain Norman suffered as outreach to such places as India and the blackwater fever, a deadly form of malaria, South Pacific. The typical Adventist woman took his life' between April 28 and May 5, believed her neighbours needed the warm 1920. And her own hope and fear, loneli- gospel light that cheered her own heart. ness, mental anguish and faith makes her Thus the church's missionary paper was diary an epic story. shared with consuming zeal by Adventist Oh how I longed for someone, only if it were an women: one sold 1, 700 copies of a unsympathetic native! And I prayed that if my boy was taken I might not be alone. Minutes seemed like camp-meeting edition of The Bible Echo in hours as I sat there with my hand under that chin; Adelaide in 1896; in 1897, another in New and now and then placing a kiss on that brow. . . . Zealand, with the help of her niece, was Then about ten o'clock came those last two long selling 432 copies of the Echo each week, expirations, his eyes flew open, and I knew he was and had over 300 regular customers. By gone. . . . If only there was someone to stand by me and bear with me the terrible anguish of that hour! 1898 a young lady and her fifteen-year-old sister in New Zealand had about 500 regular Alma wrapped Norman in a new shirt for a customers, distributing a total of 720 copies shroud, folded his hands, and with the help of the Echo each week. of New Hebrideans, used two native mats to It was this zest to share their faith that cover his body before laying it carefully in a turned the eyes of early Adventist converts to grave "facing the hill over which lived those mission lands. The Bible Echo proudly noted for whom he so willing[ly] gave his life." that "Brother and Sister Masters with their Many of the present generation of son, Fairley" sailed for India on September Seventh-day Adventists recall the fortitude 8, 1894, "the first that have gone from of Valmae Dunn when her young husband, Australasia to a foreign country." Of New speared by an islander, "made the supreme Zealand origin, the parents had been one sacrifice on Malaita," on December 19, year in Australia, and Fairley had been "a 1965. But the courageous faith of Pearl student of the Bible School during the three Tolhurst, Alma Wiles and Valmae Dunn years of its existence." Their departure for a cannot more than typify the spirit of a

123 Adventist women take a wide range of roles in both church and community. multitude, an alphabet of names: Anderson, Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Butz, Campbell . . . Fisher . . . Pascoe . . . Pacific. In what roles are their daughters Wicks. • . . engaged, a century after the First Adventist Mercifully, the story of the founding Fleet reached Sydney? They greet the public mothers of the Seventh-day Adventist who telephone the church offices at confer- Church in the South Pacific is romantic as ence, union and division level with the well as tragic. The first marriage, that of L. A. words, "Adventist Church headquarters." and Elizabeth Romero, was celebrated by They are the angels-in-white, tending the Pastor M. C. Israel in September 1887, but sick as nurses, , and sometimes the romance is more than that of wife and as doctors. They teach in the church's home. It also includes the saga of faith as primary, secondary and tertiary classrooms. women write their testimony, speak their A larger number of them increasingly fill two Biblical convictions, teach, minister at the major tasks, homemaking and employ- bedside of the sick, sustain the church's ment. Some participate in the church's institutions, and pioneer in mission lands. decision-making, in that most executive According to The Bible Echo of 1901, "The committees include at least one woman, as slim, straight-up-and-down girl will not look do the church's main institutional boards. well in the designs that suit the roly-poly Although the category of Bible worker seems girl." Their concern for simple, appropriate, to be almost extinct, a handful of women modest and healthful clothing was often have received the Bachelor of Arts degree in expressed by the church's founding Theology from Avondale College, and a few mothers. But the records are clear that their have gained MA degrees in disciplines greater objective was "the unfading beauty applicable to ministry. In some churches of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great women have been ordained as local elders; worth in God's sight." in others they serve effectively in a similar Ellen White told the Australian and New role with the title of shepherdesses. In recent Zealand churches on April 4, 1898: "We have years, the church has made serious at- many lessons to learn, and many to tempts toward giving its female employees unlearn." Not the least of these lessons is equal pay for equal work. While most one of profound gratitude to God for Seventh-day Adventists deem the status and teaching us through the character and work role of women is not a matter for agitation, of the notable women of faith who struck and they are increasingly finding accord with the nurtured the plant of Adventism in the Apostle Paul: "There is now neither Jew nor Antipodes. Greek, . . . male nor female; for you are all Such were the founding mothers of the one in Christ Jesus."

125 ' Adventist Youth Goldie Down Shortly after Australia celebrated its first accompanied by an adult, they went from hundred years of colonisation, the group of house to house distributing religious papers Seventh-day Adventist missionaries who and endeavouring to arrange for Bible arrived from the United States, eager to studies. This was meeting people at their "spread the Word," recognised the potential doors, not just casual letterboxing. Some of young people. At the end of their second society members remained at the meeting year in Australasia (1886), they reported that place to write missionary letters or mail out children in the religious societies they were literature; others took flowers and tracts to developing had distributed more than a hospital patients and invalids. These "do- thousand pieces of Christian literature. good" activities were not all confined to the For several years after that, various Sabbath day. In many societies the youth leaders in the infant Seventh-day Adventist held additional meetings during the week church in Australasia held meetings or and applied themselves to money-making launched societies specifically for children activities in order to purchase literature or and youth. First in Auckland, then Napier, support foreign missionaries. New Zealand, and later again in Melbourne, The long-term results of these efforts were Pastor and Mrs E. M. Morrison helped to most rewarding. Seventy-five years later organise "Rivulet Societies" where young Veronica Flanigan, a lady Bible worker with people were encouraged to write missionary an interest in young people and church letters or address papers for posting. In development, checked the names of the Adelaide, while Pastor Will Curtis, also from original sixteen members of the first Young the United States, conducted Saturday People's Society in Adelaide. She discovered morning meetings for adults, his wife that all but one of these young people, gathered the children into the lecture hall of together with their spouses, their children the Bible Christian Chapel in Young Street, and grandchildren, had remained loyal to taught them hymns and told them Bible the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Many of stories. Two of the little boys who listened them had given a lifetime of service in the were Walter Scragg and Horace Steed. mission fields or in other denominational Walter M. R. Scragg later became a leading employment. For example, Annie Higgins, figure in Australasian Adventism as an one of the sixteen charter members, herself evangelist and church administrator. Sons became a prominent leader, adding many of both of them, Walter and Ernest, have new dimensions to the youth work. occupied prominent positions in the General Just as South Australia led the way in Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Wal- granting women the right to vote, so it was ter Scragg, Junior, is currently the leader of from there that the Adventist Youth move- Seventh-day Adventism in this field and ment spread to every part of the continent. author of the final chapter of this book. In Victoria at the Brighton Beach camp- However it was not until December 1892 meeting beginning in December 1893, and when Ellen White, a pioneer of the Seventh- again at Ashfield, New South Wales, a few day Adventist movement in Australasia, months later, separate tents were erected wrote to Arthur Daniells: "We have an army of for youth meetings. The young folk en- youth today who can do much if they are thusiastically hailed this innovation and as a properly directed and encouraged . . ." that result of sermons geared for their age definite steps were taken to organise youth groups, many of them accepted Christ as work. Within a few months the thirty-four- their personal Saviour. year-old pastor created the first Young Some inkling of the character of these People's Society in Australia and other early attempts to involve young people may leaders in various states soon followed his be obtained from the pages of the Union example. Patterned largely on the earlier Conference Record, forerunner of the "Rivulet Societies," these "Young People's Australasian Record, the church's present Societies" took as their motto, "For the Love news chronicle. The editions for April 1 and of Christ Constraineth Us." August 1, 1900, carried articles by H. E. A belief in Christ's imminent return was Minchin of Cooranbong. The first of these is inevitably an ingredient in all Adventist a report on "The Annual Picnic of the Dora activities at this time; however, the special Creek Sabbath School and Missionary emphasis in these societies was upon loving Society" attended by seventy persons. concern for others. The meetings usually The "lucky" little children attending this convened on Sabbath (Saturday) afternoons picnic were allowed an hour or so for games and the young people spent half an hour in before the meeting began with hymns and singing, prayer and Bible study. Then, suitable recitations. We are told that, after

128 this, the various age groups separated for quickly followed this lead and appointed a work to make articles which found ready Miss Graham to the task. Ten years later Miss local sale. It was Mrs Minchin who later Graham reported that there were eighty-four reported that "the little folk have decided to Young People's Societies with a total send their earnings, which now amount to membership of 1,764. two pounds, to our orphanage, 'Comus,' on Even in these early days of the Seventh- Prospect Road, Summer Hill, NSW." day Adventist Church's work, percentage Work, whether as a means of raising cash tithes and offerings proved to be a fairly or of keeping the children out of mischief, accurate gauge of spiritual temperature and figured largely in Mrs Minchin's plans. In the the youth work was no exception. A report of second article she told "How to Organise and a Young People's Society meeting held at Conduct a Children's Missionary Society," Hawthorn, Victoria, on September 2, 1907, and outlined the meeting format in items featured "our Maori brethren across the numbered one to eleven, item nine being sea." The whole program centred around "Work, work, work." At these mid-week New Zealand and at the conclusion a special meetings the girls were encouraged to make offering was lifted for the work in that area. "clothes for orphans, pincushions, pin- "The offering was a liberal one, being 10 wheels (these pin-wheels are very handy for shillings and 10 pence, for which we can gentlemen to carry in their vest pockets), truly thank God." A description of the same pen-wipers, needlecases, patchwork quilts, meeting declares: "A Missionary box con- pocket handkerchiefs, scrap-books, etc." taining a little over £1 was placed on the The boys were allocated "rustic fern- table. This had been collected by the baskets, bird-cages, walking-sticks, bed- workers in the Melbourne Cafe and sent in room screens, fire-screens, envelopes, toys with the request that it be used as a and puzzles." contribution to the Maori Mission work." Activity was the keynote of all the early When we recall that many young folk Young People's Societies. At a time when the received a weekly wage of less than five name Seventh-day Adventist was practically shillings (fifty cents) we can better under- unknown, the young people and their stand the depth of their generosity. The leaders endeavoured by a variety of means Young People's Society offerings for the year to bring the denomination into favourable ending 30th June 1912 amounted to public notice. £992:12:11/2, and for the quadrennium Either before or after the Sabbath after- ending in June 1914 the amount was noon meetings, the children and teenagers £4,113:2:0, twice as much as the previous went from house to house distributing the quadrennium. church paper, Signs of the Times, and The Young People's Society aim, THE suitable tracts. Correspondence Bands ADVENT MESSAGE TO ALL THE WORLD IN wrote letters, sent condolence cards to THIS GENERATION, challenged the children people whose names were taken from the too, and whenever appeals were made to funeral notices in the daily newspapers and support or send missionaries to various addressed religious papers for posting. island fields, the under-fifteen age group Other bands visited hospitals, distributing a enthusiastically responded. Annie Higgins, tract and a posy to each patient, singing in leader of the Young People's work in Victoria the wards, or helping the nurses carry food and Tasmania, illustrates the children's trays, or roll bandages. Christian Help Bands dedication by relating an experience in the visited shut-ins, cleaned houses for the sick Australasian Record dated 8th April, 1912. or crippled, cared for children and provided Full of zeal, a Tasmanian eight-year-old other needed help. A number of these identified only as "Leslie," planted a plot of services were carried out on weekdays rather potatoes to raise money for his missionary than on the Sabbath, and many of them have project. Shortly before the potatoes were continued in various forms to the present ready to dig several family members day. contracted diphtheria. Then Leslie himself In 1901 the General Conference of felt sick and fearing a prolonged illness he Seventh-day Adventists recognised the need hurriedly dug his missionary potatoes and for a separate department to care for the gave them into an older sister's care. Within growing worldwide youth work. In commit- a week little Leslie became one of tee they drew up various guidelines and diphtheria's many victims and his heart- tucked the newly formed Youth Department broken sister sold the potatoes on his behalf under the wing of the already functioning and sent the money to Miss Higgins. Sabbath School Department. Australasia For many years the Youth Department

129 1 , n 0", Pr Pnrres (Pre) Anrnoriofi et en ni t otA rn 4, nrn " 011-v't ,,,

for

The choir at the South Pacific Youth Congress, held in Melbourne in 1964.

Sapfor House, Adelaide.

Pastor and Mrs Curtis, about 1888.

130 prepared meeting programs and sent but also maintained a library from which mimeographed copies to the local leaders, they could borrow books by post. Reading but in 1913 they progressed to a small matter figured importantly in this pre-radio, eight-page printed monthly containing four pre-television era; and in 1907, capitalising (or five, depending on the number of on this, the General Conference inaugurated sabbaths in the month) programs. Eighteen a Reading Course for the young people of months later the programs were included in the church. Early Writings and Pastor Hsi the newly published church paper, the were the first books chosen. Missionary Leader. The various poems, In those penurious early days, books were readings and dialogues that constituted the a luxury that few could afford and most programs were printed in duplicate with one societies bought only one copy of each set being printed on one side of the paper book. As a feature of the weekly Youth only so that sections could be cut out and meetings, each book was read aloud chapter given to the children and young people who by chapter; then it was lent around to anyone took part. The leaders wisely kept a master who was unable to attend the meetings. As copy in reserve for prompting sluggish times improved and the young people were memories and replacing conveniently mis- encouraged to read more widely, sales of the laid "pieces." Many well-known Adventist annual Reading Course books increased. In preachers of later vintage such as John 1912 The Story of John G. Paton, a Conley, George Burnside and James Kent missionary in the South Seas, sold four cut their oratorical teeth in the Sabbath hundred and fifty copies. Two years later afternoon Youth programs. Veteran missio- Pilgrim's Progress and Two Lives each sold nary Ken Gray remembers with affection around one thousand copies. how the Missionary Volunteer leader of his The Reading Course books were carefully church, Barbara Stacey, used to coax him chosen and it was not a case of reading into taking part in programs. merely for pleasure. Society leaders impres- Full membership of the Young People's sed the subject matter on youthful minds in Society was reserved for those between the a variety of ways: oral questioning, play- ages of fifteen and thirty; others were acting of certain scenes, or the presentation accorded "Associate" membership. But at of written summaries. At the end of the year that time the "generation gap" had not yet certificates were given to those who de- been discovered and, with few exceptions, monstrated a thorough knowledge of the every church member, from babies to books presented. In 1912 seventy-six young grandparents, attended the weekly youth people received certificates and by 1935 meetings. In most cases restricted transport Pastor Victor Stratford, the Young People's facilities necessitated this family participa- Department Secretary, reported "an average tion. All the members of a family travelled to of 270 certificates issued annually" for the church in one horse-drawn vehicle; the quadrennium under review. morning services were followed by a picnic In 1916 the Reading Course suggested a lunch, and then the whole family attended book for the juniors, John Williams, the Ship the afternoon "youth" program. In 1912 the Builder. One of the small boys who listened Associate members (852) outnumbered the with rapt attention to the reading of that prescribed age group (799) and two years book in the Young People's meetings was later when Youth work spread to some parts young Jimmy Cormack. lie grew up to of the island mission field, the figures become Pastor James Cormack, for many swelled to 896 and 1,606. years a missionary and devoted leader of As well as the "Associate" members of the young people and juniors in the island Young People's Societies there were the mission fields. The same boOk influenced isolated members-503 of them in 1914. In young Ken Gray, later long-time apostle to those days of isolated churches and horse the islands of the South Seas. "Jimmy" and and buggy transport, many country Adven- "Ken" are not the only ones who trace their tists had personal contact with other church interest in missions back to the books they members only at camp-meeting time. The heard read in their childhood. Among many isolated children and youth were carefully others were the sons and daughters of listed on a Conference Church Roll and the Robert Hare, himself a son of one of the first Sabbath School and Young People's De- Adventist converts in New Zealand. There partment not only supplied them with was Eric, the well-known missionary to the Sabbath school lesson pamphlets, newslet- Karens in Burma, and his brother Reuben, ters and other printed matter that kept them who was a missionary to India. Of the in close touch with denominational affairs, daughters, Ruth (Mrs Roy Lane) went to Fiji,

131 Nettie (Mrs Eric Johanson) to China, Enid (Mrs Len Wilkinson) to Fill Some of their children and grandchildren have also been (or still are) in the mission field. Another three generations of mis- sionaries, this time to Papua New Guinea, resulted from Marguerite Lock's dedication. She was inspired by Great Heart of Papua, the story of James Chalmers, Scottish missionary sent to New Guinea by the London Missionary Society and killed by cannibals in 1901. Marguerite and William Lock pioneered the Kokoda trail to Efogi, serving there for seventeen years. Their son Lester and his wife Edna spent thirty-five years in mission service; their son Glynn and daughter Linette gave seven years and two years respectively. HENRY STOCKTON (c. 1880-1943) The twenty years from 1893 to the first Henry Stockton was the first boy in Australia to be world war saw more new ideas adopted. In registered as a member of a Seventh-day Adventist 1908, a feature was introduced which Sabbath school, being the son of the first person to remains unique to Australasia. The "Doctri- accept Adventism as a consequence of the Haskell nal Text" plan encouraged young people to expedition to Australia. Stockton was at first employed in the publishing memorise one text of Scripture each week. work, and later the Sanitarium Health Food Company. This was the brainchild of Annie Higgins, He was gifted with a truly remarkable memory and was one of the Adelaide society's sixteen charter valued as a compiler of denominational statistics. He members, and by then a devoted youth seemed to be a walking encyclopaedia of information, leader, who felt that the plan would assist not only about the church but also music, the trees and bushes, and houses. Adventist young people to share their faith. For many years he assisted those employed by the Ten to twelve Bible texts supporting a Adventist Church coming and going through the port of particular doctrine of the church were Sydney-becoming a familiar figure on the Sydney memorised each quarter and on the wharves and incoming vessels which he customarily thirteenth Sabbath the participants sat a boarded from the pilot boat at the Heads. written examination. (The church year was divided into four quarters of thirteen weeks printed and were quite promptly sold. Now each). These first doctrinal texts were typed that punctual supplies were assured many and duplicated, complete with such diag- Adventists sent Morning Watch Calendars to rams and historical data as the compiler their non-Adventist friends in lieu of New cared to add. In later years Bible texts, Year greeting cards. without commentary, were printed and About this time the Young People's distributed on small, easily handled papers. Department changed its name. Among the Pastor Leslie Coombe, a retired youth actions taken by the Union Conference leader, today (1985) possesses what must Council of 1912 was the recommendation be one of the earliest Doctrinal Text papers that, in harmony with the General Confer- extant. It consists of four thin pages of a ence in America, the name became "The Bible study on the 2300 Day prophecy Young People's Missionary Volunteer De- (Daniel 8:14). It was prepared for the third partment." Naturally, the formality of a title quarter of 1911. like that was soon shortened to the more Another early innovation which is still manageable "MV Department," or, as young popular was the Morning Watch Calendar. people referred to their meetings, "MV's" Arriving from America in 1910 these The next twenty-five years, marked at booklets contained a Bible verse for every either end by a world war, saw great day of the year, together with inspirational progress in the youth work of the Seventh- poems and prose. They were intended as day Adventist Church in Australasia. In aids for daily devotions. Four years later, 1916-17, when the energy of most Australa- probably because of the uncertain arrival of sians was understandably directed towards supplies shipped to Australia, it was decided the war effort, Adventist young people were to print the calendars at the Avondale challenged to provide a ship for mission College press, using copy prepared in work in the Western Solomon Islands. Three America. Three thousand calendars were thousand pounds was the required sum, the

132 equivalent of one-quarter of a million dollars 1930, while the people of Australasia were in today's currency. This challenge fired the preoccupied by the Depression and those in imagination of the young people and, with New South Wales watched the building of the the backing of their elders, they succeeded Sydney Harbour Bridge, Seventh-day Adven- in raising the full amount in a little over tist youth leaders explored the possibility of twelve months. Five shilling shares sold completely separate societies for senior and rapidly and a multitude of other money- junior youth. Those under fifteen would be raising activities blossomed. Children and the juniors. This idea, handed down from young people sold garden produce, the church's leaders in Washington, D.C., homemade cakes and jams and jellies; they U.S.A., was roughly patterned on the sewed and knitted and did odd jobs; universal Boy Scout and Girl Guide move- sacrificial giving became a way of life. The ment from which Adventist children were Signs Publishing Company joined in the precluded because of problems with Sab- enthusiasm by paying a bonus into the bath observance. MELANESIA fund for each copy of Life and Labelled the Junior Missionary Volunteer Health or Morning Watch Calendar the young Society, this organisation adopted a green people sold. Finally, on June 3, 1917, the uniform and set out requirements for its MELANESIA, a magnificent white ketch, various progressive classes. Badges and fifty-four feet long, with two masts and, after insignia were awarded for particular as- a refit in the late 1930s, a semi-diesel signments completed and members en- engine, was dedicated and handed over to gaged in an all-round program of physical, that intrepid pioneer, Captain Griffith Fran- mental and spiritual activities. cis Jones. For twenty-seven years this On Sabbath afternoons the juniors were mission ship saw active service in the south encouraged to conduct their own meetings, Pacific. It was then sold. which consisted of singing and prayer, Bible About this time, progressive leaders in stories, and other spiritual activities. On various churches recognised the need to other days, with the help of capable leaders, provide the children and young people with the children learned such widely diversified activities other than distributing tracts and subjects as astronomy, bushlore and raising money for missions. Their plans did camperaft, first aid, church history and not always meet with the blessing of sterner swimming. They indulged their interest in elders, who said that "Quite enough is being hobbies: stamp-collecting, glass-painting, done for the children." Nevertheless they leather tooling and many others. All of these persevered with their ideas. activities were graded into classes with One such leader of this group was requirements suited to each child's age and sixteen-year-old James Cormack, of the capabilities. On completion of class re- Hurstville church in Sydney, who launched in quirements a child was invested with a 1924 "The Hurstville S.D.A. Boys' Improve- badge and progressed to the next class. ment Society." With something less than Beginning with six-to-eight-year-old Busy encouragement from those in authority and Bees, the children added badge to badge as with an invited adult to monitor proceed- they memorised Scripture and learned new ings, Jim gathered the boys together for skills. In this way they progressed through mid-week hobby evenings, debates and the classes of Pals, Friends, Companions mock-trials. On Sundays and long weekends and Comrades. Because of its Communist he took the boys into the country where they connotations the name "Comrade" eventu- enjoyed a variety of activities: swimming, ally gave way to "Guide" and later still to nature study, bicycle rides and paper- "Explorer." chases. In spite of its ponderous title and the When Junior Missionary Volunteer work initial trepidation of the church elders, the was organised in Australasia, it was natural venture succeeded so well that the church's for Jim Cormack to involve himself im- girls clamoured for a similar society. Then mediately and become one of the first to the Arncliff church's young people heard earn the Master Comrade, or leader, status. about it and joined in the activities. The fame One day when Jim took his juniors out on a of these societies spread quickly and nature hike, a little fellow ran up and inquiries came from all over Sydney. complained that he could not catch a cheeky A couple of years later Pastor Norman bird that hopped from fencepost to fence- Faulkner, then Youth leader for the whole of post ahead of him. • Australasia, invited Jim to a camp-meeting "Try putting salt on its tail," joked Jim. to tell about his Hurstville society. Jim "You're carrying some for when we roast the complied and his idea spread still further. In potatoes, aren't you?"

133 "Yes. Will I be able to catch it then?" and Madge Rogers, the camp cook, exer- Without waiting for an answer, the little cised considerable ingenuity in keeping the fellow dashed off in hot pursuit. That little food cool and fresh. She had the bigger boys boy, Clem Christian, grew up to become a dig deep holes in which to store the salad minister, administrator, and leader of the vegetables. With Miss Lewin's assistance she Australasian Division Young People's De- even made ice-cream and froze it in an partment from 1967 to 1975. ice-lined hole in the ground. The result was Isolated children managed, with adult probably not up to today's commercial supervision, to complete their progressive standards but the juniors were not connois- classwork by correspondence; they were seurs. Among the group of sticky-faced then invested at camp-meetings, or, if that small boys clamouring for more was none were not possible, the Conference Youth other than little Robert Parr, long-time editor Leader conducted a private ceremony when of the Australasian Signs of the Times and a next he visited their area. The Conferences' contributor to this volume. care for their isolated young people lasted Transportation of personnel and equip- well into the 1940s. Personalised attention ment to the campsite posed problems in the in the form of letters, Sabbath school and early days. In Brisbane the Sanitarium J. M.V. kits, and books from the free lending Health Food Company provided a solution. library, resulted in fewer problem boys and They piled tents, food, and pots and pans girls and more potential leaders for the onto their company wagons and the trusty growing church. Pastor Keith Parmenter, horses pulled the load to the site. recent president of the Australasian Divi- In North New South Wales Conference sion, remembers with affection Ada Doug- employees like Iva Hay, Gwen Hadfield, lass, Madge Rogers, Marian Hay and other Lorna Britten and Mrs Gadsen (the cook), departmental leaders who took a personal conducted Easter Youth camps for thirty or interest in youngsters whom they seldom forty girls only a few years younger than met. themselves. Besides the spiritual exercises, During this period the annual Missionary the girls hiked and swam, organised Volunteer Society offerings showed a steady paper-chases and team games. upward trend. By 1929 they reached £2, 084 At the Government Training Camp on the and even during the Depression years to Nepean River these same ladies held junior 1936 maintained an average of £2,000 per camps. One week they shepherded a annum. In 1942 and 1943, the middle years hundred shrill-voiced little girls, and the next of World War II, the youth offerings totalled week a hundred shouting small boys £2,723 and £3,124. demanded their attention. As a minor In 1943 there were 307 Missionary concession the conference did allow them a Volunteer Societies in the home field and one-day break in between camps in which to 157 in the mission field. The combined gather their wits, and a gentleman—either a membership amounted to 15,777. With minister or a conference secretary—came more churches and companies, vastly along for the second week to help control the improved transport, and the growing inde- boys' exuberance. pendence of young people, the necessity of Not that the supervising girls lacked having Associate (older people) M.V. mem- anything in expertise; they may not have bers seems to have passed. Isolated held degrees in psychology but they knew members, too, had dwindled with the how to handle recalcitrant children. Marian passing years and improved communica- Hay once described her first camp for junior tions. boys at Silverwater, New South Wales, in. Camping has always been popular with January 1934. Among those in attendance Adventist young people and long before the was a small individualist named Geoff. If the General Conference thought of providing group played games, Geoff wanted to sleep; organised camps, concerned adults had if the group slept, Geoff wanted to play. One taken boys or girls for short campouts in the morning Marian, checking tents, found bush or at a beach and taught them Geoff idling on his bed. When she urged him camperaft. Then in 1930, with work for to join in the game of rounders with the other junior youth gaining in popularity, the boys he protested that he felt sick. In fact he various conferences adopted the idea of had vomited awhile ago. Marian promptly organising junior camps. led him across to camp nurse Venus (Starry) In Queensland, Helena Lewin arranged Quick, with the words, "Nurse, here's a sick the first junior camp during the Christmas boy. I think he needs a dose of castor oil." A holiday season, the hottest time of the year; stunned, split-second consideration of this

134 4. ;AL, , 040*. , • 0Wiriss. Alla '4111°P

Adventist youth are busy youth. 135 prospect and Geoff quickly protested that evangelistic charts than any man living, actually he felt much better now and remembers the 1939 Week of Prayer at "perhaps it wasn't a vomit after all, only a big Avondale College when, influenced by Len spit!" Minchin's emotion-charged preaching, he The first Victorian junior camp, organised dedicated his life to God's service. Around by Pastor Harold Meyers at Warburton, at that same year there was a general revival Easter 1930, was a complete wash-out. Rain among the youth and many of the church's began shortly after the juniors retired on later leaders trace their conversion to Pastor Friday evening and continued all night. Len's prayerful, loving ministry. Tents leaked, soaking both baggage and During the stressful years of World War II bedding, and a bedraggled group of (1939-1945) Pastor Walter Hooper and Alma children and leaders thankfully hailed the Wiles (widow of pioneer missionary Norman dawn. The rain relented enough to allow the Wiles) joined the Youth Department staff at outdoor Sabbath services to proceed as Wahroonga and worked tirelessly for the planned, but it poured again that night. On young men and women in the forces— Sunday morning the sodden campers including large numbers of American ser- moved to a nearby shed and Mrs Meyers vicemen visiting our shores. At this time prepared a good hot stew which helped to Adventist young people, particularly those in ease the disappointment of having to return the services, faced many problems. These home without enjoying the hikes, games involved Sabbath-keeping, non-com- and other promised delights of camp. batancy, interrupted careers, and post- Doubtless it was this experience and poned personal plans. Expert guidance was countless others like it that influenced youth needed. The church's newspaper, Australa- leaders in all states to begin agitating for sian Record, incorporated a special feature permanent campsites with weatherproof entitled "With Our Boys in the Forces" in facilities. Adverse weather conditions had no which they published letters and reports lasting effect on youthful enthusiasm and in received from service personnel in all five years the number of J.M.V. societies in theatres of war, particularly the South Australasia grew from six to eighty-nine. At Pacific. Space precludes mention of all the the same time, 1935, Australasia had the individual heroes of those dreadful years, distinction of having the highest rate in the but the Australasian Record pages are filled world of Missionary Volunteers per one with stories of their witness and hundred church members. faithfulness—sometimes even unto death. In the mid-thirties Youth leader Pastor One citation of an unnamed serviceman Leonard Minchin began planning for a concludes: "I am proud to have in my gathering of young people from all the command such men as you." eastern states of Australia. Nothing of this The end of World War II introduced an era magnitude had been attempted before and that saw such important events as men numerous Jonahs arose to prophesy that walking on the moon and the discovery of there would be too many obstacles to uranium at Mary Kathleen in Queensland. overcome. "Where," they asked, "could such The changes of the next twenty years proved a crowd be accommodated? Who would care that Australia would never be the same for the catering? What about the cost of such again. The Seventh-day Adventist Church a project? Would the end justify the means?" also moved with the tide of change. Nevertheless, the pastor and his committee Youth leaders in all states continued their persevered and overcame all the difficulties agitation for the purchase of permanent with their usual combination of faith and campsites where solidly constructed build- works. In spite of the ominous unrest in ings could be erected and the inconveni- Europe, Christmas 1939 to New Year 1940 ences and health hazards occasioned by found 350 young people from the Eastern rain-soaked tents and mattresses would be States gathered at Avondale College—one eliminated. The next two decades saw this eager young man even hitchhiked 500 miles dream realised in most states. Victoria was to get there. On the Sabbath the number first with Pastor Harold Meyers and Stan swelled to 600 and Pastor Minchin wept tears Leeder and their helpers establishing a of joy. permanent campsite, The Basin, in a valley God used Len Minchin, Australia's longest of the Dandenong Ranges east of Mel- serving (1936-1946) Youth Department bourne. Secretary, to win hundreds of Australasian In 1945 in Queensland Pastor "Bill" young people to Christ. Artist Melvin (Mel) Lauder and the conference president, Pastor Skinner, who has probably painted more Walter Hooper, furnished their new

136 campsite, Maranatha, on the banks of the excellent timing, lighting and sound-effects, Maroochy River, with tents, stretchers, were used to present every phase of chairs, pots and pans and other items Adventist outreach—medical, religious lib- secured from the United States Army erty, temperance, lay-evangelism, and so Disposals at Enoggera. Pastor Lauder, an on. The program never failed to enthrall an ex-plumber, used his expertise to pipe water audience that hovered between 1,000 and from the river into a storage tank adjacent to 1,200 Adventists and non-Adventists, and the temporary dining hall. The facilities of many made their decision for Christ in a these early campsites were rather primitive, B.S.N. program. Two years later nearly every but they represented the beginning of capital city in Australia and many country permanence and could be improved upon as centres had their own B.S.N.s and the ;dea time and money permitted. had spread to England. Russell Kranz, an About the same time, in New South Wales, Australian evangelist preaching at the New Pastor Arthur White, the youth leader, with Gallery Theatre in Regent Street, London, laymen Arthur Geelan and Eddie Long, a adapted the program to suit English tastes. building contractor, and many other helpers The "Best Saturday Night in Town" carved the Crosslands campsite from un- continued on into the sixties, but personnel promising bush land on the upper reaches of changes and flagging interest led to a the Hawkesbury River estuary about thirty tapering off in attendances and eventually miles northwest of Sydney. The first B. S. N. ceased. But other exciting new ideas buildings erected were a dining hall and a soon took its place. One of these was the girls' dormitory (the boys slept in tents). concept of a Division-wide Youth Congress. Other buildings took shape as finance When Pastor Len Minchin left Australia to became available. become Youth leader in the Northern During this period, camping for both European Division, Pastor Peterson from senior and junior young people continued to America took his place. In 1950 he and his gain popularity and most camps lengthened helpers launched the first Division-wide to a full seven days or more, resulting in a Youth Congress. This congress was also stronger impact upon those attending. convened at Avondale College and was Except for a few places where custom forbids attended by close to 1,000 young people it, all camps are now held for boys and girls from all Australian states and New Zealand. together. Both junior and youth camps Twenty-one came from the Pacific islands, follow roughly the same pattern of recrea- including Vincent Young, the lone Pitcairn tional and spiritual activities: hiking, games, representative, who felt so shy that he hid swimming, boating, music, singing, devo- rather than appear on the platform and tional meetings and discussions, campfires, speak to that vast audience. and, for the juniors, crafts and progressive Soon Youth Congresses began to come in classwork. rapid succession. In 1956 Pastor Ronald In the period between the two wars Vince and his committee arranged a South interest in the Reading Course lagged. Pacific Congress at Nunawading, a suburb of However, during this time the name was Melbourne, Victoria. Seventeen hundred modernised to "M. V. Book Club" and "J. M. V. young people attended it: one-fourteenth of Book Club" and a much wider choice of the total Missionary Volunteer membership books was offered. Interest revived until in in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific 1969, a total of 5,707 certificates were islands. Every Island group was rep- issued to those who read the prescribed resented. Theodore Lucas, a youth leader books. from America, preached the Sabbath ser- Young people and their leaders are never mon at the Congress and Roy Naden short of ideas. In 1953 Pastors Ernest Steed composed the words and music of the and Ken Mead and approximately one Congress theme song, "To Live Is Christ." hundred young helpers launched "The Best Sauni Kuresa, Adventist composer of the Saturday Night in Town" in the Sydney Scots Samoan National Anthem, himself alone, Church Assembly Hall. This monthly youth played cornet duets—a feat which has made rally grew out of Ernie's concern at the lack of him quite famous. A climaxing feature which suitable Saturday night entertainment for captured the imagination of all at the Adventist youth. The B.S.N., as it came to be congress was the "Grass-o-graph" set out in called, provided a fast-moving, television- the natural amphitheatre of Como Park. The type program with a religious emphasis. assembled young people portrayed a huge Quality music, guest artists and speakers, picture of a lighthouse with beams of light and audience participation, together with reaching out to the world and the words,

137 138 A Voice of Youth baptism at Titikaveka, Cook Islands. Below: Island youth.

139 "Adventist Youth." Eight years later Pastor prejudice. Vince and his enthusiastic associates or- In 1950 the General Conference of ganised another South Pacific Youth Con- Seventh-day Adventists in Washington D.C. gress at Nunawading and this time 2,000 authorised the establishment of J.M.V.- young folk attended. Pathfinder clubs for the worldwide field. This These three decades (1940-1970) also entailed a clearcut separation of Sabbath saw changes in the Junior Missionary and secular activities for the ten-to-fifteen Volunteer Department. Australasia issued a age group. A uniform, flag, song, unit J. M.V. Handbook more suited to antipodeon guidons and ceremonies were adopted, and needs. Class requirements were altered; advanced classes—Trail Friend, Frontier some Honour tokens were dropped and Companion, Range Explorer and Wilderness others added. At the same time many of the Guide, were added. On October 28, 1954, former campsites were overhauled. For Adelaide (S.A.) again led the way by holding instance, in the twenty years since its the first Australasian Division Pathfinder opening, Crosslands had hosted a growing Fair. These fairs are conference-wide rallies number of Adventist young people. Then its of clubs where the Pathfinders display their age began to show and in 1965 practically crafts and demonstrate marching and every member of the Greater Sydney camperaft skills and compete for banners Conference became involved in the project and points. to update Crosslands. Monetary gifts rang- The early sixties introduced conference- ing from $10,000 down to one little wide Camporees and in 1975, the Silver motherless boy's twenty-five cents, along Anniversary of Pathfindering, Pastor Clem with countless hours of voluntary labour Christian, Division Youth director, and his contributed by generous tradesmen re- committee organised a Division-wide cam- sulted in a magnificent new complex. This poree at Yarramundi, Queensland. Two was built on what is almost a cliff face thousand Pathfinders from eighty-six clubs looking directly down on tidal water. It represented the 10,000 J.M.V.-Pathfinders consists of an assembly room seating 200, a belonging to the 322 clubs in the Australa- comfortable lounge with a magnificent view, sian Division. a modem kitchen with butane gas hot water, In the years from 1970 onwards the world and two levels of bunk rooms leading off saw great advances in science and long, wide balconies. A caretaker's cottage technology—and matching regression in with an adjoining well-stocked boatshed morality and spirituality. The young people stands beside the water. The Greater Sydney of this generation faced pressures that their Conference has done well by itself and its parents never knew. They saw television, young people. permissive sex, women's lib, drugs and the Similar changes have taken place around dole become a way of life. Even in the Australia and now each conference boasts at Seventh-day Adventist Church many of the least one modern, fully equipped old values crumbled. campsite/conference centre which, like Morning Watch, Doctrinal Text programs Crosslands, employs a full-time caretaker and Book Clubs sickened and were only and can be utilised all the year round by saved from total demise by incorporating churches and societies. them into the still-flourishing J.M.V.- After World War II migrants, principally Pathfinder Clubs. Saturday afternoon Mis- from war-ravaged Europe, boosted Aus- sionary Volunteer meetings, under any tralia's lagging population. Some of these name or guise, suffered almost total new Australians were Seventh-day Adven- extinction. Tract distribution, the writing of tists who had been persecuted for their faith. missionary letters and regular hospital or The newcomers zealously worked for the door to door visitation all disappeared into salvation of fellow countrymen in Au- memory's archives. Does this mean that stralasia and soon ethnic churches t.prang today's young people lack the spirituality up in all the principal cities. However, these possessed by their grandparents and people were noticeably reluctant to allow great-grandparents? Or is it merely expres- their children to join the Junior Missionary sed differently? Today's youth have little use Volunteer and Pathfinder societies. Anything for tracts; they distribute cassettes. A gift that entailed wearing a uniform, or in any subscription to a church magazine or way smacked of the organised activities of sending a suitable book takes less time than "Hitler Youth" and similar movements, was letter writing. Church-sponsored radio and anathema to them. Understandably it took television programs are available to every almost a generation to break down this home.

140 This is the era of flying evangelism and respective committees, enthusiastically young people have led the way. In 1970 a undertook the gigantic task of housing and group of Queensland youth chartered a feeding the expected 2,000 delegates. small plane and flew Bibles to such outback The campsite facilities, particularly the towns as Goondiwindi. Their idea has kitchen, electric wiring and public-address continued to grow and enthusiastic laymen, system, were totally inadequate. One whole not always in the prescribed fifteen to thirty side wall of the kitchen had to be knocked age group, visit door to door, dispensing out to provide a meal-serving area; the literature and giving Christian assistance in electric wiring had to be replaced and towns and villages where Seventh-day government permission had to be obtained Adventist workers are seldom stationed. for the importation of $10,000 worth of In these final decades of the twentieth equipment flown from Australia with a Rank century sacrifice has taken on a different Arena official who supervised its installation. form. At their own expense countless young Another $10,000 purchased camp beds for people (and older ones) have flown out to the five-man tents erected to house the mission stations to erect or repair schools, delegates. An extra 1,200 chairs were hired. hospitals and other buildings. "Fly 'n' Build" A six-pole tent with a full-width platform projects at home and in the islands have provided a meeting place, and another contributed thousands of working hours and four-pole tent with a ninety-foot circumfer- hundreds of thousands of dollars to God's ence served as a dining hall. work. Doctors, nurses, teachers, ministerial Perhaps the culinary department caused students, carpenters, mechanics, the greatest challenge of all. Two thousand plumbers —under-(and over-) thirty-year- meals, three times a day for five days, olds of all professions and trades have freely 30,000 meals in all; nothing of such given time, talents and money to help their magnitude had ever been attempted in New church and their fellow men. Still others Zealand. Eventually the Archee brothers, have manned the church's relief organisa- two Christian Chinese who conducted a tion in Kampuchea and other needy places. catering business of their own, took on the Representative of these dedicated young job for an agreed $70,000. What followed people is petite Alison Coltheart, daughter of was a masterpiece of superb planning and one of Australia's leading evangelists, and a smooth execution. With a staff of seventy- graduate of the Sydney Adventist Hospital. four helpers, the Archee brothers saw to it For three months Alison worked with other that meals, cooked fifteen miles away at the volunteers in Kampuchea in a primitive, caterers' own kitchen in Onehunga, were temporary hospital crowded with refugees. served piping hot or freezing cold as Not satisfied with that experience she gave required, and on the dot. In a record time of another year of unpaid service at the forty-five minutes, and never more than sixty Seventh-day Adventist staffed hospital in the minutes, 2,000 hungry people lined up, tiny Marshall Islands. collected their food, carried it to the dining Not to be left out of it, countless J.M.V.- tent, ate it and were off to the next meeting. Pathfinders — and others, both older and In five days the campers consumed younger—organised walk-athons, bike- sixteen tons of potatoes, 15,000 pieces of athons, jogathons, and you-name-it-athons fresh fruit, 12,000 eggs, 2, 000 quarts of to raise money for good causes. A case in ice-cream and 7,500 bottles of milk— point is the Morley (Western Australian) Club besides all the bread, cereals and salads. which organised a massive clean-athon of Although most of the food served was their town. The shire provided garbage bags European in style, three of the twenty and free passes to the rubbish dump and the cafeteria-type aisles featured island fare with Pathfinders sought sponsorships from local rice, taro and coconut dishes predominant. residents and businesses. In an amazingly The young folk were free to choose their short time the sixteen Pathfinder particip- menu, and one of the sights of the congress ants raised $2,095. was a group of fuzzy-haired delegates busily Two years of hair-tearing planning and spreading their sliced bread with pavlova. preparation preceded the Division-wide And what of the essential spiritual side of Youth Congress held at North New Zealand this great gathering? Beginning with a Maori campground, Haskell Park, from January 6 haka welcome and the colourful opening to 12, 1980. Pastor Jim Harris, Division parade of youth dressed in national costume Youth leader, and his assistant, Pastor Ken and carrying the flags of the seventeen Martin, together with Pastor Malcolm Allen, nations represented through to the final the Youth leader for New Zealand, and their challenging sermon by Charles D. Brooks, a

141 Voice of Youth teams and Pathfinder activities are popular in the Pacific islands.

1 4 2 black delegate from the General Confer- Pathfinders stood to signify their decision to ence, every meeting was a highlight. Musical be baptised. items of high quality enhanced every So much for special occasions when session. There were morning devotionals, young people meet to share their faith, afternoon Variety Hours of Bible quizzes and develop a sense of common ideals, and plan games with Robert Parr, and evening joint action. however, those times, of services with and John necessity, come only ' comparatively in- Hancock, General Conference Youth direc- frequently. What of more day-by-day, tor. The Friday night vespers, followed by week-by-week spiritual support and Christ- torchlight song and prayer service under the ian association? Local churches do much, stars, made a profound impression on the but at a certain stage it became evident that young people. The congress theme, TRUST something more was required to match the HIS WORD, was reinforced by having each special circumstances in which young delegate write a Scripture portion on people might find themselves. This is an era specially prepared lined paper. Twenty of higher education with which comes a different languages and a hundred times questioning and indeed often a challenging that many types of handwriting filled the of Christian beliefs and even more certainly pages of the huge Bible, weighing twenty- of moral values. Recognising that many five kilograms, which was completed on Seventh-day Adventist young people must Friday afternoon, bound in leather and used attend other colleges and universities in for the Sabbath services. Fervent spiritual pursuit of their chosen careers, the students appeals resulted in hundreds of young themselves formed first statewide, then people taking a decided stand for Christ; nationwide organisations that offered Chris- another eighty-three volunteered for unpaid tian fellowship and caring. SUSDASS (Syd- service within the church, and a further ney University Seventh-day Adventist Stu- forty-two indicated their desire to study for dents' Society) was the first of these. the ministry. Independent of the conference, but with the As always when crowds of young people help and blessing of various church officials meet, the "attraction of opposites" law concerned, it endeavoured to provide manifested itself and only Cupid knows how support and encouragement for university many happy marriages trace their romantic students. The success of the plan is borne beginnings to the Auckland Youth Congress. out by the ever-growing number of highly Not to be outdone, the leaders of the educated people working in church-related junior young people in the Trans-Tasman activities. Union Conference and the Trans-Australian Now in 1985 we look back over the years Union Conference, pooled their ideas and and marvel at what God has wrought. Just as went to work. The result was the largest tiny rivulets dribbling down the mountain- gathering of Adventist junior young people side swell into creeks and streams and ever held in the world. From January 4 to 9, finally become mighty, rushing rivers; so 1982, 4,032 Pathfinders from 176 clubs those small "Rivulet Societies" of long ago held a camporee at Mount Crosby on the expanded into Young Peoples' Meetings, Brisbane River in southern Queensland. Missionary Volunteer Societies, Junior Mis- Although heatwave conditions and shortage sionary Volunteer Societies, Pathfinders, of water contributed nothing to the comfort and finally into the dedicated band of of the campers, the boys and girls remained Adventist youth stepping into the last cheerful and enthusiastically took part in decades of the twentieth century, confident every activity planned for them. More than that they will see the fulfilment of their aim, 200 badges and awards were presented to "The Advent Message to all the World in THIS the juniors and on the Sabbath morning 406 Generation."

143 \‘‘il‘ y‘SION a,

9 a , Avondale College Milton Hook

**, Mr Richardson, former staff member, remembers the chapel he loved so much. When American Seventh-day Adventist intolerance. On two occasions in 1894, missionaries evangelised the South Pacific Seventh-day Adventists in Sydney had been region in the late nineteenth century, arrested and charged for working on paramount in their minds was the intention Sunday. Furthermore, there was an of training others to evangelise in co- economic consideration; scores of Austra- operation with the Foreign Mission Board of lian banks and finance companies went into the church. For this reason at the General liquidation between 1891 and 1893 as the Conference session of 1891, Pastor Stephen economic depression deepened. Thus the Haskell made an appeal for the establish- pioneers were driven to stress the need for ment of a training school in Australia. church members and church institutions to Consequently it was voted to send two be self-supporting and comparatively inde- American teachers to operate a Bible school pendent of widespread economic fluctua- for twelve to sixteen weeks, this to be "the tions. first step toward a permanent school for Their religious beliefs, educational children of all ages." philosophy, local environment, and experi- Pastor Lemuel Joseph Rousseau and his ence provided the impetus to search wife were sent to head the venture. Two carefully for a permanent school location terrace homes in St Kilda, Melbourne, were commensurate with their meagre finances. hired, and the first term of the Australasian Throughout 1893 mission leaders Bible School began on August 24, 1892. A explored possible school sites as they third home was hired the following year. travelled around Victoria and New South Pastor George B. Starr taught Bible and his Wales. Rural properties near Euroa and wife acted as matron for the boarding Benalla in Victoria, were investigated. students. Pastor William L. H. Baker, Mrs. Alternative possibilities were found in New Emma Rousseau, and Miss Eliza Burnham South Wales near Dapto, Picton, Kellyville completed the all-American faculty. In and Ourimbah. Further north, in the addition to the primary grades, a so-called Cooranbong district, the Strickland, In- Biblical Course was offered consisting of glewood and Brettville Estates were in- English, Mathematics, Bookkeeping, Geog- spected. The majority's interest narrowed to raphy and Bible. Church History and favour the Brettville Estate of 1,500 acres. Practical Evangelism were added later. The disadvantages of Brettville were its Many of the students were adults who had poor soil and the fact that students would already worked for the church as canvassers have some transport difficulties reaching or in some other aspect of evangelism. the campus because the nearest railway Some attended, therefore, for short periods station was five kilometres away over to improve themselves. Other seniors came primitive roads. However, there were advan- for one or more terms to qualify as tages arguing in its favour. There was timber booksellers, evangelistic speakers, or on site for building purposes. Dora Creek, specialists in cottage Bible studies. Just over bordering the property, was navigable by one hundred students attended from New small launches, and the estate was within Zealand and the Australian colonies at reach of Newcastle for supplies and markets different times until the school was closed in if the school should develop industries. All September 1894. this could be gained in comparative isola- The pioneers' experience introduced them tion from religious intolerance and urban first-hand to some problems inherent in a distractions. The weightier factor was its cramped city boarding school. They price at $4,500. This was three dollars an lamented the close proximity to the centre of acre compared to between fifty and seventy- the city with all its distractions; these five dollars an acre for some of the militated against serious study. Some alternative sites—a tantalising bargain. students habitually drifted to nearby fields to By early May 1894, the decision was made watch and football. The only work to buy Brettville. William White, the son of opportunities at the school revolved around Ellen White and president of the Australasian indoor housekeeping. The administration Union Conference, had paid a retaining fee felt that tutorials and study periods needed and began making arrangements to purch- to be balanced with active outdoor work to ase the land by instalments over two years. maintain health. A semi-isolated rural L. N. Lawrence was dispatched from Sydney environment therefore seemed desirable for to act as caretaker. He pitched a tent near the setting up primary industries and the study estate, hosting and guiding a retinue of of natural sciences. It would provide a interested visitors during the following geographical barrier in times of religious weeks.

146 Pastor Stephen McCullagh, who suffered from a disease of the lungs and throat, came seeking rest and fresh country air. In an early morning prayer circle among the visitors, specific request was made for his healing. McCullagh arose from his knees claiming immediate restoration, and within a few days was back in Sydney preaching to public audiences. His return to health was inter- preted by some as divine approval regarding the choice of Brettville as the school's permanent site. A. H. Benson, an adviser from the colonial Department of Agriculture, had graciously inspected the property, exploring its agricul- tural potential. He warned that "the whole of the land is sour and would require liming and draining." In his opinion it was "unwise FRANCIS ARTHUR ALLUM (1883-1948) to select the land . . . the bulk of which is valueless and will be unproductive." Francis Allum was an Avondale student in his This negative report cast a pall of doubt. mid-twenties when he was called by the General William White, in a June 10 letter to the Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to go as a missionary to China. Because mission funds proved Foreign Mission Board in America, included small, he earned the transportation costs for himself a copy and expressed his own misgivings. and his bride by selling denominational books in New The letter precipitated a hasty reply advising Zealand. the suspension of investments in Brettville Initially stationed in Honan, the Allums adopted Chinese dress, including the time-honoured queue. until 0. A. Olsen, General Conference Later they moved out to Western China. When the president, could be notified. Olsen's later Central China Union Mission was organised, Allum advice was for the pioneers to go ahead as became its superintendent. they thought best. These proceedings, After sixteen years in China ill health drove Allum however, polarised opinions. Ellen White, home to Australia, where he served in administrative positions, including secretary of the Australasian Union who had visited the property, was enthusias- Conference. tic about its possibilities. Despite the The career of Francis All um shows how Australia and occasional lapse into discouragement, she its principal educational facility, Avondale, became remained its chief protagonist. Pastors quite early bases for Adventist outreach to various parts Arthur Daniells and Lemuel Rousseau, of the world. vice-president and secretary respectively of the Australasian Union Conference, op- The Foreign Mission Board consented to posed the choice after reading Benson's the purchase of Brettville; the majority of the report and advice from the Foreign Mission delegates at the camp-meeting were in its Board. William White wavered between the favour. Hence, the Australasian Union two opinions, but nevertheless pressed Conference voted on November 20 to ahead with fund-raising and having the "proceed to the establishment of the property sub-divided by a surveyor so that Australasian Bible School on the said small lots could be sold to church members. Brettville Estate" and "complete the pay- It was planned that this income would ment." provide finance for erecting school build- However, Rousseau desperately con- ings and at the same time give needy tinued to search for alternatives. He found families a chance to become self-supporting two properties near Penrith, west of Sydney. in close proximity to schooling for their Early in December a small party including children. himself, Ellen White, and her son William, At the Ashfield camp-meeting in Sydney inspected these properties, but came away during October and November the choice of with the news that prices were in the $40,000 Brettville and White's idea of a close village to $60,000 range. Rousseau's hopes for a settlement were vigorously debated. Gener- different location were dashed in the pit of ally speaking, the village settlement idea poverty. was abandoned; a few lots south of Maitland At the same time, the furniture from the Road were sold to selected individuals, but Melbourne school arrived in Sydney; im- were gradually repurchased later by the mediate storage was imperative so it was school. sent on to Cooranbong. All were weary of the

147 College Drive, then and now. Ellen G. White and staff at "Sunnyside," 1896.

The Young Ladies Hall. "The Laurels." The water-tower after completion, 1919.

The Music Building. Avondale Brass Band, 1913.

149 protracted search, the reverses and uncer- property. A little later, using clay from the tainties. It was expedient to press ahead, estate, W. T. Woodhams manufactured utilise the better portions of the estate for bricks for public sale, stockpiling some in agriculture and establish a "school of the readiness for the new school buildings. prophets" in the woods. With sufficient land cleared, an effort was When the Australasian Union Conference made to plough the virgin soil, still hard met in January 1895, they renamed the because of winter drought. They broke the estate "Avondale," and voted to call the borrowed plough in the first furrow attemp- school "Avondale College." The Wessels ted. In desperation a larger plough was family of South Africa, people of some purchased in Sydney. With it, only widely substance, took a philanthropic interest in spaced furrows were cut to enable them to the project. Mrs Wessels, in company with hurriedly plant 1,000 fruit trees and an her daughter Anna, and son-in-law Harmon experimental plot of pumpkins, potatoes, Lindsay, visited the estate. Mrs Wessels had and melons. Despite hand watering, nearly a given $2,500 as a gift to the enterprise. Anna tenth of the fruit trees died and were promised $5,000, which arrived in Australia replaced the following year. in August 1895. The General Conference A community of Seventh-day Adventists sent $3,000 to complete final payment on steadily grew in the district, anticipating the land in January 1895. Ellen White work or an imminent school opening. T. J. donated $1,000, and others made small Sherwin, in 1894, was the first to move from loans in anticipation of the school opening Sydney to Cooranbong. Alfred Hughes, also in 1896. from Sydney, and David Lacey, from W. C. Sisley from America also visited the Tasmania, settled their families close to estate in the course of a world trip for the Avondale. Ellen White had J. G. Shannon and purpose of giving advice about church others build "Sunnyside," now serviced by buildings. During his short stay he drew up Avondale Road, taking up residence there on campus building plans which the pioneers Christmas Day, 1895. Albert and Robert followed with minor variations. Initially the Lamplough began business in black- abandoned Healey's Hotel in sleepy smithing and footwear on the corner of Alton Cooranbong was rented to house teachers and Maitland Roads. James Hansen built a and students. Tents were pitched alongside general store nearby. Others on the estate, to relieve the congestion. apart from the Hare family, were Metcalfe Hare, from New Zealand, his wife Woodhams, W. R. Carswell, Thomas and two boys, were the first to live on the Coulston, and E. Worsnop. In August 1895, "campus" itself. Their spartan tent-life was they organised themselves as the Cooran- shared at night with possums passing bong church within the infant New South unmolested through their home. Koalas, Wales Conference. Open-air services had snakes, and timid bellbirds were joint been held on the estate in the previous tenants with them. Hundreds of frog voices August. At the time of formal organisation, croaked rhythmically in the swamps. services were being conducted in the Eucalyptus trees, shedding slivers of bark dining-room of Healey's Hotel. Later they and cradling wild orchids in their branches, were to transfer to the sawmill loft—a grew majestically all around. Frosty moonlit wretched room, cramped because of stored mornings, with kangaroos puffing white school desks, unheated in winter, and vapour from their noses, gave way to sunny, oppressive in summer, directly under the silent days broken only by the tinkling of a hot corrugated-iron roof. cowbell, the echo of a hunter's dog, or the W. W. Prescott, General Conference chip-chip-chip of the tree-feller's axe. Education secretary, visited Avondale when The first department to be set up at Hare was struggling to prepare ground for Avondale College was called the Industrial an orchard. He came again when surround- Department—a euphemism for twenty to ing hills were a blue-grey haze and ablaze twenty-five valiant young men engaged for with bushfires. Hot winds were suffocating the most part in land-clearing. After each and his first impressions were uncom- six-hour workday, under the supervision of plimentary. Both Prescott and Rousseau Lawrence and Hare felling trees with axes, wanted to reverse the overriding emphasis wedges, and crosscut saws, they were on manual labour. They had observed, too, between 4 and 8 p.m. given two elementary that the Australian constituency expected classes by Rousseau and his wife. graduates with academic achievements. A Hare built a sawmill near the fern-covered full-scale school program with a better bank of Dora Creek to utilise logs cut on the balance between physical and mental labour

150 was imperative. At this time the titles by a few local people. "College" and "Industrial Department" were Later in the summer, work began dropped and "The Avondale School for alongside Bethel Hall on a second building. Christian Workers" became the new name. It began as a single-storeyed kitchen and Prescott, with Pastors Starr and Daniells, dining-room, but Ellen White suggested late also conducted a Bible Institute in tents in February a second level be added so that pitched on the campus, March 26 to April 23. the young men would not need to be The Rousseaus returned to America accommodated in tents. midway through 1896 because of ill-health Early in April, it became clear that the and were replaced by Australia's own H. C. buildings would not be ready in time. An Lacey and his American-born wife, Lillian. urgent call was made for local volunteer Both had just completed their studies at labour. Men, women, and children re- Battle Creek College, Michigan. From July sponded throughout the following two 20 to October 1 they conducted afternoon weeks. The stored school furniture was and evening classes in the sawmill loft for taken from the mill loft, repaired and about thirty local students. scrubbed. Mrs Haskell and Mrs White's Advanced academic studies were sadly nurse-companion, Sara McEnterfer, worked missed in 1895 and 1896. The orchard and alongside Iram James nailing Oregon vegetable gardens were established and the floorboards in the dining room. They thirty-five-acre swamp drained. On that punctured blisters on their hands, rubbed account the agricultural component for the Vaseline into them and worked on. Others experiment was considered a success. An cleaned Bethel Hall or painted window independent food supply, manual labour frames. Carpenters nailed the weather- outdoors, and agricultural training for the boards on the outside of the second students were assured. But lengthy court building, every hole bored with a gimlet proceedings over the transfer of the because the eucalyptus timber was so hard property title deed sapped the enterprise of that nails bent like spaghetti. Some of the finance for permanent buildings. William ladies formed a human chain to hand bricks White won the court hearing, but the to Harry Richardson laying the basement defendants appealed. He lost the second floor of the kitchen. A rainwater cistern to hearing and was ordered to pay $2,000 in hold 300,000 litres was dug midway costs. A different firm of lawyers eventually between the two buildings. When the achieved a successful transfer of the deed. summer drought broke in May, the cistern With the return to America of the much- overflowed, guaranteeing an adequate respected Rousseaus and little apparent water supply for the students that year. progress toward an early school opening Finally, the school bell was mounted out in along full academic lines, church member- front between the two buildings. ship support for the enterprise began to The united effort enabled the school to decline. open on April 28, 1897, even though the The school proper was advertised as due interior of the second building was un- to open in April 1897. Leaders could not call finished. Maximum use was made of these on the Australian membership to finance the buildings. In Bethel Hall the downstairs front buildings because of the economic depres- rooms provided housing for the school sion and the worst drought of the decade. In principal, the remainder of the rooms being desperation Ellen White borrowed $5,000 accommodation for the young ladies. Young from her friend Mrs Wessels in South Africa. men lived upstairs at one end of the second Fred Lamplough won the contract to build building and a chapel-classroom occupied Bethel Hall, the first of the permanent the other end. Downstairs was used for the structures for the school proper. Cost- kitchen and dining-room. The cook, T. W. cutting forced original plans for a brick- Skinner, and his wife, were accommodated veneer structure to be simplified to a timber in one corner of the kitchen. The dining- one. Avondale-made bricks were used only room was also partitioned temporarily to for foundation piles and chimneys. On serve as classrooms, including space for the October 1, 1896, Lamplough and Lacey primary school. measured out and dug the foundation holes. For the first month Stephen Haskell and At the end of the day it was hastily arranged his wife operated a Bible Institute, teaching for Ellen White to set a foundation brick in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Lacey place and offer a prayer of dedication. She, acted as principal pending the arrival of together with Lacey and Hare, made brief Pastor Cassius Hughes and his wife Ella from speeches at the simple ceremony attended America in late May. Hughes then served as

151 The Central school building ...... now the chapel.

-0 I

The Principal's office. The blacksmith's shop.

The landing area on Dora Creek.

152 Four ex-principals—Murdoch, McDowell. Magnusson and Cox. PRINCIPALS principal and farm manager. His wife taught 1892 (Aug)-1896 (Jun) L.J. Rousseau the primary school. Every day the rising bell 1896 (Jul)-1897 (May) H.C. Lacey sounded at 5.45 a.m. Three hours later 1897 (May)-1898 C.B. Hughes Haskell conducted a Bible class for 1899 A.G. Daniells, E.R. Palmer, everyone. The remaining hours until lunch C.B. Hughes at 1.30 p.m. were reserved for the regular 1900-1902 C.B. Hughes secular subjects: English, History, Geog- 1903-1910 (Jan) C.W. Irwin, BA raphy, Arithmetic, Physiology, Music, and 1910 (Feb)-1910 (Sep) J.H. Paap (acting) Cooking. Nature Study and Bookkeeping 1910 (Oct)-1912 B.F. Machlan were added in 1898. Three hours of manual 1913-1914 G. Teasdale work in the kitchen, dormitories, or on the 1915 J. Mills farm occupied the afternoon, supplying a 1916 J.M. Johanson and healthy counterbalance to mental exercise. F.L. Chaney Hughes was an excellent agriculturist, 1917 J.M. Johanson working alongside the young men in the 1918-1920 L.D.A. Lemke orchard and vegetable gardens. In his first 1920 H. Kirk year he established apiaries which sub- 1922 W.W. Prescott sequently yielded thousands 'of pounds of 1923-1928 (May) L.H. Wood honey for the school. Success on the farm, 1929 (May)-1929 E.E. Cossentine and a capacity enrolment of forty boarders, 1930-1931 H.K. Martin together with day students, encouraged 1932 H.K. Martin, A.F.J. Kranz these pioneers. (acting, 1st term) In August the School Board donated land 1933-1935 A.E. Speck for a Cooranbong community church. The 1936-1938 C.S. Palmer site chosen, despite Hare's advocacy of a 1939 A.H.Piper secluded spot, was a prominent corner on 1940-1943 T.C. Lawson Maitland Road at the entrance to the 1944 B.H. McMahon, BA campus. Under the direction of Hardy and 1945-1946 E. Rosendahl Lamplough, a team of carpenters completed 1947-1952 W.G.C. Murdoch, BD, MA, the building in six weeks. Jasper Clayton of PhD the Ashfield church, Sydney, made the 1953-1958 E.E. White, BA, DipEd, MSc, seats. All was ready for dedication at the PhD year-end closing exercises of the school, (E.G. McDowell, acting, October 16 and 17, 1898. The church stood January-August, 1956) as a witness to the belief that the heart of 1959-1970 E.G. McDowell, DipSocSc, school life was its religious perspective. BEd, MA, EdD Faculty and students attended there until the 1971-1980 E.A. Magnusson, BSc, PhD College church was organised in 1919; they (NSW), PhD (Lon) began meeting in the campus chapel, but 1981-1984 (Jun) J.J.C. Cox, MA, PhD used the community church for graduation 1984 (Jul)- B.W. Ball, MA, PhD services. Throughout the summer vacation most of the students and teachers were engaged in labour elsewhere. Those who remained (later renamed Haskell Hall) was completed, worked the farm. Canning fruit in prepara- except for finishing touches, at the begin- tion for the following school year became an ning of the 1898 school year. That year it annual ritual in the kitchen basement. also housed temporarily the principal and During the 1897/98 summer, 1,000 two- family as well as the primary school. quart cans of peaches, plums, pears and Midway between the dormitories, College quinces were preserved in addition to Hall, later known affectionately as "The bottled grape juice, tomatoes, jams and Chapel," was erected in 1899. Designed by jellies. The school orchard, gardens, and H. E. Thomson on an American model, and vineyard became an increasing source of built by Hare and Lamplough, it served as supply for the school pantry. the hub of campus life for about sixty years. Two bookkeeping errors totalling $5,500 The peripatetic primary school occupied the in favour of the school, together with two front downstairs rooms for a few years. promising enrolmtnts and a resurgence in The remainder of the downstairs area served constituency optimism cheered the as the main teaching rooms. Upstairs were pioneers to press ahead with the building the small library, principal's office, and program. Herman Hall for the young men spacious chapel. The school bell was

154 transferred from its outside stand to the time, with their supervisor, spent two chapel spire. months living there and learning some Mrs Lacey began a commercial depart- practical aspects of home management, ie, ment in 1898. The first primary school housekeeping, without children underfoot teachers were trained by Mrs Hughes. or in the stress of a mission field milieu. The Students in both these disciplines could gain Laurels marked the end of an era —that of practical experience at the school itself, but the timber buildings, always a fire hazard this was not possible with the students in the and prone to termite attack. new one-year nursing course conducted by In 1925 one could stand on the apex of the Mr Lacey and Dr Caro. Hence it was rise on which the school buildings were expedient to have a small nursing home on erected, near the young jacaranda trees at campus. Furthermore, Avondale's isolation the entrance to the chapel, and survey thirty from medical assistance in Newcastle, years of steady progress. To the south and especially in emergencies, underscored the west Dora Creek curved upstream to the "dry advantage of such a home. These factors led log," traditional site of campus baptisms. A to the establishment in late 1899 of the little to the right, in the distance could be Avondale Health Retreat near the church as seen the rooftop of the Health Retreat and an adjunct to the school. Another associated church. In the middle distance was the enterprise taking form on campus at the water-tower, built of concrete in 1920, the same time was the construction of a only exception to buildings of wood. A little health-food factory on the sawmill site. closer lay the green and brown farmland on Alongside, six years later, a print shop was the flat, and orchards extending around the built by students and teachers. From the back of the buildings. The barn and windmill time the school had opened, Francis were also prominently in view. Closer were Nicholas, a Pacific Islander, had done the teachers' homes, The Laurels, and girls' translation work. A small press in a corner of hall complex incorporating the kitchen, the carpenter's shanty was used to print dining-room, Preston Hall, and Bethel Hall. tracts in a variety of languages including Casting one's eyes to the front and left one Rarotongan, Tahitian, Fijian, Maori, and could see the business office built in 1910 Malay, as well as English. opposite the chapel, the boys' hall with its Enrolments peaked at 200 in 1905, war-time additions, the woodwork building, crowding the dining-room and forcing some primary school, print shop, and health-food young ladies into accommodation in a factory. The uncluttered scene represented nearby cottage. Because of this, teachers a generation of pioneering, a somewhat and students once more began major rustic and certainly sentimental period of construction on an addition, later called church heritage. Preston Hall, joining Bethel Hall with the Avondale's boarding school campus was, second building. This provided a larger however, more than a group of buildings. It dining-room, two rooms for the preceptress, was teachers and textbooks, humdrum life twenty-one student bedrooms, and a spa- interspersed with minor dramas, the aroma cious parlour. The parlour served as a of fresh bread from the basement bakery, multi-purpose room for socialising, study and cows crossing College Road at milking and worship periods, and at times housed time. Avondale was the run-walk and conference delegates during meetings, as flashing smile of Hattie Andre, teacher and well as accommodating the primary school preceptress. Avondale's many faces in- until 1913, when a separate building was cluded the snowy-haired patriarch, Haskell, finally erected for that purpose. untrained as a teacher and hence not always A trim manual arts building was erected accepted. He was in sharp contrast to the alongside the boys' dormitory in 1923. It young and debonair Lacey, well-trained and was equipped especially for carpentry and a gifted musician and teacher of Physiology joinery classes because of the curriculum and Bible. And, who could forget the long emphasis. Practical training for the young column of students marching to church with ladies was enhanced the following year with C. R. Irwin in the rear, his eyes boring holes the completion of The Laurels, the only in their backs, or the Mathematics and building predominantly American in ar- Science teacher John Paap, the big-boned chitecture. Domestic Science classes were New Zealander of German stock who held upstairs. The downstairs area was became the boys' hero? Others were Bertha modelled like a regular home with three Harlow who started the Sewing Department bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, lounge, in 1899, Maud Sisley Boyd, the elegant and dining-room. Four young women at a widow, highly respected as a teacher,

155 for courting, even by letter; the taboo placed on cricket and tennis in 1900; and the light of kerosene lamps quenched at 9 p.m. Percy Neale, on the estate from 1896 to 1899, also remembered milking cows or "scrubbers." "I am sure the value of their product never equalled the cost of their feed," he recalled. Teachers too, no doubt gathered mixed memories. In the midst of discipline problems in 1899, Haskell had lamented, "Whoever has charge of dealing with Colonial colts will not have an easy time of it, even if they are old religious men and women." More pleasant for teachers was the welcoming of new arrivals. By 1902 boats had superseded the horse and cart for CHARLES HENRY SCHOWE (1881-1952) transport to and from the railway station, so students arrived on campus via Dora Creek. A thin man with a stiff stride, a military swing of the arms, a whimsical smile, a sense of humour, and a very At the end of each year, after annual closing kind heart was Charles Henry Schowe, an outstanding exercises, it became customary for teachers "character" in the history of Avondale College as it is to farewell students the following morning at now known. Teaching was in his blood—his father was the boatshed. The school dinghies, the little a headmaster. So when he graduated from Avondale, launch Avondale, the barge Black Swan, or having earlier been secretary-treasurer of the New South Wales Conference, he was appointed to the staff. the fifty-foot cutter Auin- depending on the Schowe taught at Avondale from 1910 to 1949, when era—would then convey the students he retired, except for a ten-year period when he was downstream to Dora Creek Railway Station headmaster of an Adventist school at Strathfield, and which was built as a result of the school principal of the SDA Greater New York Academy. Schowe was a pianist and taught music; he also petitioning the rail authorities. taught Greek, Latin, history, pedagogics and at least Unforgettable, too, were the Week of one year, science. He was engrossed in the life of the Prayer testimony services in the chapel; college, serving on various occasions as preceptor of rising at 3 a.m. to travel for ingathering for the boys dormitory, head of the teacher-training missions in Newcastle; and playing host or department, headmaster of the whole academic program, bandmaster, and librarian. He married hostess at the dining-room tables after the Winifred Trunk, an Avondale teacher from America who "American (Family) Plan" was introduced in taught domestic science, a woman of charm, 1912. It was also something to write home professional skill, and wisdom. about when a visiting speaker occasionally Charles and Winifred Schowe were greatly loved by Avondale students; they were their friends. gave a lecture with steriopticon slides, or Saturday evening was spent in etiquette preceptress and matron, and Queenslander class. Rhae Allbon, English mistress and trainer of Picnics provided enduring memories too. primary school teachers. Charles and In 1904, with some initial qualms, the Winifred Schowe were enshrined in the faculty responded to a request from the memory of more students than any other students for a picnic. This became an annual teachers. As a perennial teacher of Music, event, sometimes in the summer vacation, History, Latin, Greek, English, and but usually as a diversion within the Pedagogics, and sometime accountant, academic year. Traditionally, Silverwater librarian, or preceptor, he endeared himself Beach on Lake Macquarie was chosen after to all with his kindly sense of humour. His cruising down Dora Creek and around the American-born wife taught Mathematics, little inlets. Athletic races and a game of Pedagogics, Physiology, and Domestic Sci- rounders (softball) were customary. How- ence. Their teaching careers were to ever, the highlight was the launch trip with continue into the 1940s and would doubt- community hymn-singing or just musing at less be some of the longest of those to serve the reflections in the placid water and the at Avondale. leaping of the fish. Students carried other lasting mementos There were dramatic moments of course, in their minds—the bone-rattling ride in the not always happy. The small community in horse and cart from the railway station to the 1899 was saddened when Elsie Gates, school, water-filled fire buckets (pranksters' visiting her brother, Pastor Edward Gates, delight) in the hallways; the threat of was thrown from a buggy into Sandy Creek

156 and drowned. The driver of the buggy had medical corps, came to Avondale to renew stopped to remove a fallen branch from the an approach to their chosen callings. This track, and the horse, taking fright, over- gave not only a boost to student numbers, turned the vehicle down the bank of the but also provided a body of students with creek. A parallel tragedy occurred in 1910 maturity and serious purpose. when John Clarke apparently suffered a Two appointments at this time were of heart attack and drowned while swimming particular significance: William Murdoch, a with another student in Dora Creek only Scot who had been principal of Newbold three weeks after graduating from the College, England, for many years, became Teacher's Course. There were emergencies principal of Avondale in 1947; at the same in consequence of the climate. Periodic time the college imported George W. Greer, drought was a menace, and so too were the from the United States, to lead out in musical hailstorms such as the one which devastated activity. the fruit crop in 1910. The previous year a Murdoch set in motion a rebuilding fierce bushfire raged through the campus. program which has not yet lost its momen- On that occasion flying cinders several times tum. The first building to receive attention ignited the laundry and wood heaps as was the chapel. Geoffrey Richardson, the teachers and students fought it desperately. carpentry and woodwork teacher, super- The only property loss was the doormat at vised lengthening of the building. He laid the entrance to College Hall. huge beams above extensions to the lower Not to be forgotten were the modern floors prepared earlier, cut the upper part of inventions gradually introduced at Avon- dale. It was a memorable day when Cooranbong Post Office was connected to the Health Retreat by telephone in 1906, and extended to the main school buildings five years later. With the set ensconced in the office, homesick students could hardly ring parents for a lengthy chat, and it was not until 1930 that an extension was installed for wider benefit. By 1908 wires strung across campus also meant the introduction of electric light—at first only for night use. But when a large suction gas plant was installed in 1914/1915, then daytime electricity became available. From that time novel conveniences proliferated—electric flat- irons, a steam washing machine, steam water extractor and steam mangle were introduced in 1914. An electric vacuum cleaner and steam heating in College Hall CYRIL STEWART PALMER (1893-1976) came in 1926. Two years later an automatic The career of Cyril Palmer, minister, educator, refrigerator superseded the ice-box. missionary, administrator, almost spans the first The era of wooden buildings gave way to century of Adventism in Australasia. He was born in brick in 1925 when a small Music Building Tonga, but at the age of twelve went to live in the home was erected between Bethel and College of Edward Gates at Avondale, attending classes taught by Hattie Andre. He subsequently attended the New Halls at an estimated cost of $1,000. Brick Zealand boarding school, first at Cambridge and then was chosen in an effort to sound-proof Longburn, and finally graduated from the Ministerial lesson and practice sessions. A decade later Course at Avondale. the health-food factory was transformed into At various times Palmer served as principal at the Buresala Training School in Fiji, Beulah College in brick, and then a new primary school of brick Tonga, Carmel College in Western Australia, Longburn took shape almost opposite the college College in New Zealand, and Avondale College, New principal's home. In wartime the brick South Wales—quite apart from fulfilling other respon- Science Building of similar size to the Music sibilities from time to time. Building was erected between Haskell and After retiring from full-time service he gave ten years as an assistant chaplain in the Sydney Adventist College Halls. Hospital. The close of the second world war saw a An excellent teacher and preacher, with a bright and turning point in the development of Avon- open mind, he was a firm administrator, kindly adviser dale. A number of students, their careers with a deep abiding faith—a stalwart in the develop- disrupted by military service, chiefly in the ment of Seventh-day Adventism in the South Pacific.

157 the building and pulled the rear portion over Edwin White, of England. Faculty and the beams with a tree-puller. The roof over students contributed many hours of volun- the gap thus created was enclosed that teer labour on the project, mixing tonnes of night, the workmen driven on by threatening concrete in hired mixers and creating rain. The enterprise, once completed, made laminated wooden arches from local woods. room for a library and more classroom With walls still open, and floor newly nailed space beneath as well as extra room in the down by an SHF factory working-bee, it was chapel upstairs. first used for graduation at the end of 1953. The old two-seater desks facing west were The other move initiated by Murdoch was replaced with theatre-type seats facing east the search for a way in which Avondale could and a soundshell, the brainchild of George teach and award a first degree of acceptable Greer, constructed at the opposite end to the standard and recognition. At that time to original rostrum. Then through 1951 and seek a government charter for a university 1952 the college team under Richardson was unthinkable. The Roman Catholic and that beloved college identity James Church in Sydney had unsuccessfully tried Crisp, plumber, electrician, and bricklayer, this approach for the education of its priests. known to his maintenance boys as "Unc," The idea of an external degree with designed and constructed Andre Hall, a Queensland University foundered on the substantial addition to dormitory space for Latin, or Greek, requirement for matricula- young women. tion there, nor would such a degree leave A prominent feature of the Murdoch years sufficient room for theological studies for was the work of George W. Greer, whose prospective ministers. Another problem was excellence as a choral director in the United the need to upgrade Avondale's teaching States recommended him to Adventist staff. Doctoral degrees, for example, were leadership at Wahroonga. Greer created an a almost nonexistent. capella choir, of the sort then largely A solution was found in forming a liaison favoured in America and not unlike the with Pacific Union College of Angwin, Glasgow Orpheus under Sir Hugh Roberton. California, one of the larger and more Sixty strong, rehearsing twice weekly, with progressive of Adventist tertiary institutions the parts skilfully mingled to produce in the United States. At the same time there blended harmony, The Avondale Symphonic was initiated a fairly regular program of Choir produced sounds of organ-like qual- study-leave for successful teachers to ity. It showed itself also capable of dramatic upgrade their qualifications. This work effects. It sang in the weekly Sabbath moved forward in the White era. services; it toured; it broadcast. With it was Then came Gordon McDowell. McDowell initiated a choral tradition pursued for four had been acting principal while White was years after Greer's departure by Noel pursuing doctoral studies in London. But Clapham and then to the present by Alan from 1959 to 1970 he had twelve unbroken Thrift and his associate David Clark. The years as principal. This was extraordinary. In Avondale Singers, smaller in size and with a the first sixty-eight years of Avondale's less pretentious title, preserves this tradi- history there had been twenty-seven princi- tion. Under Greer, oratorio, band, orchestra, pals, averaging only two and a half years in all received enthusiastic encouragement. leadership. Almost 50 per cent had been Would music take over the college? little more than caretaker principals, leaving Toward the end of his four years as slight impression on the college's develop- principal, years rich in spiritual leadership, ment. Murdoch made two moves which were to be McDowell's policy was to keep administra- of great advantage to the college. He saw the tive costs low and seek generous grants for need for "a big rough room" where young rebuilding purposes—a conspicuous legacy people could let off steam and which could today. First in the program, was the White be a venue for large occasions such as Memorial Building (1960), an graduation, which for many years had been administrative-classroom-library complex cared for by the erection of a circus-style tent enabling these activities to be moved out of on the front lawn. The result was a large cramped College Hall into a more com- gymnasium euphemistically called the "Au- modious and professional setting. In the ditorium," capable of seating 2,000 people same year a high school hostel was built and which with its basements has proved to primarily for children of missionaries serv- be one of the most useful buildings on the ing overseas. The building is now occupied property. Its construction was completed in by the Commerce Department. The next the time of Murdoch's successor Edward major project was the demolition of Haskell

159 Hall and the erection throughout 1963 and Professional Men, an Adventist layman 1964 of the replacement boys' dormitory group. The erection of the chemistry called Watson Hall. Extensions were also building was made possible by a substantial made to Andre Hall. More faculty homes gift from the Avondale College Foundation. were built, and finally a separate kitchen and This remarkable organisation grew from cafeteria complex was erected behind the advice given to the Australasian Division of girls' dormitories. It represented a truly Seventh-day Adventists by an Adventist massive change in the look of the college businessman, Lyn Knight. The ACF, as it estate. came inevitably to be known, formed in McDowell was an educationist in training 1978, operates a number of businesses: ACF and experience. In addition he was familiar Investments, a pathology service and a with educational practices in Seventh-day wholesale nursery, among others, for the Adventist colleges and universities in North purpose of generating funds to improve America. He was therefore able to monitor Avondale College. It has caught the imagina- adjustments to degree courses awarded in tion of many highly successful men of liaison with Pacific Union College. McDowell business. was intensely interested in the development The improvement of the physical plant did of the Adventist parochial school system not represent Magnusson's major task; that throughout Australia, New Zealand and the was the necessity of providing Avondale's islands of the South Pacific, and was graduates with qualifications well-respected concerned that teacher preparation should by the community and recognised by be such as would enable graduates to adjust various governments; Avondale was func- to the widely diverse demands upon them. tioning in a society much more sophisti- Eric A. Magnusson, formerly chairman of cated and in which government control, the science department, replaced McDowell particularly of teaching qualifications, had when McDowell was called as educational become more exacting. This was not a secretary to the Australasian Division to problem which had concerned the founders replace Edward White. Magnusson brought of Avondale. The goal had then been simply to his task an excellent academic to train people for the mission of the church background particularly in physical science, in the society of that time. It did not require a gift for clear exposition, administrative research qualifications to sell denomina- ability, and a sense of urgency. lie remained tional literature in India or unfurl a for ten years. His two doctorates, one from picture-roll in Fiji. Primary teachers the University of New South Wales and throughout Australia and New Zealand in the another from London, provided excellent government systems at the turn of the qualifications and useful personal links in century were still being trained on some- the academic fraternity. thing resembling an apprenticeship Magnusson pushed forward the im- method. Avondale was intent on providing a provement of the physical plant. He set up a balance of mental, physical and spiritual committee to produce long-term plans for growth, to fit its students for service in the the campus layout. Library extensions, home field and abroad. Prior to 1901 "Cards lecture theatres, and administrative offices of Standing" to indicate achievement were were added to the White Memorial Building. presented to a student at the close of each In this period the Avondale practicing term—that was all. schools (primary and secondary) were Thus George Masters, his wife, and son transferred to a new site at the northern end Fairley, attended the Melbourne school for a of Avondale Road. The former high school, a short time before sailing to sell denomina- new chemistry building, and the old primary tional literature in India. Prissie Prismall and school, together provided more commodi- Evelyn Gooding shadowed Ella Hughes in ous accommodation for two college de- the primary school then left to teach partments: Education and Science. A steady solo—Prismall to Melbourne and Gooding to increase in the number of married students Rarotonga. These were active, eager people led to the creation of a married students' often with a great deal of native ability who village consisting of a series of duplexes learned quickly by rising to meet the near the Avondale Memorial church. Mag- challenge of the tasks they faced. Students nusson's last effort was the building of a who were prospective ministers provided small graceful chapel adjoining Andre Hall. themselves with practical ministerial train- In the married students' project the ing outside the classroom by meeting college was greatly assisted by the generos- people and distributing literature in the ity of the Association of Business and district around Avondale, teaching cottage

160 161 Bible study groups, and giving simple who graduated from the Missionary Course medical assistance. Some organised and in 1906, became in himself the personifica- taught Sunday schools. Harold Harker of tion of the Pacific Island Mission outreach. New Zealand, for instance, led a group which Eric Hare (Missionary Course 1911, and in 1900 bought a piece of ground in Morisset Biblical-Academic Course, 1913) headed for for ten pounds, erected a miniature hall, and the Karen district of Burma where, because conducted regular meetings there. of his medical expertise in service to the From 1902 onward, with a school year people of that district, he was revered as "Dr lengthened from twenty-six to thirty-nine Rabbit." Norman Wiles (Academic Course, weeks, formal diplomas were issued. There 1914) was to die of blackwater fever while a was at first a two-year "Missionary Course" missionary on Malekula, nursed by his wife, and a "Business Course," then a four-year formerly Alma Butz (Biblical-Academic Biblical Academic Course, from which one Course, 1913; Normal Course 1914). Joseph Mills was the first graduate. In academic development one would say that the most advanced course, the Biblical-Academic Course, was equivalent to a completed high school level today. The two-year Missionary and Teachers courses would have been equivalent to the level after four years at a modern high school. Those who wished to study further attended Adventist colleges in the United States. A desire to emphasise the theological character of Avondale led to a change in its title in 1911 (a prewar year) to The Australasian Missionary College and the addition temporarily of a year at a tertiary level. In the inter-war years Avondale struggled on, academically hampered in achievement by lack of a teaching staff with tertiary qualifications themselves, and a spirit of WILLIAM GORDON CAMPBELL MURDOCH (1902-1983) extreme parochialism in educational out- look in the field. By 1940 a teacher-training William Murdoch, one of the most loved and course with a Leaving Certificate as a respected of Seventh-day Adventist educators, came prerequisite was in full swing, inspected by from a New Cumnock farm in Scotland. During the difficult war years he was principal of Newbold College, Victorian inspectors, since Victoria required England. In addition to his earlier denominational teacher registration. training in England and the United States, he added a Then came the Murdoch era with an Bachelor of Divinity degree with London, and a eventual move toward four-year courses doctorate with the University of Birmingham, while at Newbold. beyond high school in liaison with Pacific Australia owes much to him. In his four years as Union College. It was in the Edward White principal of Avondale College, he set the college on a principalship that this was brought to new course, both scholastically and in the upgrading of fruition. Such men as George Caviness, its facilities. William Hyde, and Willard Meier came across For twenty-eight years he taught at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, where he was dean for the Pacific to provide a link with the thirteen years. American college. His pawky Scottish humour was a delight to his Through the fifties and sixties the faculty students and colleagues, who were ever encouraged grew increasingly lettered. Higher degrees, by his steadfast faith and evident love of God and his especially doctorates from a variety of fellow men. universities, testified to more advanced scholastic experience and training. Most of these early graduates became part The Pacific Union degree as offered by of the full-time workforce of the church. Ella Avondale consisted of twenty units— five per Boyd, for example; a teaching graduate, year— distributed over four years with a taught in the Tongan mission school. Leaving Certificate with a pass in English as a Septimus Carr, one of the first graduates prerequisite. This worked well, except that from the Missionary Course, opened new these degrees were American, looked on mission fields in Papua. Francis A. Allum and askance by Australian and New Zealand his wife sailed for China. Andrew Stewart, universities, a situation which precluded

162 substantially the possibility of using them as means of convincing the Higher Education springboards for higher qualifications. For Board, recently created, that Avondale was the theology students this was less of a indeed achieving. problem; their natural route to advanced Avondale was able to offer a recognised B theological qualifications was by way of the Ed degree in science and a Diploma in SDA Theological Seminary, Berrien Springs, Humanities. The Humanities Department USA, part of the rapidly developing Andrews needed to upgrade its staff in qualifications University. But for teachers this was less and numbers. After this was established, the satisfactory. Australian and New Zealand Humanities Department was in fact rapidly universities on occasion might make some upgraded and began looking for the concession, but often teachers in the field introduction of a Bachelor of Education who wished to upgrade their qualifications (Humanities). found themselves working through another A series of submissions and protracted first degree—though often with considera- negotiations during the principalship of ble advantage over students coming in raw James Cox established the present (1985) from high schools. situation in which Avondale is entitled to Another problem also called for change. grant a BEd degree in a number of State governments were tightening their disciplines with 50 per cent of the content of registration requirements for teachers a sixteen-unit four-year- degree being working within their states. It was therefore teaching field content and 50 per cent desirable to have degrees and diplomas professional training in education. Avon- universally recognised in Australia and New dale, though a private institution, has the Zealand. status of a College of Advanced Education. At this stage Eric Magnusson, in 1971, However, the problem of moving into entered the scene as principal, with a post-graduate degrees in Australian and background well suited to the task of New Zealand universities has been only tackling these problems. Opportunity partially solved, since these universities will knocked at that time since there was a move generally grant only part standing to College throughout Australia to broaden the basis of of Advanced Education graduates. tertiary education by lifting the status of The thirteen or so years from the teacher-training colleges and creating other beginning of the Magnusson term of office institutions to form Colleges of Advanced to the end of the Cox principalship saw Education offering qualifications more considerable diversification in course of- specifically adapted to the professions than ferings. Avondale had traditionally provided university degrees. If Avondale could plug in courses in theology, teaching, commerce, to this new arrangement it might achieve building construction, art, music, and certain well-defined aims: it would solve the domestic science at various levels. Some of problems of teacher registration in the the new courses were extensions of these various states; it might go part way, perhaps older courses; others struck out on a new eventually the full way, to solving the line. For example in 1978, Avondale created problem of further study; it might help to a flying school with an aircraft christened solve some of the financial problems of John Tay after the pioneer missionary to Avondale students by making them eligible Pitcairn and Fiji as its first trainer aircraft. for TEAS (Tertiary Education Allowance) Motor mechanics provided another new line. benefits. The Food Services-Systems course was able The approach to this problem was first of to build on classes in food preparation which all to build up the teaching staff in numbers were part of home economics courses. A and quality. This meant further study for major departure occurred in July 1978 when able people and the appointment of new Avondale, after long negotiations with and lecturers who showed promise in Christian encouragement from the relevant govern- commitment, academic achievement, and ment agencies, began a course leading to a ability to communicate. In the Magnusson Diploma of Applied Science (Nursing) in period the development of faculty quality association with the Sydney Adventist was hardly less than dramatic. Hospital. This was to be a forerunner of a The second tool used by Magnusson was state-wide scheme to lift the status of nurse continuous assessment. External assessors, training to a higher level of professionalism mostly from universities, were appointed. and expertise using Colleges of Advanced Avondale lecturers consulted with them. Education rather than training hospitals Reports on the quality of examination scripts alone. kept lecturers on their mettle and were a Theological training received a boost also.

163 |64 Initiated under Magnusson and carried mid-year 1984, is due for completion in the along by Cox, himself formerly professor of centennial year for the denomination, 1985. New Testament at the Theological Seminary, A graceful building, it is designed to replace a Masters degree in Theology was added in the old historic chapel building as the centre liaison with Andrews. Lecturers from Berrien of Avondale's religious activities. Springs came across the Pacific to conduct Avondale looks back on ninety years of summer schools and classes were made development with a certain pride, having viable by ministers from the field given study sought achievement often with a minimum leave by their employing conferences, and of resources. It has been rich in social life; also considerable financial support. many a college friendship has deepened To those critics who state that Avondale into marriage, the couple moving often to has become increasingly secularised the distant countries with unfamiliar customs reply is correctly given that each student in and language. Reunions of former Avondale courses other than theology, where em- students have become popular. The college phasis upon religious studies is over- administration has encouraged this by whelming, is required to take a Bible subject following the American practice of organis- each year. ing a "Homecoming" each year. On these Avondale may have changed its methods, occasions nostalgia is thick, old friendships but its central objectives remain unaltered. revived, stories of student escapades freely After approximately nine decades Avondale swapped: "Remember when we won the Roth is a multipurpose institution offering a high Shield from the Royal Life Saving Society, for level of scholastic work on the one hand and the greatest number of points obtained that a range of practical skills on the other, all year?" "Remember when Marjorie Conley designed to supply the Seventh-day Adven- sang the soprano solos for the annual tist denomination with competent "workers" Messiah?" "Remember that trip out to as well as laymen capable of not only Bourke on aerial evangelism?" earning a living, but also of carrying Ellen White, the chief protagonist of those responsibility in the individual churches. who believed the Brettville Estate should be For all its diversity the student body is purchased, declared Avondale to be "holy bound together by a common Christian ground" set apart for a distinctive purpose. philosophy: a belief in salvation in Christ, The ground of the school farm was to belie obedience to God's commandments, and its critics, the teachers have shown consis- hope in the return of our Lord. The centrality tent dedication and initiative, and the of this Christian outlook received emphasis students, having enjoyed a thorough Bible- during the James Cox era with the planning based education in the school of Christ, have of a church building on the college campus, gone out "to tell all nations." Time cannot with facilities for Sabbath school classes for erase the achievements; it must not dim the the young and rooms for the pastoral staff. goal. The actual erection of this edifice, begun in

165

.1 The Seventh-day Adventist Church in thorough type of preparatory schooling for Australasia launched its own day school those planning to enter the pastoral ministry system in the late 1890s. In fact, there is of the church. good evidence that the total worldwide In fact, the church in North America system of Adventist schools was conceived laboured through the 1870s and 1880s to in Australia during that same period. set up an acceptable type of worker training The Adventist school system in Australia college system. Ellen White found it difficult emerged at a time when it might have been to turn the minds of the church leadership least expected. Earlier in the nineteenth toward the practical, rural, Bible-based type century, governments had been funding a of education she was advocating. For dual religious/public system of schools. example, the first college was placed in the With the discrediting of many of the religious heart of the city of Battle Creek in Michigan. schools and the subsequent withdrawal of She wept when she heard that those treasury funds from them, the 1870s and responsible had turned away from finding a 1880s saw the setting up of a public system rural location with ready access to the of schools in which Scripture might be natural world and the opportunity for taught by representatives of the various agriculture. religious denominations. At this time, when It is apparent that Ellen White saw in most churches were drawing back from Australia and New Zealand a chance for a conducting their own schools, the Seventh- fresh start in Adventist education. On her day Adventist Church caught a vision of a arrival in 1891, she advised relocation of the complete system of schools for its children first Bible training school (St Kilda Road, and young people. Melbourne) to a rural setting. By the The idea could hardly be said to have been mid-1890s she was ready to advocate a total imported from overseas. In 1890 there were system of Adventist day schools wherever but nine Adventist primary schools there was a company of believers with worldwide, and these were almost all children, throughout the world. The situa- attached to Seventh-day Adventist colleges. tion in Australia at the time was a catalyst for There were in fact no Adventist secondary the type of commitment for which she schools at the time—and barely any public called. secondary schools either. These were products of the early twentieth century. By 1895 the worldwide rollcall of Adventist schools had grown to eighteen. There was still no suggestion that they should be provided for the large proportion of the church constituency. Why, then, did Adventist church schools in Australia emerge in the year 1897? And why did they then come to be regarded as necessary for all children of all Adventist families? The answer to both questions is tied up with the person and ministry of Ellen White, one of the pioneers of the Seventh- day Adventist Church in the United States, who took up residence in Australia from 1891 to 1900. Ellen White had commenced to write on "proper education" as early as 1872. She LUCY MABEL BEAMS (c. 1883-1951) had referred to the need for "an equal interest in the physical, mental, moral, and Lucy May Beavis, remembered by those whom she spiritual education" of the learner. As well, instructed as a woman with a soft, friendly voice and smiling, discerning eyes, taught church school for she had emphasised the importance of forty-one years of the sixty-eight she lived. She is health education, the study of the natural typical of many Adventist women working as world, the importance of an "inward love of sole-charge teachers in the back rooms of Adventist thought"—the habit of "reflection and churches who quietly and prayerfully won the hearts of investigation" beyond mere their pupils and watched them go on to play significant roles in the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. memorisation—of "daily, systematic She rests in the cemetery of her home town, labour," and of the study of the Bible. In the Leamington, in the Waikato district of New Zealand. first instance, she seemed to have in mind a

168 It came about like this: In the mid-1890s Ellen White was attending an Adventist camp-meeting in Melbourne. Several of the talented church ladies, including one or two of Ellen White's assistants, had made special provision for daily religious meetings for the children of the campers. These children's meetings were a notable success. Ellen White saw them at first-hand, realised their potential for good and threw her considerable influence behind per- petuating this type of work daily throughout the year. Her goals were clearly evangelical as she wrote: The good seed sown in these meetings should not be left to perish for want of care. Many parents would rejoice if the instruction given to their children at the camp meeting could be continued. How could such work be maintained away GEORGE ARTHUR CURROW (1900-1982) from the campground? George Currow was the son of Louis and Elizabeth "They [the parents] would gladly place their Currow, among the earliest workers in the medical field children in a school where the same principles were in Australia. Trained at Avondale as both minister and taught and practised. teacher, he is typical of those hard-working responsible Then with a touch of authority, Ellen White teachers and educational administrators who by great announced: diligence studied as they taught to meet the increasing This is the work to be done in America, in demands of rising scholastic expectations in the Australia, in Europe, and wherever companies are Adventist educational system and in society generally. brought into the truth. . . . Schools are needed Currow eventually took out a masters degree in Latin at where Bible instruction may be given to the children. Sydney University. The schoolroom is needed just as much as is the George Currow studied and taught history. tie also church building. loved music: his tenor voice was greatly appreciated in It might be asked: Why not make use of the choirs, his double-bass playing valued in orchestras. As a teacher, thoroughness was his watchword; as a Scripture classes taught in the regular public headmaster he was quietly firm, efficient, and kindly. schools? Clearly, this would not answer the For forty-seven years he served God by serving the need. The Adventist Church saw its work as a young people in the schools of the Seventh-day continuation of the Protestant Reformation; Adventist Church. to keep faith with its mission it would need to provide teachers deeply committed to the son of Ellen White, concentrated as much on present reforms. As well, weekly Scripture the Antipodean fauna as on the children classes were not seen as sufficient. Ellen themselves. The grounds were said to be White envisaged Adventist children placed shared with a family of kangaroos, numer- "under the very best teachers, who will make ous wallabies and possums and a dwindling the Bible the foundation of all study." population of koala bears. Cockatoos and From that point onward the Adventist parrots were seen occasionally and bellbirds church school system saw phenomenal and whipbirds were heard daily. Less growth. From five schools in 1890 and welcome were the flying foxes, tiger cats and eighteen in 1895, Adventist schools by 1900 snakes, the last-mentioned being "much had grown to 220 institutions in the United talked about, but rarely seen." States alone. As well, there were schools in The Avondale Primary School was still Canada, England, Australia, Switzerland, operating in Bethel Hall when Ruth Lane (nee Sweden, Germany, Africa, Argentina, Den- Hare) attended there in 1908. She recalled mark and Brazil. an attractive interior with cloth pieces sewn Australia's first Adventist primary school into multicoloured squares in place of was opened on April 28, 1897, on the linoleum or woven carpet. As well, she campus of the Avondale School for Christian remembered the pupils were directed at Workers. There were twenty-five primary times to play across the path among the pupils that year in a total of eighty-two orange trees which occupied the space enrolled at the college. The school was presently held by the main administrative temporarily housed in a room in the ladies' building of Avondale College and its dormitory. immediate environs. By this means they In describing the scene at that first church would not distract the senior students from school, expatriate American William White, their studies in the main chapel building.

169 Avondale School for Christian Workers, 1897.

The first Adventist school in Australia at St Kilda, Melbourne, 1892.

1 70 Prospect, South Australia, 1909.

Avondale faculty (date not known). Avondale faculty, 1929. Below: Carmel, 1910. The goals of that initial church school were of the church school system in Australasia. one with those of the model college with The setting up of the church school work which it coexisted. The school work was to at Avondale was part of a total plan to plant be practical. The mental, moral and physical Christian education throughout the whole of powers were to be "harmoniously de- Australia and New Zealand. At the July 1899 veloped." "Sound, Christian character" was Union Conference Session, Ellen White aimed at as well as the awakening of the reminded parents of their responsibility in "desire to enter some line of Christian work." the character development of their children. It is evident that this initial school was not They were to "educate their children aright merely a matter of convenience to cater for . . . fitting them to become missionaries for the children of the college teachers and of Christ in truth, in righteousness, in holi- the senior students. By that time the nearby ness." Dora Creek Public School had been func- Later that year it was re-emphasised that a tioning for twenty-seven years and was church school was needed wherever there readily accessible by boat at first and then by was a church, and plans were announced for wagon. Rather, the Christian home and the the commencement of a teacher training Christian school were seen as engaged in program at Avondale. In August of the the one exercise. Both were to provide "an following year the Union Conference Com- experimental knowledge of the plan of mittee assigned three education leaders salvation." Both were to give themselves to within the church the task of selecting the task of developing in the child faith in portions from Ellen White's writings on the Christ and growth in Christian experience subject of education as a means of and character. promoting the work of church schools. Ellen White was not only the main Within a short time, local conference after visionary founder of the Avondale Primary local conference voted to move into a School: her home was nearby and she program of Christian education in the home remained for three years to advise on how and the school as soon as possible. The the school might develop. She found the resolution of the New South Wales Confer- Australasian field much better prepared to ence read, in part, as follows: take her advice in educational matters than Recognising the value of early Christian training, the Battle Creek, Michigan, field had been. we would urge upon all parents the importance of For example, Principal C. R. Palmer stated beginning this work through the agency of home that they wanted to make the school "after training and the church school. the pattern showed on the mount (Mount A church and family school secretary was Sinai), rather than after what is imported or appointed to promote the "establishment borrowed from some other institution." In and upbuilding of this important branch of similar vein, Mrs C. B. Hughes, an early the Lord's work." primary teacher at Avondale, was influenced Ellen White had given her call. Cogent to adapt Scripture words and passages for reasons were given from Scripture and from the teaching of reading to the infant classes. everyday life. Denominational leaders and Avondale Primary School, Australasia's conferences in session gave their official earliest Adventist church school and its backing. When the invitation to establish longest in continuous operation, was given church schools reached the believers in the its first separate building opposite the churches, they responded enthusiastically. earliest "boys' hall" and not far from the The new century was barely six years old original Avondale sawmill. It was a modest before church school work had been wooden building with two classrooms. launched in every state of Australia and in Florence Rutter (nee Searle) remembers New Zealand. Resources and precedents for attending it in 1912 and playing under the this new Bible-based, God-centred, har- same camphor laurels which presently moniously balanced education were shade the Ellen G. White/Research Centre. meagre. School quarters were, more often From those early days the college super- than not, improvised in the back rooms of vised the school and sent its teaching Adventist churches. However, home com- students to practise their pedagogy there. mitment, teacher devotion and keen pupil The school, later transferred to a new and involvement saw a strong foundation laid. larger site opposite the barn and most The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Au- recently to the airstrip site on Avondale stralasia has built significantly, during its Road, Cooranbong, has been pivotal to the first one hundred years, on that early development of Christian philosophy, cur- foundation. riculum and teaching method for the whole Victoria led the way in the week following

172 Easter 1900, with a lively school of forty-six farmyard was the playground. At recess pupils and one teacher in rooms at the North times the children roved the paddocks, Fitzroy church, Melbourne, the home of gazed down through the waters of the dam, Australasia's first publishing house. Within a ran their fingers through the moist fleeces of week, the enrolment had climbed to over the sheep and watched them being shorn sixty and a second teacher had to be added. with hand shears. At lunchtime, like the A third teacher was needed by 1902. students of the Master Teacher of old, they Enduring friendships and lifelong com- would pluck the heads of ripe wheat, rub mitment to Christian service have long been them in their hands and eat the grain on the concomitants of Adventist education. So it walk. was at that early North Fitzroy school. Two of Church school opened in January 1901, at the lads one day promised unending loyalty Stanmore, an inner suburb of Sydney. The to God's service and each other. One was school belltower and classroom are Eric, son of early New Zealand convert present-day reminders of that pioneering Robert Hare. The other was Roy, eldest child work. of early Melbourne believer Albert Anderson. Gladys Bagnall, daughter of Robert Shan- One was to take his place as a world- non, builder of the Stanmore church and renowned missionary to Burma and school, can remember to this day visiting the storyteller to the children of the church in Stanmore church school as a preschooler, many lands. The other was to become an enjoying the happy classroom atmosphere outstanding public evangelist in both and the "horsie" rides on teacher Sisley's hemispheres and for decades an inspira- back at recess time. A brother, Arthur tional leader of evangelists throughout the Governor Daniells Shannon (somewhat globe. inaccurately named after early Adventist With the transfer of Adventist publishing leader Arthur Grosvenor Daniells) also work to the Upper Yarra district of Victoria, attended the Stanmore school. Arthur later church school work promptly blossomed in became a prominent lay preacher in Sydney, Warburton. Opening day in May 1906, saw bringing in over sixty members to the early Katie Pretyman (nee Judge) meeting in a tent church from 1919 to the early 1920s. He was on the banks of the Yarra River with twelve also a leading promoter of the breakfast pupils. Some months later the school family cereal Weet-Bix. moved into a shed on the side of the hill and, Mary Park (nee Robinson), still living and in 1909, occupied the church hall. ninety-three in May 1984, was a foundation Those days are recalled with pleasure by pupil of the Stanmore school. She remem- Ormond, a younger son of Albert Anderson, bers walking the five kilometres to school later to become a denominational and back among the passing sulkies and evangelist. The day started with a march horse-drawn wagons. Oblivious of the fact around the grounds and a Bible story, with at that the Commonwealth of Australia had least one text memorised per week. Arithme- been launched that same month, her mind tic, drawing, writing and "concentration" was on the bigger things of life: the exercises (recalling items previously viewed commandments of God, the love of Jesus by the group) followed. Slates and and His soon return, and the fact that their copybooks were in frequent use. school could give them entry qualifications Victoria provides an interesting illustra- to the recently founded Avondale College, tion of the promptness with which church the best of all gateways to Christian service. school work might follow the setting up of a Ella Robinson (nee Sharp), who turned church group. Soon after an Adventist ninety-one on January 6, 1984, also has colporteur had moved through the De- clear recollections of attending the Stan- venish/Boxwood district, west of Benalla, a more school from its opening year with one church company was organised. That was brother and two sisters. Her father, Pastor mid-1904. By 1906, Leah Ferris was Frederick Lacey Sharp, was manager of the teaching a school of six pupils—two Smiths nearby Summer Hill Adventist Sanitarium from Devenish and two Beattys and two and the first elder of Stanmore church. Dunlops from Boxwood. Pastor Sharp subsequently became a leader Eileen Scarfe (nee Smith) has indelible in the early health food work of the church memories of travelling each day in a and later manager of the Sydney Sanitarium four-wheel buggy to Boxwood where school and Hospital. At that time the family moved was held in a regular classroom built into the to Wahroonga. Changes in the Adventist Beatty home. The boys in the class were centre of gravity within the city led to the expected to learn to sew—and did. The closure of Sydney's original school as also

173 Imp At. I NI w • •

owqm.— Longburn, new Zealand. Longburin, 1984.

Avondale Commercial class. Cooranbong High School Physics class.

Pitcairn Island school. Jones Missionary College.

174 had occurred in Melbourne. Hobart church in Warwick Street. Wahroonga church school was operating In those early days in Tasmania, there was strongly by 1907 in Fox Valley Road on the additional stimulus to the opening of church site of the present Fox Valley Store opposite schools in the fact that fees had to be paid in Strone Avenue. Early students remember the state schools. This prompted many seeing the lamplighter at work each evening non-Adventist parents to choose the church at dusk, making his way along the unsealed system. Sometimes the non-member en- road. Ernest Baldwin's Stanley Steam Car rolment noticeably exceeded the church and the Sanitarium's T Model Ford provided enrolment. For example, the Launceston occasional variety and entertainment. school, opening in 1904, on the Maitland Teachers in those days did not have it easy and Percy Streets site, soon had twenty-six, in forging a church school curriculum in view of a total of thirty-two pupils, from of all of its special demands with little non-Adventist homes. As well, the precedent to follow. However, students of Bishopsbourne church school, also in the the original Wahroonga school can readily north, opened in 1906 with an enrolment of recall many heart-warming incidents. Cyril nineteen pupils, only four of whom were Watson, son of Australasian Union president from Adventist homes. Charles Watson, remembers that Norman Queensland responded to the call to open Faulkner rarely used his undoubted physical church schools in 1902, when a prosperous strength to manage his occasionally restless school was commenced in South Brisbane. charges, choosing instead to use judicious Within a year the enrolment had reached praise and expressions of genuine disap- twenty, with pupils' ages ranging from five to pointment to guide behaviour and choices. fourteen years. The school continued Robert Pretyman, son of union secret- through to the end of 1904. ary/treasurer Cecil Pretyman, recalls the day New Zealand believers expressed an when his teacher May Schnepel relayed news interest in setting up church schools from of the tragic death of Norman Wiles, the very earliest times. Joseph Hare, missionary on Malekula, New Hebrides, and baptised by Stephen Haskell in March 1886, the sense of shock and grief felt throughout had been a teacher in the state school the school. system in Ireland. He and others in the Kaeo Church school work commenced within company north of Auckland, sent a call for the bounds of the present North New South an Adventist teacher to be sent from the Wales Conference in those early times. A United States. No teacher arrived. beginning was made at the Wallsend church The South Island Adventists were also in 1901. Like its contemporaries the school looking forward to having their children in was notable for its interest in the personal their own schools. Under Stephen McCul- salvation of its pupils. A report on the school lagh's ministry at Kaikoura, to the north of in 1904 advised that on a recent Sabbath Christchurch, John Paap accepted Adventist three pupils for whom they had "been . teachings and by 1893 led in the erecting of praying so long" gave themselves to the the first Seventh-day Adventist church in the Lord. The Wallsend school closed within South Island. A schoolroom was attached to several years, but Christian education in the the rear of the building in readiness for a Newcastle area had resumed again, this time church school. at Hamilton, by the outbreak of the first In fact, Ponsonby led the way with a school world war. operating in 1902. It faced attendance and The north coast opened its first school in financial difficulties and did not continue May 1908 at Corndale, on the Richmond beyond the year. Early in 1903, Christchurch River not far from Lismore. Soon after, a also conducted a church school for several school was operated for a time at Kyogle. months, with a state-trained teacher, W. J. The Tasmanian Conference was also Smith, in charge. Like the Ponsonby school, operating its first church school by 1901. it did not have adequate resources to Two years before, Ellen White had met Kate maintain a continuing operation. Judge (later Mrs Cecil Pretyman) and advised The Dominion's first ongoing school was her to add a year at Avondale to her opened in the second half of 1903 at Tasmanian teaching credentials. This she Napier—the earliest centre of gravity for did in 1900 and returned to open school in Adventism in New Zealand. Smith again was Harrington Street, Hobart, in rented rooms the teacher. With the church unanimous in believed to have been annexed to the Baptist its appreciation for the school, tuition was church. By 1904 the school had moved into offered free to all church families. Two other the church building complex of the new churches were prompt to follow—Wellington

175 in February 1904, catering for Lower Hutt In April 1913, the New Zealand School was and Petone, as well, and New Plymouth in the relocated at its present site at Longburn, Taranaki region in January 1905. near Palmerston North, where for over An interesting feature of the earliest seventy years it has played an important part church schools in New Zealand was their in church worker training, including Theol- determination to offer a distinctive Adventist ogy, Teaching and Business Studies. curriculum. For example, New Plymouth Within the bounds of the present South used denominational publications for read- New South Wales Conference, the challenge ers; Napier included physiology, nature of Adventist education found a ready lessons, manual work and simple accounts response. A school was opened at Eugowra, in the array of subjects offered, along with "beyond the mountains," on May 9, 1904. Bible and the regular school subjects of the Thomas Robert Kent bought a copy of The day. As well, Vesta Farnsworth, The House Great Controversy from an Adventist colpor- We Live In and Ellen White, Early Writings teur and finally decided to keep the Sabbath. were featured in the reading program, and a A church company and then a combined grammar book by pioneer American Adven- church and school building were achieved tist educator, Goodloe Bell, was put to good without the assistance of a resident minister. use in sentence studies. On opening day there were ten pupils in A sixth New Zealand church school was attendance, "most of whom had never opened near Cambridge, in the Waikato attended school" before. district, in 1908 on the first campus of the The young people of the school had all-New Zealand boarding school. William visions of an effective place in the work of Richards, one of the early pupils of the God. This was evident to a visiting church Cambridge school and later local and union administrator Frederick Paap, who wrote, conference president, still remembers with notable perception: "I am fully per- walking the five kilometres from his home, suaded that the time is coming when some associating with the college boarding stu- of our Eugowra church-school scholars will dents in church services, and enjoying the sound this glorious message in both the classes of Mabel Piper (later Mrs H. White). home and foreign fields." For her part, Mrs White, a 1904 graduate of He could hardly have put it better had he Avondale College and presently resident in written with hindsight instead of foresight. the Charles Harrison home at Cooranbong, One count is said to have uncovered fifteen recalls a body of parents proud of their pupils from Eugowra church school who school and thoroughly behind its goal of either entered Adventist church employ- preparing young people for a place in God's ment or became wives of church employees. work. Four sons of H. E. Kent, son of Thomas The opening of the New Zealand boarding Robert Kent, after attending the school, school in 1908 was a milestone in the became pastors: Tom, Herb, John and development of Christian education in Hilton. A fifth son, Len, was also ordained; Australasia. Operating under the name he had been too young to attend the school. "Pukekura," Maori for "I love the place," the Two sisters, Mary and Ruth, both saw active school offered a high-quality, well-balanced overseas mission service as missionary education to many hundreds of New Zealand wives. young people. Ruby Chatman, later the wife of Pastor Along with the Darling Range School in Norman Ferris, and Mary Pennington (nee Western Australia, the New Zealand School Chatman) served the church overseas. was part of a master plan encouraged by the Margaret Thomson Griffin became a minis- newly appointed Australasian Union director ter's wife. In addition others from the school of education, Lewis A. Hoopes. An expatriate became loyal members and officers of local American, he saw remarkable progress congregations. Even though the school toward the ideal of providing a continuous closed in 1917, the record of the Eugowra education for Adventist young people from church school stands as a constant witness the earliest years of primary school through to the true purpose of Adventist education. to final preparation for service at Avondale. Organised as a conference in 1902, As well, using as a basis courses originally Western Australia was prompt in providing developed at Adventist schools in the United church schools. In 1903, it voted that States, Hoopes worked toward distinctive "church schools be established in all our Adventist curricula and textbooks for Aus- churches as rapidly as conditions are tralasian church schools and boarding favourable." Osborne Park, a suburb of colleges. Perth, led the way in 1905 with fourteen

176 Pacific Island Colleges ...

7111111 111111 111111 Yi■111111■1111■11111111uIPP"

177 pupils under the care of Prissie Prismall. the far side of the continent, the college was Upper Preston, some twenty kilometres away to a confident start. from Donnybrook in the south-west, fol- In those earlier years the work was of an lowed, with eleven pupils meeting in the "intermediate" or secondary level, with home of George Chapman, senior. special provision for business and secreta- One of those Upper Preston pupils, Will rial studies and industrial-type work on the Chapman, transferred from a nearby state farm, in the manual departments of the school and remembers to this day the thrill college and in the nearby health food of Bible classes in a day school. He went on factory. Ages ranged from mid-teens up to to play a vital part in creating and thirty with some of the older students at maintaining the famous Carmel College times going directly into church employ- orchard. His brother, and fellow school ment. pupil, George Chapman, Junior, served with In the adjoining valley, George Palmateer distinction as leader in the health food work provided land for the Heidelberg, later of the church, both in Australasia and Bickley, church school at the foot of the California. valley, where it opened in late 1907. Myrtle The third area in Western Australia to take Howell (nee Palmateer) recalls a building a up church school work centred on the little over seven metres square with some Heidelberg district, later called Bickley and twelve children in attendance taught by Carmel, in the Darling Ranges, twenty-five Violet Bramford. Her father's paddock kilometres directly west of Perth. Two young across the gravel road was the playground. men, Charles Ashcroft and George Pal- George Masters, son of Fairley Masters, mateer had settled in adjoining valleys just student of the original St Kilda Road school prior to the turn of the century and were and Australia's first overseas Adventist converting the virgin bush into citrus and missionary, also attended Bickley school stone-fruit orchards. Then a Seventh-day after his father returned from India in 1896 Adventist colporteur moved through the to take up colporteur work and set up home district and left his mark for all time. in Western Australia. Pastor George Masters Subsequently both young couples were (born in 1899) recalls playing rounders as a baptised, and both had an immediate seven-to-ten-year-old on the banks of concern for the Christian education of their Honeysuckle Creek and searching unsuc- own children and those of others. cessfully in the water for his ball—which he This author has vivid recollections of could ill afford to lose. The present Charles Ashcroft's personal description in generation of Bickley youngsters will no the 1950s of how he came in 1906 to give his doubt know what to do should they find it in property "to the Lord" for the setting up of a their rum magi ngs. boarding school. He asked for a specific Bickley school was relocated soon after- sign, actually from the sky above, to be wards in an annex to the Bickley church and fulfilled on a particular day if he should pass then in the late thirties was moved to its his land over. No answer came in the present site in First Avenue, midway morning, at noon or in the afternoon. Then, between the church and the college. It after dusk, it came unmistakably and he shares with three other church schools the knew God's hand was in it. The Darling distinction of remaining in continuous Range Boarding School, later named West operation since the first decade of this Australian Missionary College, and presently century: Avondale, since early 1897, War- called Carmel College, was the speedy burton, since May 1906, Wahroonga, since result. early 1907, and Bickley, since late 1907. By June of the following year regular By the second term, 1908, Western studies were being offered, even while Australia had added a fourth church school, building work was continuing. During that to the north at the farming settlement at time Ashcroft's home served as dormitories, Bookara. kitchen, dining-room, classrooms and South Australia completed the roll call of chapel for seven boarding students and four conferences to make a commitment to who came in from the nearby community. Adventist education with the opening of a The enrolment increased to twenty-eight in church school by the Prospect church in the the second year. With the erection of an last quarter of 1906. There were seventeen attractive administration and classroom pupils in attendance, housed in the rear of block, the provision of adjoining dor- the original church building in Balville mitories and the establishing of courses Street. which gave a suitable lead into Avondale on One of the early pupils of the Prospect

178 school remembers reading from the True Queensland (1914), the launching of the Education Reader Series and studying first Adventist school in the South Island of physiology from The House We Live In. He New Zealand at Christchurch (1915), and a travelled to and from school each day on a surge of growth in Western Australia with the horse-drawn tram. opening of new schools at Fremantle and South Australia opened its second school Narrogin in 1915 and at Kalgoorlie—the only at Kangarilla in March 1907, with seven city this side of the New Jerusalem to have pupils, operating at first in the Thorpe streets paved with gold— in 1917. home. A further school was added in 1910 at During this same decade, country Kensington. churches in two other conferences brought These, then, were the achievements of the the advantages of Christian education into first decade of church schools in Australia: their own communities. Picturesque Mount the all-important inspirational impulse, Gambier in South Australia opened its first commitment at all levels from the Australa- church school in 1918. In that same year the sian Union Conference down to the local beautiful Huon Valley in the heart of church and the individual family, teacher Tasmania's apple-land gained its introduc- dedication and pupil interest. As well, tion to Adventist education under Nettie leaders such as Hoopes had caught a vision Hare (later Mrs E. J. Johanson). Two years of a total system, with boarding schools at later the thriving Adventist community of Longburn and Carmel linking the home and Collinsvale on the other side of the Sleeping church schools to Avondale College. Beauty range followed suit. Yet, much remained to be done. School The late twenties and early thirties with finance needed a stronger base. Secondary their depressed economic conditions had schooling was to emerge as an accepted part their effect on the schools. However, a new of normal education, and the Seventh-day commitment to Union Conference financial Adventist Church had to be ready to move support (see the following section) and an with the times. A mechanism was needed for unabated desire to give the children the best continuously developing distinctive Adven- in all-round development, saw a ready tist courses and resources. Teacher- comeback. During this period church school preparation courses needed to become work opened in a number of important more specialised and, some came to centres including Rockhampton (1934), believe, capable of being built upon Wanganui and Palmerston North (1936). academically during the in-service period. Growth in existing schools during the These were some of the challenges faced middle and late thirties was no less notable. and met during the coming decades, for by For example, Wanda Niebuhr (later Mrs any standards, the growth of the Seventh- Boulting) in Christchurch taught up to day Adventist church schools in Australia forty-eight pupils in Years 1-6. When Gordon and New Zealand this century has been McDowell, the new school principal, and phenomenal. As Table 1 shows, the increase later Education director of the Australasian for all but two decades has been in excess of Division, arrived in her room in 1936, he 50 per cent. Into the 1970s and 1980s, when asked if there was a school assembly being growth in many Australian school systems conducted. On inquiring where the teacher's has either levelled out or gone into reverse, desk was, he was told it was outside in the new Adventist schools have been added at corridor. an unprecedented rate, and enrolments in There was a still more significant de- existing schools have continued to swell. velopment in Adventist education during the While it took forty years to reach the first 1930s—the emerging of the day secondary 1,000 in total church school enrolment, the school. And thereon hangs a story—the second 1,000 was achieved in less than story of a man, in the right place at the fifteen (1940 to the early 1950s). Since then needed time. an average of 1,000 has been added every William Gilson came to Avondale College six years. (See Figure 1.) in the early 1910s, unsure regarding his In the face of difficult economic times and lifework. One morning he stepped off the in the absence of specific local conference front porch of the chapel and had a scrap of support for church schools, the early years paper, torn from an envelope, thrust into his saw the closing of a number of schools in the hand. Scrawled in pencil were the words: homefields and a decline in overall enrol- "We are short of a teacher at the primary ments. However, the recovery was prompt school. The faculty think you would make a and saw the opening of the church's first good teacher. Please report to the school school for Aborigines at Mona Mona in north this afternoon." The note was signed: "C. H.

179 You'll find Adventist education in all corners of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

180 181 Schowe." decade. This included West Leederville (later The faculty were right. There commenced Victoria Park) in Western Australia, Prospect that day more than a half century of interest (South Australia), Moonah (Tasmania), Bur- in and commitment to Christian education, wood and Hamilton (New South Wales) and unique in the annals of the church. William Christchurch (New Zealand). The work Gilson had a rare blend of inspirational commenced by Gilson was passed on in the philosophy, outstanding practical teaching mid-thirties to Benjamin MacMahon who led ability in both classroom and pulpit (people the education work of the Australasian field alive today can still recall individual lessons and later the Trans-Tasman Union with and sermons they heard from him thirty to characteristic dedication and vigour. fifty years ago), and that kind of leadership The teaching staffs in the new secondary ability which elicits willing devotion and schools were called upon to carry no cooperation. ordinary burdens. At the time, Avondale William Gilson's first appointment was to College was providing preparation for the Auburn school in Sydney. The school primary teaching only, so that most of the was quickly overflowing and he realised that teachers had no tertiary background in the to be true to its trust the church would need secondary subjects they were required to to offer secondary classes and bridge the teach. This meant, at times, that they had to gap between primary school and Avondale. "keep a chapter ahead" of the students and Albert Anderson, Union Conference director do their own tertiary studies on the run. of Education, had a similar commitment and An added complication for these early arranged for Charles Schowe and his wife to Adventist secondary teachers was the open the Australasian church's first all- amazing array of subjects within the secondary day school at Patterson Street, curriculum which they were required to Concord (Sydney), nearby, in 1919. The teach, and, often, to more than one class at a Concord school operated for several years, time. Mercifully, the numbers in the classes then handed the job back to the secondary were typically small. They carried the load in classes offered at the top end of the primary the heat of the day and the church owes schools at Wahroonga, Auburn and Mar- them an enduring debt of gratitude. Their rickville. numbers include Charles and Winifred Meanwhile, Gilson had been transferred Schowe, George Currow, Edith Smith (later back to Avondale where, in spite of some Gane), Evelyn Cleary, Harry Millist, Benjamin opposition, he prepared his secondary MacMahon, Gordon McDowell, Harold students for New South Wales public O'Hara, Archibald Hefren, Lionel Turner, examinations—the Qualifying and Inter- Alan Westerman, Walter Whisker, Vincent mediate Certificates. One of his 1922 pupils, Pascoe and Grace Stewart (later Thrift), most Thelma Smith (later Tudor), still recalls how of whom are still alive and in remarkably he organised the class into a newspaper good health forty or fifty years later! production team to teach the skills of written The lack of specific training for Adventist composition. His parting words to the class secondary teachers began to be remedied in called them to lifelong faithfulness to God the early fifties in William Murdoch's day as and His truth. principal of Avondale College. External William Gilson taught secondary classes at studies through the University of London's the North Fitzroy school and then planned Bachelor of Science program came first. the transfer of high school work to the new This was followed by a Bachelor of Arts Hawthorn school built in 1930. These affiliation with Pacific Union College, a schools were of considerable influence in leading Seventh-day Adventist institution in the development of the Adventist secondary California. Then, in the seventies, the curriculum throughout Australia and New college came to offer its own diploma and Zealand. In view of this, it goes without degree studies as courses in advanced saying that manual subjects for both boys education recognised and registered by the and girls and Bible were core subjects for all Higher Education Board of New South Wales students, along with a strong array of and the Australian Council for Awards in academic studies well able to stand up to the Advanced Education. scrutiny of the public examination system. Adventist church schools, both primary In 1931, William Gilson took charge of and secondary, continued to grow during education leadership for the whole of the the forties. North New Zealand was out- Australasian field. This heralded a surge of standing, operating more than a quarter of interest in soundly based secondary day the total schools throughout the home field. schools throughout the region during the South Queensland opened Toowoomba and

182 Albion, South New Zealand opened Dune- amazing burst of growth has included entry din, south New South Wales opened into Darwin (Northern Territory), strong Mumblepeg in the New South Wales wheat activity in provincial towns in several belt, and other schools were launched in the conferences, and the circling of a number of larger centres. cities with a ring of primary schools. The war itself by no means went unnoticed The period also has seen renewed interest in Adventist schools. Margaret Bid mead (nee in Aboriginal education, unrepresented in Bowers) recalls that at Timaru (opened in the the ministry of the Adventist Church since 1930s) the authorities issued all pupils with the closure of Mona Mona (1962) and small drawstring bags, capable of being Karalundi and Wiluna (Western Australia, hung around the neck. Within were a packet 1974). Valiant work is presently being of chewing gum and a new cork bottle carried out by an independent group of stopper to be placed between the front teeth Seventh-day Adventists at the Mirriwinni as the bombs were falling! Margaret Clarke Gardens Aboriginal Academy on Nulla Nulla (nee Miller), first teacher at Albion, has clear Creek, west of Kempsey, New South Wales. recollections of the practice air raid siren The school operates K-12 and is led by an which sounded every Monday at 11 a.m., Aboriginal principal. As well, earnest plans signalling a migration of her class to are being laid in Western Australia for the improvised air-raid shelters. Some of Bris- reopening of Karalundi, and hopes are bane's Adventist children chose to shelter at being expressed that Mona Mona in north a greater distance still and were evacuated to Queensland might also function again. Haden. True to its purpose of functioning Down through the years parents of all where the chidren are, the church school persuasions and in all levels of society have there was reactivated from 1941 to 1946 had but two options when choosing their with an enrolment of some eighteen pupils. children's education. They could patronise Since the mid-century, enrolments in the public school system or meet the high Adventist schools in Australia and New cost of independent schooling. Usually this Zealand have more than quadrupled. Small has meant that none but the wealthy had any one- and two-teacher primary schools have real choice. However, Seventh-day Adven- flourished into strong, well-staffed, com- tists have not generally been in high-income bined primary/secondary units. These in- brackets; yet they were determined to clude the Central Coast near Gosford, New provide their own classrooms, pay their own South Wales; Lismore and Murwillumbah on teachers, and provide their children with a the north coast; Pine Rivers in south truly Christian education. How did they Queensland; Mackay in north Queensland; manage it? Doonside in Greater Sydney; Albury in south The teachers down through the years have New South Wales; Nunawading, Oakleigh played an immensely important part. They and Mildura in Victoria; Albany in Western have carried burdens beyond the call of duty Australia; and Penguin in Tasmania. and have been willing to work for salaries As well, recent years have seen the setting well below those received by their col- up of a fine array of substantial, attractive, leagues in neighbouring state schools. well-equipped and well-staffed centralised However, the sacrifice did not stop there. Adventist secondary schools. These include In the earliest days the local church needed entirely new institutions as at Lilydale to carry, along with the parents, the full (Victoria), Auckland (New Zealand) and expense. Sometimes no fees were charged Brisbane (south Queensand), and impres- at all, as in Napier, New Zealand, where sively relocated schools in Hobart (Tas- "each member of the church [was] canvas- mania) and Avondale (north New South sed for weekly subscriptions." Wales). As well, the original boarding Wahroonga functioned similarly during schools at Carmel (Western Australia) and the first decade. Twice a year the total church Longburn (New Zealand) have been largely would meet, estimate school costs for the rebuilt and re-equipped. following six months and receive cash The extent of development over the past payments and pledges from all members, decade is emphasised by the fact that no whether parents or not. fewer than thirty-eight new Adventist The more usual means of financing schools have been opened in Australia and church schools in earliest times was by New Zealand since 1970, along with five means of school fees plus church offerings other schools reopened after being closed and donations. To help stabilise the for long periods. And this is from a situation one conference invited the church present-day total of some 105 schools. This membership to lay aside a second tithe for

183 the support of both overseas mission work The early 1960s saw the beginning of a and local church schools. As early as 1909, new day for church school finance in Ellen White's counsel regarding church Australia. The Federal Government com- school finance, "Let all share the expense," menced funding science blocks for private and "Poor families should be assisted," was schools and the Seventh-day Adventist being used as an encouragement to school system accepted these moneys in consistent school-related stewardship. view of the fact that they were not seen as However, it became very clear that the creating a dependency situation. church school work would not stabilise By the late 1960s federal funds were being across the home field until the local offered and accepted toward school fees. conferences accepted a regular and signific- These moneys were paid at first to the ant responsibility toward church school parents through the schools. The amounts expenses. A case in point was a school in appeared on fee sheets as deductions in fees inland Western Australia which had opened payable. Again Seventh-day Adventist and closed twice in several years, only to be schools came to see no problem in opened again for a third time in 1910 more accepting these funds as they were regarded hopefully in view of having "the conference as appropriate as the receiving of social at its back." service benefits such as family endowments In fact, the Australasian Union Conference or allowances. had recommended as early as 1906 the For some time the issue of maintaining a setting up of local conference "church separation of church and state was raised; school funds" to supplement fees and gifts however, the fact that Seventh-day Adven- or second tithe. However, by 1910, Hoopes tists pay taxes was given as an important was still calling for a well-defined financial reason for their receiving federal revenue for plan to supplement school fees. In spite of their school system. this a breakthrough was in sight, for in that The next test of Adventist attitude to year at least one local conference (Western government school funding came in the Australia) had accepted church school early 1970s when the Federal Government teachers as conference employees. determined to pay its per student "capita- By the 1920s the local church's share of tion" funds directly to the schools. By then, it school expenses had been reduced to was generally not seen as a moral issue, but one-third. During the depression years this rather as a matter of wise planning. Should was reduced again to one-quarter, including the church allow itself to become increas- the fees charged to parents. Reflecting back ingly dependent on government funds for over a period of thirty years, William Gilson operating its schools? was known to remark of the early 1930s that To avoid this problem, the church fees were scaled to "one shilling per child, accepted government capitation funds, but per week . . . perhaps!" generally took care to provide equivalent The wheel had turned through one funds from its own resources so that school hundred and eighty degrees with the Union support would not dry up should govern- Conference basically using health food ment funding be cut off or have unaccepta- funds to provide three-quarters of the ble conditions attached to it. Such a practice church school teachers' wages, all school meant that a considerable pool of funds equipment, and half the cost of new school became available for school building—and buildings and furniture, together with a loan this came at a time when there was a huge equal to a quarter of the cost of new school demand for new schools and growth in buildings. existing schools. As we have already seen, In view of this prewar policy of maximum between 1970 and 1980, Adventist school conference support, the postwar years, with enrolments in Australia and New Zealand their ever-increasing calls from a burgeon- rose by 56 per cent. ing mission program, required a policy of The latest development in church school re-education of the constituency. By the finance came as recenty as 1983-1984. The 1950s the school work was being financed in Australian Government demanded that all approximately equal proportions distri- funding of church schools from federal buted among fees, local church offerings, sources be applied directly toward recurrent and combined local-union-division grants. expenses. The Seventh-day Adventist school The membership was led again to realise system would need either to yield to these that education is costly and that a high- demands or have government appropria- quality Christian education is worthy of high tions considerably reduced. Still, no cur- investment. ricular or philosophical strings were at-

184 tached to the use of the funds. its links with its roots can hardly hope to The Adventist Church chose to continue survive. The Seventh-day Adventist system accepting the moneys and to place them of schools is no exception. Moving out solely toward recurring expenses. As a beyond its first hundred years in the South safeguard against the drying up of such Pacific, with thousands of Christian homes funding, each local conference was to build enjoying the advantages of a schooling up a reserve fund from such sources as second to none, the Adventist Church has general offerings, equivalent to the moneys reason to remind itself that it was all made required for operating its church schools for possible when Ellen White caught a vision a period of two years. The situation is being and the pioneering fathers and mothers monitored and reviewed every six months. rallied to her side. Any movement or institution which severs

TABLE 2: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND IN 1984

CONFERENCE SCHOOLS PRIMARY PRIMARY' SECONDARY SECONDARY' Table 1: ENROLMENT TEACHERS ENROLMENT TEACHERS

PERCENTAGE GROWTH DR. SYDNEY 12 760 36.40 557 38.30

IN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST N. AUST 4 113 7.16 27 2.10 CHURCH SCHOOL ENROLMENTS 15 805 37.30 594 47.10 BY DECADES, 1910-1980 16 589 30.79 275 26.50

AUST. 5 167 9.11 124 11.00

1910-1920 93% 6 171 10.00 14 1.88

1920-1930 -0.8% N.Z. 3 136 5.30 41 4.75 1930=- 1940 M% H. QLD. 9 506 23.60 246 18.00 1940-1930 M% TAS. 4 96 6.05 64 7.92 1950-1960 75% 1960-1970 44% VIC. 16 611 31.84 625 48.71 1970 —1980 36% W. AUST. 10 344 16.23 224 19.37 TOTALS 100 4298 213.78 2791 225.63

The numbers In those columns Combine part-time teachers with full-time teachers, expressed as full-time equivalents.

_ 8,000

7.000

6 000

fC — 5,000 8

— 4,000

O

O 3,000

rg•

F. 2,000

1,000

- 500

ga.eaa.g

FIGURE 1: Growth In Seventh-day Adventist Church School Enrolments. 1897 to 1984

185

The Aborigines Glynn Litster Although Seventh-day Adventists com- exchange for iguanas, and sickness, took a menced their evangelistic work in Australia heavy toll of their health and resources. In an in 1885, they made no organised attempt to effort to isolate the people from these reach Australia's indigenous people until conditions, a two thousand hectare site was 1910. The American missionaries began selected thirteen kilometres from the railway with a vision of evangelising the colonials siding at Oak Forest on the banks of the who spoke their own language; it was only Barron River. The name chosen for the later, when they were more firmly estab- mission was Monamona, the Aboriginal lished among the white inhabitants, that it word for crooked or winding, this being the was borne in upon them that they could and description of Flaggy Creek, one of the should preach the gospel to people of other boundaries of the property. races and tongues. Further, among the As the Queensland Government had European converts there was little sympathy provided the land, and offered financial or concern for the "degraded" black race grants for food and clothing on a per capita which lived in the more remote parts of the basis, it required the mission to receive all continent. Aborigines sent by the police, courts, or So the Seventh-day Adventist attempt to Native Affairs officers. The first fourteen reach the aboriginal people began some- natives to arrive were brought forcibly but in where near the end of the first decade of the time Rudge and Blandford, the first super- twentieth century when the New South Wales visors, were able to encourage other Conference, from its Strathfield office, coloured people to make Monamona their asked Pastor Phillip Rudge, originally a home voluntarily. Details of all arrivals were convert from Latrobe in north-west Tas- kept in a stock and implement record book. mania, to conduct evangelistic work in the Most families chose to live in their gunyahs Macleay River area of northern New South or crude bark huts, refusing the small timber Wales. As this was the centre of a large frame dwellings that were offered to them. aboriginal settlement, it was inevitable that The men who wished to work were employed Rudge, who had a broad vision of taking the in the felling and milling of timber. gospel to all men, should interest some The young people who attended the natives from the Burnt Bridge settlement in school, commenced in June 1914 by Miriam his preaching. Roy, worked in the gardens and cared for the About the same time, Ruth Cozens, the dormitories. Not all the early pupils were first teacher at the Murgon Adventist School children. Mothers who came to watch joined in Queensland, made the initial effort for the in and were soon sharing the reading aboriginal people in that state. She was lessons with their children. In the late assisted by J. H. Cooper, a layman, in nineteen-forties the school grew in size and conducting branch Sabbath school classes the number of teachers was increased to two at the Berambah Government station, some and for a short period, three, when over twenty kilometres to the south-east. The seventy students were enrolled in the early success of these classes led the primary grades. Conventional European Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Sydney to subjects were taught; often students faced move Rudge to Berambah to develop the problems foreign to their culture and interest that had been shown. Rudge soon environment. Many a boy would have found realised that if lasting good was to be more satisfaction droving cattle or hunting achieved, it would be better for the church to lizards in the bush, than struggling with operate its own church-controlled mission. reading, learning poetry, or trying to solve In the search for a suitable site, he and problems in mensuration and the addition another pastor, James Blandford, went to of pounds, shillings, and pence. Cairns in north Queensland on the advice of While the students faced their personal the Queensland Government Commissioner problems, the missionaries struggled hard for lands. As they travelled by train toward to find ways to help the opium addicts the Atherton Tablelands, they noticed that incarcerated on the mission. As we have the native camps were located around the seen, the church had to accept all natives railway stations and sidings. By European consigned there by the police. Further, the standards, the lives of these natives were superintendent was recognised as their merely an existence, as they only occasion- "protector" and was held accountable for the ally worked on the railway, and more civil order and social welfare of all persons frequently, simply asked for clothes from on the settlement. any who were willing to provide them. Drink Although the mission was required by the and opium obtained from Chinese traders in Government to feed and clothe all the

188 natives, only a small monthly payment was and young men. A new school was built and made to meet these expenses. Financial finally, as a central feature of the settlement, problems were compounded when the a new church was erected. All the timber Government charged a heavy royalty on all used was cut and prepared at the Monamona the timber the mission felled in an effort to mill, the whole project taking fifteen years to raise money for the program. With much complete. hard work on the part of the natives and the Several outstanding examples of Christian missionaries, a large portion of the food witness emerge from the story of needs was met from the crops grown on the Monamona. In 1955, Pastor William Turner property. Appeals to church members in the was so seriously injured in a tractor accident south helped solve the clothing problem, that the doctors in Cairns believed he would but financial difficulties constantly beset die. A few days before the accident, he had their efforts. killed a deadly taipan snake, two metres In later years, tourists were attracted to long. This he had placed in a large bottle Monamona to see and purchase native with preserving spirits intending to show it to handicrafts and works of art. The principal tourists who frequently visited the mission. attractions however, for many of the Because he had not injected the body of the tourists, were the rodeo displays by the snake with the spirits, it had begun to swell excellent horsemen of the settlement. about the same time that he was lying Throughout the years, the missionaries unconscious in the Cairns hospital. kept clearly in mind that, while they needed Throughout the day, natives frequently to meet the physical needs of the people, called at the mission office to stare at the their prime reason for serving was to teach snake in the bottle. It was rumoured that a the love of God. On July 21, 1916, more than witch had withdrawn Gwengen, an evil spirit, two and a half years after the founding of from a sick aboriginal woman, Alice, and Monamona and four and a half years after had placed it in the taipan before Turner had formal work for aborigines was started, four killed it. It was now seeking revenge on the girls and a young married woman were dying pastor. If the snake burst in the bottle, baptised by immersion in Flaggy Creek; the he would die. following day, the Monamona church was organised. Not till ten years later was the first church building dedicated; it stood on the hill overlooking the settlement. As the years passed, the influence of the missionaries and the school resulted in additional baptisms. Opium ceased to be a problem and the use of alcohol and tobacco grew less. Church members took an active interest in the choir and much later Will Zanotti, an Avondale-trained teacher and bandsman, created a fine brass band. An appeal to church members in the south for instruments enabled the band to become a reality. At different times both the choir and the band performed at Cairns, and at Mareeba, further inland on the tableland. An outstanding witness for Christ was given by LOU (LUDWIG) SOMAS (1887-1981) the band at the Cairns show in 1951. During the 1930s several aboriginal The name of Lou Borgas has become a legend among families went to New Guinea as mis- the older Adventist Aboriginal people of North Queensland. Lou Borgas was of farming stock and had sionaries. The first were the Dick a special interest in machinery. He attended the Darling Richardsons. They were followed by Stan Range School (later Carmel College) and married Ruth Sheppard and his wife, and then his brother Giblett of Manjimup. Willie and his wife. Borgas served at Mona Mona Mission. He was then Near the end of the Second World War, it placed in charge of Adventist missions in the Solomons. However, he returned to Mona Mona as superintendent was decided to rebuild the mission com- for fourteen years before spending three years at pletely. Homes were constructed for each Kambubu on New Britain. married couple and the missionary families, The Aboriginal people of Mona Mona accepted and new dormitories were provided for the came to love Lou and Ruth Borgas as their spiritual school children and single young women parents.

189

Mirriwinni Gardens.

191 Though the office secretary, Mervyn Voice of Prophecy contacts. Reports of Blyde, had good reason to take the bottle interested natives fired the imagination of and bury the evil-smelling snake, he realised church leaders and members at a Western that this would give a victory to spirit Australian camp meeting, with the result worship. So he allowed the snake to remain that in September 1953, the Trans- and the body burst, allowing Gwengen to Commonwealth Union Conference au- escape. This should have meant Turner's thorised a group of six—Edward White, death. However, the loyal church members Arthur Dyason, Ross Blair, William Richards, had prayed morning and evening for their Russell Lang and Dudley Vaughan—to find a pastor, and an anointing service was suitable site for a school. This group chose conducted at the hospital. The same day that Karalundi, meaning clear water, because a the snake burst, news reached the mission farmer from Yugoslavia, Tony Ursek, was that the pastor had begun to recover. A few growing outsized vegetables by using weeks later, the snake in the bottle was taken irrigation water from an underground river, into the church and Turner preached on the three metres below ground level. The site power of the God who was greater than was on the main north road and just over fifty Gwengen. When a call to stand was made for kilometres from the town of Meekatharra — those who believed in the power of God, far enough away to be free of the so-called everyone in the crowded church responded, "contaminating influences of the town." including a local witchdoctor. A boarding school was opened at In the late 1950s the Queensland Gov- Karalundi in September 1954 by Stanley ernment indicated that it needed the land on Louis, a teacher of many years' experience in which the mission was located to build a both state and church-school work. The reservoir for hydro-electric purposes. In dormitories and classroom had been response, the mission administration or- erected by teams of volunteers and minis- ganised a planned integration of the ters from Perth, one thousand kilometres to aborigine people into the Kuranda the south. Some of the students were township. The superintendent at the time, enrolled from local tribes, but most were Clyde Litster, said that it had been the brought to the school from distant areas by acceptance of Christian principles by the Dudley Vaughan. mission aborigines that was a major step In 1955, it became apparent that an towards citizenship for these people, and opening existed to work among the more their move into the community was the best primitive tribes around the old goldmining thing that could have happened to them. town of Wiluna, one hundred and eighty Since that time, Seventh-day Adventists kilometres to the east. At first welfare and have continued a community oriented health education work was developed in program, based on the Kuranda church, to association with the doctor and matron of assist these people become full citizens in the Native Welfare Department. However, as their district. At the time of the opening of the new mission developed with its em- this church, Cornelius O'Leary, the Director phasis on improved family living, parents of Native Affairs in Queensland, stated that began to allow their older children to break the integration displayed there was "a tribal taboos and to travel to the boarding unique step in the welfare of the aborigine school at Karalundi. This highlighted the people." He then paid tribute to the pioneers need to start a school for the younger who had started Monamona and, with some children near their homes. To meet this emotion, added that "the spirit revealed by need, another experienced teacher from those noble men was the same as that both state and church-school service, Esther revealed by the One on Calvary's cross." Robartson, opened a school for the younger While it is not possible to name many of children at the Wiluna mission in 1960. the noble men and women who served at During the years that the Karalundi school Monamona, the following men and their was operating, students were taught the families deserve special mention because of essentials of reading, writing and number, their years of service and for the quality of together with an understanding of God and their ministry for the aborigines: Phillip of the world around them. A strong work Rudge, James Blandford, Lou Borgas, program gave opportunity for the boys to Gerald Peacock and Norman Ferris. learn various farming skills: rough carpen- Work among the aborigine people in try, plumbing, engine maintenance, the Western Australia was commenced in the growing of vegetables, fencing, care of early 1950s by Dudley Vaughan as he stock, irrigation and water supply, and the travelled the outback in a caravan visiting maintenance of equipment, including

192 windmills. The girls studied domestic science, mothercraft and home manage- ment. In later years students from this school found work as assistants on the expansive sheep and cattle stations in the outback. On one of the rare occasions when heavy rain isolated a station, preventing the purchase of bread, one of the ex-Karalundi girls who worked as a domestic made bread for the family. This family spread the news across the outback that girls from Karalundi could bake bread, increasing the demand for them, and adding to the reputation of the school. Many amusing stories have been told of the culture shock experienced by the aboriginal children during the early years at Karalundi. One lad who had just arrived in JAMES ARTHUR BLANCH (1908-1982) the dormitory from his desert home was told Australians love what they describe as a "battler"; and by Stan Louis, the teacher and superinten- the Aborigines love that sort of man because they see dent, to go and have a shower—something themselves as an embattled people in a predominantly white society. Affectionately known as Pat, Blanch was unknown in his gunyah of sticks and tin cans a working man with a big heart, a man who had found set on the red earth. When Louis investi- Christ and who was full of human kindness. gated the loud laughter in the boys' When Mona Mona was dismantled because the valley dormitory, he was told to look in the shower. was to be flooded as part of a hydro-electric scheme, There, to his amazement, he found the new the Aborigines were relocated in Kuranda or nearby areas of the Cairns hinterland. These people, newly lad standing under the shower, fully clothed, uprooted, needed a pastor to whom they could look for wearing a hat and holding the soap in his spiritual leadership, a man in tune with their needs. hands wondering what to do with it. They found such a pastor in Pat Blanch. He worked for An excursion to Perth brought many them untiringly, understanding their moods and pointing them to the Master whom he served. Of him exciting and new experiences to the stu- the Queensland Director of the Department of dents. One challenge was the boarding, Aboriginal and Island Advancement once remarked, "It riding and "taking-off" from a rising can honestly be said . . . he cannot be replaced." escalator. What should be done while making the ascent? walk up? run? or just sit included child marriage, the corroboree, down? Then how does one get off if one is initiation ceremonies and the advice given sitting? During the visit to the Guildford by anthropologists that the native people airport, the children were given the oppor- should keep their customs and tribal laws tunity to ride on the emergency fire engine, which many times were in conflict with the visit the control tower and watch wide-eyed teachings of the Bible. Because of the work as a large international jet landed. of Dudley Vaughan and others, the natives Just as exciting, but even more rewarding broke with many of their customs and to the children, were their campouts on the traditions. In time this provoked the elders desert plains a few kilometres from the of the tribes from Port Hedland to Carnarvon school. They knew where to dig for yams and inland to the Warburton Ranges to from three to six hundred millimetres below gather at Meekatharra to try to punish ground level with no visible signs showing Jackson Stevens, a young man who had on the surface. They loved sleeping in the accepted Christ and the teachings of the sandy bed of a dry waterway, with no Seventh-day Adventist Church, for breaking blankets, but near a small fire, in July and tribal law. This was a test case to force all August when Europeans would need five or natives who had become Adventists back to six blankets to keep out the below freezing the old ways. temperatures. Life was never dull with On this occasion seventy elders met in lizards to chase, emu eggs to be found and their tribal groups with Jackson placed in the brightly coloured stones to be gathered for centre having been told that he was not various crafts and hobbies back at the permitted to speak. Police were appointed school. and given clubs with which to beat the young The work for the coloured people in the man when the sentence was passed. They west was not without problems. These were instructed to bring him as close to

193 Karalundi School, Western Australia. School children at Mirriwinni Gardens. Aboriginal Academy, Kempsey, New South Wales.

A Western Australian Aboriginal Adventist. Working in Queensland, 1963.

Pastor and Mrs Vaughan, tireless workers for the Aborigines of Western Australia. Left: Kids are kids—anywhere!

194 Will Sheppard, missionary to New Guinea, playing the gum leaf. Right: The Little Black Princess, Bet Bet. Below: Aboriginal Pastor George Quinlin meets the General Conference president, Neal Wilson.

195 death as possible, but they were not to take Rosendahl, while stationed at Armidale in his life. Each tribe worked their members the New England area, became aware of the into a frenzy accusing the prisoner of needs of the aboriginal people and began revealing tribal secrets when he was at the working for them. lie quickly realised that Adventist camp meeting at Perth, and of families in the Armidale area were related to showing sacred emblems to women. Just people who had known Phillip Rudge back in before the punishment was commenced, 1914. Because of problems with the local Jackson was asked if he had anything to say. school on the Bellbrook reserve inland from As he stepped into each tribal circle in Kempsey, parents asked the church to start turn, he asked the chiefs in their own a school. Rosendahl's search for a suitable language to produce the man who had seen school site led him further back into the or heard him violate their laws. Finally he mountains to an old disused sawmill on Five addressed the whole assembly in English, Day Creek, one hundred and ten kilometres challenging them to produce evidence of his inland from Kempsey. The old mill-hand wrong actions. Each tribe turned on the houses were converted to dormitories and a others accusing them of wrongly calling for small state school building was leased from the trial. The confusion that followed not the Department of Education, in spite of only broke up the meeting, but exonerated strong opposition from the Area Inspect- Jackson and placed the work of the church in orate. Classes were started at the beginning a more favourable light throughout the of 1967, using lessons provided by the New region. South Wales Correspondence School. In During the later 1960s, changes brought addition, students were given respon- by industrial development in the great sibilities: caring for the dormitories, assist- north-west, and educational and social ing with cooking, working in the gardens, changes in the community led the Western and helping with the maintenace of build- Australian Conference of Seventh-day Ad- ings. Because the program was largely ventists to take over the school, previously self-supporting from the start, the superin- operated by the state Education Depart- tendent, Rosendahl, had to spend most of ment. Then, following a change in the his time gathering supplies and funds to Commonwealth Government in 1972, continue operations while endeavouring to further pressure was brought to bear on the maintain and develop the school program. church. The Government set out to eliminate Further, because of the isolated location, the the mission program and, at the same time, rundown state of the buildings and the grave fostered both tribal customs and the uncertainty of acceptance of the program by drinking rights of all coloured people. In the government authorities, the church response, many parents took their children leaders were hesitant to commit large sums from the schools, making it impossible to of money to the project. Eventually the continue the education program. At the end government authorities inspected the of 1974, the schools at both Karalundi and school in 1970 and demanded that, for Wiluna were closed. health reasons, the housing facilities be In the years that have followed, the improved. Church leaders took action to aborigines have been helped by the ministry close the school, believing that the large of pastors, welfare activities, youth ministry sums of money needed to meet the and camps. Individuals are still being government requirements could be better brought to Christ, but the results have been spent on pastoral care and home visitation, rather less spectacular. with the integration of the children into In New South Wales, following Rudge's existing schools, and church-run camps initial efforts on the Macleay River, the work during the school holiday periods. for aborigines was renewed about 1914 in Following the closure of the school the Kempsey area. Again, the prime mover programs in all three states, work has been was Phillip Rudge, recently returned from the carried on by ministers in various confer- Monamona Mission in north Queensland ences working through home visitation, to because tropical conditions affected his integrate the coloured people into their local health. lie began in the Burnt Bridge area, communities. however, until the central visiting homes and conducting meetings. administration of the church in Sydney took No institutional work was attempted and a direct interest in the work for the aboriginal results were modest, so in time the work for people in the late 1970s, only a limited the aborigine people in this area was outreach was made in each state. The local dropped. church in Darwin did some visiting, but During the early 1960s, Pastor Edward Government restrictions on visits to native

196 Queensland relating to current aboriginal issues. Roberts had been first drawn into foreign mission service by an early contact with the aboriginal people, and in early 1982 he commenced an active visitation program to reach the one-time students of the various schools and other church-related programs that had been conducted in the past. In mid-1982 Good News for Aborigines, a small newspaper, was started. This more recently became Good News for Aborigines and Island People in order to reach the people of the Torres Strait Islands as well. It is significant that the new headquarters for the aboriginal work was built at Kempsey, New South Wales, as this was the town where Phillip Rudge made early contact PHILLIP BULPIT RUDGE (1856-1937) with these people in 1910. It was from this The manager of the first health food factory in same centre that George Quinlin, a descen- Australia, in North Fitzroy, Melbourne (1896) was dant of the early aboriginal converts, Phillip Rudge, a former businessman from Tasmania. In commenced ministerial work under the 1899 he moved as manager with the factory to guidance of Pastor Alexander Thompson. Cooranbong. However, he is probably best remem- His ministry to his own people was so bered for initiating Adventist work for the Aborigines, first at Murgon, Queensland, then at Mona Mona, and successful that in December 1980 he later again at Kempsey, New South Wales. Ordained in became the first ordained aboriginal minis- 1918, he entered the evangelical work. His eldest son ter in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. lie Edmund B. Rudge became president of the Australasian later moved to Kuranda in north Queens- field (1938-46), president of the British Union (1946-51) and secretary of the Northern European land, being replaced in the Kempsey area by Division (1951-59). Many of the descendants of Phillip another aborigine, Ronald Archer, a trainee and Isabella Rudge continue to serve the Seventh-day of Avondale College. Adventist Church. Another outreach in the early 1980s in the Kempsey area was the opening of a second Mirriwinni Gardens at Bellbrook. This was an reserves in the Northern Territory severely independent Seventh-day Adventist church restricted these contacts. No work of any school in which Fay Oliver and June consequence has been recorded for South Bobongie worked for their own people, and Australia, Victoria or Tasmania. a new generation of aborigines. In 1979 the church headquarters took As these new approaches develop, with responsibility for all aspects of the church's aboriginal people working for others of their outreach for the aborigines. Pastor Bruce own race in home visitation and through the Roberts, a returned missionary from Van- use of all the church outreach programs, we uatu and Papua New Guinea, was asked to see many advancing in Christian experience, head a new approach after a twelve-month and enjoying stronger fellowship with tertiary study program at the University of believers of European descent.

197 12 The Pacific Islands Robert Dixon Seventh-day Adventist teachings came to local schoolteacher, as its first elder. the Pacific Islands in October 1886, when After three weeks the mission ship John I. Tay, an American ship's carpenter, departed. With it went three Pitcairn Islan- reached Pitcairn Island aboard a vessel of ders, James McCoy, his sister Mary Ann and the Royal Navy. Tay asked the islanders if he Haywood Christian. The Pitcairn moved might stay until the next ship called. After from one island group to another, its people some discussion permission was granted. distributing literature, conducting meetings The Pitcairn Islanders were ready to listen to on the ship, in private homes or in halls, and Tay's simple exposition of Seventh-day giving simple medical treatments. Usually Adventist teachings, since a decade before the Adventists were well received, though James White and John Loughborough, occasionally they met with opposition. At fascinated by the Pitcairn story and the Papeete the first meeting was abandoned presence on Pitcairn of a devout society, had because of an unruly crowd. The ship made dispatched a parcel of literature to the calls at Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea — believed island. This material had been treated with to be the original home of the New Zealand suspicion at first—the titles of some of the Maoris—and Rurutu. One of the nine who tracts seemed distinctly unusual—and it had became Sabbath-keepers in the Society been packed away, only to be unearthed and Islands was Paul Deane, a Protestant read a few years later by some of the younger minister who had been told that he would be inhabitants. Many Pitcaimers were at least disciplined if he continued to present partly convinced of Adventist teachings, Adventist doctrines to his congregation, 200 particularly that concerning the seventh-day strong. Sabbath, when John Tay appeared, and it The Pitcairn moved further west to the took only about five weeks to win the Cook Islands where, to their surprise, the islanders as a whole over to the full range of Adventists found the people worshipping on basic Adventist doctrines. the same day that they themselves ob- Baptism was requested but Tay, sensitive served. The Cook Islands had ignored the to the demands of ecclesiastical niceties, International Dateline agreement of 1884, declared himself unfitted to perform that rite continuing to observe the days of the week through lack of ordination; he would depart introduced by missionaries of the London and return with an ordained minister. Missionary Society who earlier in the century Tay's account electrified Adventists in the had come in from the west. Without the United States. Pastor Andrew J. Cudney, a Sabbath issue as a cause of division, Nebraskan, set out to reach Pitcairn via Adventists were permitted to preach in LMS Hawaii; Tay sought to return there via Tahiti. churches on Mangaia and Rarotonga. They Neither found a ship due to call at Pitcairn. visited Aitutaki also. Cudney obtained the use of an old schooner, In Samoa the LMS missionaries were not the Phoebe Chapman, hired a crew, and set so hospitable, but warmed to the idea that out to pick up Tay at Tahiti. Somewhere en the Adventists were planning medical ser- route the schooner was lost with all hands. vices for these islands. Book sales were This tragic event had important repercus- brisk, especially medical books such as the sions. Tay returned disconsolate to his Home Handbook. The Roman Catholic homeland. The leaders of the movement priests and nuns on Tutuila were especially decided that a newly built ship was needed, good customers, and 10, 000 pages of and Sabbath schools across North America literature were given away. set to work to raise funds for the purpose. By In Tonga an audience was granted by the October 1980, the two-masted 31-metre aged King Tupou I at the royal palace at (102-foot) long schooner appropriately Nuku'alofa, and he was presented with a named Pitcairn was ready, sailing from San selection of Adventist literature. Sub- Francisco with Captain Joseph Melville sequently the chief of police told the Marsh and a crew of seven. Also on board Adventists that they had complete freedom were three missionary couples; the John of movement. Tays (Tay doubled as carpenter), the Edward Then it was on to centres in Fiji, including Gateses and the Albert J. Reads. Suva where a public meeting was held. It was The 6,500-kilometre journey to Pitcairn reported in the Fiji Times. John Tay and his completed, the travellers were enthusiasti- wife elected to stay in Fiji. cally received; eighty-six people, descen- In September 1891 the Pitcairn reached dants of the Bounty mutineers, were Norfolk Island, where the relatives of the baptised in two ceremonies and a new Pitcairn Islanders—there in consequence of church organised, with Simon Young, the the migration of 1856—came out in

200 whaleboats to greet the mission vessel. Mrs carrying capacity; movements by steamship Jane Quintal, McCoy's sister, entertained the in the region had increased; the cost of visitors right royally. Edward Gates preached maintaining an ageing vessel was heavy, the first Adventist sermon on Norfolk in Jane and there were competing demands for Quintal's home. lie and Read walked about funds elsewhere in the world where potential the island visiting historic sites. The Reads for church growth seemed greater. The and the McCoys stayed on Norfolk as the Pitcairn had done its work well. Still Pitcairn, abandoning plans to visit Sydney, seaworthy, it was sold for $10, 000. After- headed for Auckland. The Pitcairn entered wards it passed through the hands of several Waitemata Harbour almost a year after owners before being wrecked off the clearing the Golden Gate. Philippines in a storm in 1912. In New Zealand modifications were made There were, of course, links between the to the cabin and forecastle to improve older phase and the new. Edward Gates, the ventilation. The vessel was re-rigged as a American pastor who had landed from the brigantine (square sails on the foremast) for Pitcairn on Pitcairn Island and who had, with greater thrust. Auxiliary steam power was Read, performed the first baptism in the added for penetrating reefs. region, now held a supervisory role over all While the little ship was in Auckland, news Adventist mission activities in the South came that John Tay had died in Fiji. Then Pacific islands. He made his home in Captain Marsh took ill and died of kidney and Cooranbong, New South Wales. John Fulton liver disease. It was a sad party therefore and Charles H. Parker, both from North which headed back to California via Pitcairn. America and who had been serving in Fiji, The Reads who had joined the Pitcairn party were to remain in church administration in in Auckland, would settle in Tahiti; the the area for many years to come. Gateses remaining on Pitcairn to encourage But now it was expected that the Avondale church-related activities. This decision also School would provide those who would carry gave Edward Gates a chance to nurture his the Advent message to the islands of the indifferent health in a country environment. South Seas. The first graduate of Avondale Thus began what might be described as to meet this challenge was Albert H. Piper of the American phase of Seventh-day Adven- New Zealand. In October 1900, he and his tist outreach in the Pacific Islands. In the wife arrived in Rarotonga. At the end of 1901 remaining years of the nineteenth century the Americans departed, leaving the com- the Pitcairn made five more voyages to the paratively inexperienced Piper to carry on Pacific area, moving missionary families the work. However, there arrived in the area from place to place, and providing neces- at this stage one of the most remarkable sary supplies including many tonnes of couples in the whole saga of Adventist literature. It was a gallant little workhorse. missions: Griffiths Francis Jones and his That livewire, Hattie Andre, was taken to wife Marion who, after a comparatively short Pitcairn to teach school; Merritt Kellogg, a period in Eastern Polynesia, were to move medical practitioner, sailed to various island from one area to another in a succession of groups where his help was thankfully pioneer missionary ventures. Piper and accepted; the Coles family was taken to Jones worked together to build a church of Norfolk; Dr Braucht was conveyed to in coral rock in the village of Titikaveka on Samoa, where he set up a clinic which Rarotonga. At the beginning of 1905 after temporarily blossomed into a sanitarium. the Joneses had left, Piper could report that Altogether in this first burst of evangelical three Sabbath schools were operating and energy in the South Pacific islands, the church was usually full for the Sabbath Seventh-day Adventists had put down service. Piper then turned to colporteuring, tentative roots in many of the island groups succeeding in placing an Adventist book in east of the New Hebrides, chiefly in those every home on Rarotonga. areas where Christian missions had already Australians began to make their mark on established a following. A second phase Fiji also. Arthur Currow, a nurse, arrived to opened in 1901 when, in consequence of a assist Fulton and Parker in 1901, and was decision taken sometime before, the re- followed by his elder brother Lou with his sponsibility for Adventist mission outreach wife Lizzie, both nurses, Eva Edwards, Sybil in the South Pacific devolved upon the 3,000 Read and Septimus Carr. or so Seventh-day Adventists in Australia Associated with them was Pauliasi Bunoa, and New Zealand. During the implementa- a Fijian. For many years he had been tion of these changes, the Pitcairn was working for another mission body, but had retired. It was somewhat limited in its joined the Adventist Church in 1900 under

201 the influence of Fulton, with whom he had 1922 there were nine schools including been working as a translator. East of Viti Buresala and an intermediate school for Levu, the largest Fijian island, is the Lau boys at Navesau on the Wainibuka River. group of islands where Bunoa was born. lie Fijians made a contribution to the advance began his ministry by raising up three of the Adventist church in other fields. Peni companies there. Later he worked on the Ra Tavodi, Mitieli Nakasamai, Semiti Gade and (north-eastern) coast of Viti Levu itself, so Nafitalai Navara carried out pioneering work that by 1903 there were Sabbath-keepers in for the Seventh-day Adventists in Papua. nine settlements. Part of the success of Adventism in Fiji The mission team with John Fulton as came from the distribution of Adventist leader was intent on using every means to literature in the Fijian language, beginning spread the teachings of the Adventist Church with the printing of a small paper, Rarama, in Fiji. Because the Fijian group consists of by John Fulton, and supported by books many islands scattered over a large area of such as Ellen White's The Great Controversy, ocean, it was essential to have a boat and Bible Readings printed at the Avondale capable of being used beyond the reefs. press in Australia. These materials were When the Cina, a quite inadequate sailing distributed largely by the Fijians themselves. cutter, was wrecked, Fulton looked to The first four decades of responsibility by Sabbath schools in Australia and New the Seventh-day Adventist church in Aus- Zealand to provide a motor launch less tralia and New Zealand for evangelism in the subject to the vagaries of the weather. South Pacific were particularly marked by The Adventists did not neglect the physical the rise and consolidation of evangelical needs of the people of Fiji, where certain work in Fiji. tropical diseases such as elephantiasis were Nor was it merely success among the common. Lou and Lizzie Currow were Fijians alone. There were those who had self-supporting missionaries, selling Adven-. come as indentured workers from India and tist literature and giving treatments, a great the Solomon Islands. Out of a total many without charge. Other nurses followed population of 120,000 in Fiji at the turn of in their footsteps. The government regarded the century, 17,000 were Indians. As early as this medical activity favourably. 1905 Adventists resolved to work for these Even though there were only about 150 people, but it was not until 1912 that a Sabbath-keepers in Fiji in 1904, it was felt serious effort began. In that year Ellen that a start should be made on educational Meyers arrived in Suva. One of the first work. A property on the island of Ovalau Off converts to Adventism in India, Ellen Meyers the north-eastern coast of Viti Levu was had come to Australia for the education of rented, buildings erected of local materials, her children at Avondale, but was ready to and placed in the hands of Septimus Carr. move on to Fiji once they had become Gardens and coconut palms would enable independent. Mrs Meyers was the first of a the venture to be at least partly self- number who came to assist in the Indian supporting. This was Buresala. mission: the Alfred Chessons (Mrs Chesson a The establishment of Buresala illustrates nurse), sons Dudley and Harold Meyers, and the attitude of the European missionaries George Masters, who had gained experience who were quick to realise that the key to the in India. spread of Seventh-day Adventism in Fiji was Ellen Meyers, fluent in Hindi, commenced the indigenous worker. During the war years an evening school for young men, then a day there were many villages which grasped school for young women and children. This Adventist teachings from the hands of fellow put her in a favourable light with leading Fijians. Buresala could not cope with the Indians in Fiji. After a little time a suitable demand for the services of those who building was provided for her at Samabula, trained there: such a one was Pastor Timoci about five kilometres from Suva. "Mother" Nawara, who proved a most effective Meyers had a profound influence on the soul-winner. Indian community in Fiji, and was long Although the Fijian mission was not remembered by them. She also treated the without its problems in the 1920s, it was the sick, an activity greatly reinforced later by largest mission in the Pacific, with L 500 Mrs Chesson. George Masters assumed Sabbath-keepers, meeting in fifty-two responsibility for the Samabula school in churches and companies. It had a staff of 1922; by the end of the year there were forty-seven, including three Indians and seventy boys in attendance. Eva Edwards thirty-three Fijians. More than half of the later came to teach in the Indian girls' workers had been trained at Buresala. In school.

202

Pastor Edmund Rudge and his wife Samoan church workers in its islands. Gladys, both early graduates of the Sydney In Polynesia, initially, Adventism did not Sanitarium, arrived to superintend the make rapid progress. In French Polynesia, Indian mission in 1925 and immediately Benjamin Cady and his wife, who had arrived found themselves in the midst of a typhoid on the Pitcaim's second voyage, established epidemic, with their son Neil as one of the a school on a forty-hectare property at patients. Mrs Meyers' home became a small Raiatea. French authorities closed the hospital. In volunteering for night duty at an school in 1907 because instruction was not auxiliary hospital, Pastor Rudge gained the in French and no French teacher was gratitude and appreciation of the Indian employed. Adventist ministers such as people. George Sterling, an American, and Frank One of the first Indians to work for the Lyndon, of New Zealand, persisted with Seventh-day Adventist mission in Fiji was evangelical activity, the Sterlings indeed for Nur Banadur Singh, who with his wife thirty years. returned to Fiji in 1925 after training in On Pitcairn the islanders remained India. Another prominent Indian was Narain staunchly loyal, even though cut off from Singh who trained at Avondale College and their Adventist friends elsewhere by the sale taught for the church for eighteen years. of the Pitcairn. Adventist literature, such as The encouraging development of Sabbath school pamphlets, got through to Seventh-day Adventism in Fiji was not Pitcairn only rarely. matched by progress in the island groups In Tonga, Adventism moved slowly in further east, which had been the first to be spite of the medical activities of people such visited by Adventist missionaries. In Samoa as Pastor and Mrs Edwin Butz, and the trouble with the German Government over building of a school which was attended the credentials of Adventist doctors, and chiefly by the children of teachers, govern- other misfortunes, such as the death of ment officials and even the royal household. nurse Sarah Young of Pitcairn, led to the The school enrolment at one stage reached closure in 1907 of the sanitarium estab- sixty. The popularity of Ella Boyd who arrived lished by Dr Braucht. to teach school in 1904 was attested by the But the outbreak of war in 1914 forced the fact that when some years later she German Governor to surrender to New departed, as a tribute the king had her driven Zealand forces. The tension of war and the about Nuku'alofa in his personal coach. change of government somehow stimulated A revival in evangelical activity in Tonga an interest in Adventism, and within a year began with the arrival in 1912 of George G. the first church had been established. Stewart, who was assisted by Ethelbert At the beginning of 1926 a new minister Thorpe and his wife, and Hubert and Pearl returned home to Samoa with his Australian Tolhurst. Sadly, Pearl was to be struck down wife, after attending Avondale College. by the devastating influenza epidemic of Raymond Reye, who possessed a thorough 1919. Although Adventism in Tonga moved knowledge of Samoan and German, as well slowly, there were signs of progress. It was as English, was able to move immediately helped by a self-supporting school of a into the work of the mission. Pastor Reye's hundred pupils taught by Maggie Ferguson. facility with languages was demonstrated at In 1925, after an absence of twelve years, a special memorial ceremony held in 1932. Cyril Palmer returned to Tonga as principal He was selected by the organisers to speak of the training school. His Tongan needed at the monuments of Germans, Americans, refurbishing, but it was gratifying to the Englishmen and Samoans who had died in people to have the new man speak to them in the Samoan troubles of 1888 and 1889. A their own tongue immediately on arrival. By newspaper report of the day spoke of Reye's 1935 there were 211 Sabbath-keepers in fluency in three languages, and concluded Tonga. In the 1930s Beulah College had a by saying: "His scholarly conduct of the three successful time, its graduates being in services well merited the highly complimen- considerable demand. tary words of appreciation heard on all Generally Seventh-day Adventism in the sides." Cook Islands spread slowly at first. After an A school at Vailoa was distinguished by its initial flurry, its fortunes seemed to wane. own brass band, while a school at Satomai Some of its early converts, however, made made grateful use of a pedal organ donated significant contributions to its more general by a member in New Zealand. Adventism in acceptance. Samoa developed into a thriving, happy One young woman, Frances Nicholas community, and by 1935 could boast six Waugh, was translator for the British

204 Resident on Rarotonga. When she became and gradually saw the breaking down of an Adventist she entered the Avondale resistance to Christian missions. J. Ross College in New South Wales in 1899, and, James and his wife worked on the island of working in the press there as both translator Santo among people who had already had and printer, translated into Cook Island some contact with Christianity. He built a Maori a number of denominational books church and a home and established large including Ellen White's classic, Steps to gardens to encourage the people to settle Christ. A young Cook Islands man, Tuaine close to the mission. By 1922 twenty Solomona, also attended Avondale and later islanders were attending services in his became one of the first Adventist mis- small leaf church. The following year saw the sionaries to Papua. first baptism—twenty-three people in all: Two ministers whose names are insepar- eleven years had passed since Parker had ably linked with the Cook Islands are George arrived. Sterling, who arrived there in 1910, and Andrew Stewart, who first came to the New Harold P. B. Wicks, who cared for the Hebrides with his wife in 1916, believed that mission during the 1930s, moving from a strong factor in the islanders' acceptance island to island in a small schooner. lie of them was their adoption of the little girl subsequently lived a long and active life, whom they called Naomi. The child had first dying at Cooranbong, New South Wales, in been cared for by Alma Wiles, but she had 1984 at the age of ninety-nine. In a 1935 visit been forced to return her to her father. The to the island of Atiu, Wicks was surprised to Stewarts finally found the motherless child find a bright sixteen-year-old girl who had in a sorry state and took her into their home. been faithful in Sabbath school attendance With gentle love and care she survived and conducting the services of the church, grew up as their own daughter. replacing an elder who had died. Interest in Adventism developed and local In 1912 Adventist work was first opened in men after a brief period of training began to what was considered "a most depressing move out into more remote areas to group" of islands: The New Hebrides establish Christianity. But opposition did not (Vanuatu), needy and primitive, were popu- cease and there were marauding attacks on lated by islanders who were often hostile and both missionaries and converts. suspicious. Pastor Charles H. Parker and his In 1925 the church made plans to wife Myrtle settled on Atchin where a local establish a training school in the New trader hoped that a Christian mission might Hebrides. The missionaries decided on a subdue his neighbours. Three years later property of 405 hectares on an island called they were joined by Norman and Alma Wiles, Aore immediately south of Santo, together who bravely chose to begin their work on the with eighty hectares on a small island island of Malekula among the Big Nambus nearby. The smaller property was later people, notorious for their warlike habits. exchanged for an addition to the Aore They stayed, despite threats from a chief property. Aore became the centre of whose people had suffered because of a Seventh-day Adventist activities in the punitive expedition that he would fast until group. By the end of the 1920s, the school at he could eat the flesh of a white man. Aore was training workers as well as On May 5, 1920, Norman Wiles died of supplying "splendid timber," some of which blackwater fever, leaving his wife of six years was used in the mission's ships. By 1935 among people who were not particularly there were in the islands of the New Hebrides friendly. She supervised her husband's forty-three local teachers and several Euro- burial and then made the arduous journey to peans, according to George Engelbrecht, "a Atchin, which included a twenty-six- fine band." kilometre walk and a canoe trip on the open On May 29, 1914, the first Adventist sea. missionaries arrived in the Solomon Is- The much-travelled John Fulton visited lands. Already seasoned mariners and the islands in 1925 and felt that his fellow missionaries, G. F. Jones and his wife came missionaries were working in ". . . perhaps well prepared for the establishment of a new the darkest place in all heathendom." When mission. On board their ship the Advent -Seventh-day Adventists began work in the Herald they had a prefabricated two-room New Hebrides, the islands were a sinister, cottage, fuel oil for the motor launch, and hostile group, with a rapidly declining parcels of clothing. In just over a month a population, plagued by infanticide, disease church and school had been established and and native warfare. But, along with other Jones had conducted the first Sabbath groups, Adventist missionaries persevered meetings in the local language. Showing

205 Mrs Gates, Mrs Tay, E. ff. Gates, J. I. Tay, and A. J. Cudney— Missionaries to the South Pacific.

Dr and Mrs Merritt Kellogg (right), after sailing to the South Pacific on the Pitcairn.

Right: Pastor G. F. Jones with model of Advent Herald.

206 Tribute must be paid to the dedicated Solomon Islanders who took the gospel to their own people. One young man, Jugha, from Marovo Lagoon, was left in 1922 among his people's traditional enemies on Choiseul. Here he achieved dramatic suc- cess: in one year he had forty young men who had joined him after giving up tobacco, betel nut and their old forms of worship. A desperate need was filled in 1924 with the opening of a training school at Batuna. This site on the eastern tip of Vangunu in the Marovo Lagoon also became the headquar- ters of the mission and the printing press. By 1929 the Batuna school could not keep up with the urgent calls for church workers. In the Solomons, Adventist missionaries GRIFFITHS FRANCIS JONES (1864-1940) were, as ever, quick to give medical help where needed. John D. Anderson and his Master mariner and Welshman, Captain G. F. Jones wife began medical work on Malaita in the discovered a scrap of a religious periodical, Present eastern portion of the Solomon Islands Truth, on the deck of his ship as he sailed between London and New York. This he read with interest. On a group in 1924. Their work so impressed the subsequent trip he read the ship's mate's copy of policeman of the district that he voluntarily Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation. In London again, marked out and cleared a large piece of land he found another portion of Present Truth, lying on a. for the mission. muddy footpath. Thus God called him! In 1901, Captain G. F. Jones became a trailblazer for Adventist missions throughout the Far East and South Pacific. In all, he and his wife worked in thirty-eight countries, which represented thirty-four different language groups. Although only a Zaccheus in stature, he is remembered as a giant of giants in missionary dedication and a possessor of the gift of tongues in its truest sense. remarkable foresight he wrote in 1915, . . it is not difficult for us to see our first native missionaries among these dear people." In fact, scores of people have gone from the Western Solomon Islands to other countries as ministers, teachers and office workers for the Adventist mission. In 1916, the energetic Jones persuaded the Australasian Union Conference to purchase a large seagoing ship. The £2,000 ALBERT HENRY PIPER (1875-1956) purchase price was raised by the sale of denominational literature by Australian Albert Piper left the New Zealand Public Service in Adventist youth. Thus, by means of the kind 1897 to enrol at the Avondale School for Christian of island-hopping on which he thrived, by Workers. While there he lived for about a year in the home of Ellen White. This association led to his 1920 Jones was able to superintend the dedication, in later life, to upholding her prophetic role. establishment of Adventist missions on flew A gentleman of noble idealism and leadership Georgia, Rendova, Ranogga, Vella Lavella qualities, he became the first missionary from and the islands of the Marovo Lagoon, off Australasia to work in the Pacific Islands. In Rarotonga (1900) he established a school and stayed for seven the coast of New Georgia. years until his wife's illness, caused by impoverished In the north-western area of the Sol- conditions, forced them back to Australia, where Hetty omons, in the Dovele region of Vella Lavella, Piper died. Later he married Eleanor Kreutzberg, a the mission began by invitation of the Sydney Sanitarium graduate. A missionary and administrator for almost sixty district's chiefs. They were impressed by the years, A. H. Piper stands apart as a man called to the cleanliness of the mission and also by the highest service. use of English as the main language.

207 Further west at Ughele on the island of Rendova, John Archer ran a thriving mission. Canoes came from up to 100 kilometres away carrying the sick and injured. Besides the medical work, the Archers were operating a school and supervising the development of an Adventist village which, in 1925, had a population of 113. However, along with such encouraging progress came hostility and tragedy. On Malaita in 1929 a young woman convert and Mary, the wife of a teacher named Simi, were

ANDREW GRAHAM STEWART (1881-1975)

Andrew Stewart was known to the Fijians as Qase Levu, the big chief of Adventist missions. His work began in 1907 as principal of the Buresala Training School in Ovalau, Fiji. After presidency of the Fijian Mission (1911-16), he moved to the New Hebrides, where he built the first church and baptised some of the first converts. From 1927 on he assumed responsibility for the South Pacific as vice-president of the Australasian Union Conference. He also served as editor of the Australasian Record from 1943 to 1955. A tall, kindly Christian, his ministry as evangelist, missionary, teacher, administrator and author spanned five decades.

JOHN EDWIN FULTON (1869-1945)

'The best monument a missionary can leave behind him is a well-trained native ministry and a literature in the vernacular." So spoke the Nova Scotian, John Fulton, who achieved both for Fjji in the nearly ten years he served there. Learning to speak the local language with almost true accent, he was a man greatly beloved by the Fijian people. John Fulton gave twenty-five years to Australasia as missionary and administrator. His name is for ever linked with Fulton College, Fiji.

clubbed to death in their garden. The Polynesian population of the southern island of Rennell was, for some twenty years, protected from missionary influence by the government. When finally missions were permitted entry, there was unfortunate SEPTIMUS WALFORD CARR (1878-1972) rivalry between denominational groups and an unwitting introduction of infectious Septimus Carr, born in Sweden of British parents, diseases. migrated to Australia during childhood, but in adult life One of the first Solomon Islanders to be became a Seventh-day Adventist through the influence ordained to the ministry was liata Ragoso. of a literature evangelist. He pioneered the work in Papua with Fijian teacher He became something of an ambassador for Peni Tavodi in 1908,and worked on Island from the Solomon Islands, visiting camp- 1916 to 1919. Yet Fiji was his first love, serving there in meetings in Australia and New Zealand and 1904 as pioneer principal of Buresala Training attending as a delegate the 1936 General School—forerunner of Fulton College—and in later years in evangelism, education and translation Conference session in San Francisco, ministry. California. In 1908, Adventist missionaries entered

208 tir

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41

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•

Plane travel is the only way to reach the many inaccessible areas of Papua New Guinea. Papua, to that point neglected for lack of as one of the crew of the Veilomani. His resources. When Septimus Can and Peni people were so impressed with his Christian Tavodi arrived at Port Moresby, they found life that they requested a teacher, and within that the whole colony had been divided into two and a half years there were 560 "spheres of influence" by the governor and Sabbath-keepers in these islands. other mission bodies. Can, however, ob- An important breakthrough came in tained a tract of land at Bisiatabu on the Papua in 1924 when William Lock and his Sogeri Plateau, inland from Port Moresby, family established a school and medical established a plantation of rubber trees as centre at Efogi in the mountains on the exhorted by the government, and was soon Kokoda Trail. The school was much admired selling pineapples and pumpkins in Port by government officials, who urged the Moresby. In 1914, just before his return to Adventists to commence work along the Fiji, Carr baptised his first convert, a boy coast in both directions from Port Moresby. named Taitu. Taitu was removed by his father from the school Carr had started. It would be 1920 before a second baptism would take place. This second young convert's name was Baigani (Timothy), who gave many years of service as the first Seventh-day Adventist mission worker in Papua. One year later Captain G. F. Jones was called in to boost the evangelisation of New Guinea. He aimed to establish small mission stations in the villages, thus exposing a maximum number of people to Christianity. William Norman Lock reaped the benefit of the work of Jones when he baptised eleven young people on his arrival at Bisiatabu in 1924. Adventists entered the most populous region of the Pacific in 1924 when Nano, a Solomon Islander, was landed on Bougain- WILLIAM NORMAN LOCK (1887-1983) ville in the Territory of New Guinea. He was At nineteen years of age, William Lock read a book, joined soon after by Robert Tutty, who had His Glorious Appearing, which described and inter- already spent seven years in the Solomons. preted Matthew 24. It impressed him, leading to his The mission spread rapidly to Bougainville's baptism in 1908. Two years later he entered the isolated villages, and the first converts were colporteur ministry. In 1924 William Lock went to Papua New Guinea as baptised in 1928. superintendent of the mission. To open the work at When Gilbert McLaren, an experienced Efogi he crossed about ten mountains and ninety rivers sea-captain who had spent several years in and streams. Having made that arduous trek some Fiji, came to New Guinea in 1930 in the forty times, this gentle giant climbed 400 mountains and traversed 360 rushing waterways. mission ship Veilomani, it was considered He is remembered with honour by the title he time to move north to the St Matthias group received from the people of Papua New Guinea — of islands. Here there was a remarkable Taubada, a true leader of men. He also inspired his son, acceptance of Christianity; within a year Pastor Lester Lock, to a lifetime commitment to mission almost the whole of the population had service. accepted the Adventist way of life. Govern- ment officials considered the change no less The main development of the mission in than a miracle. The natives built neat Papua prior to World War II was the churches and would travel long distances on establishment of the headquarters and foot to attend worship services. training school at Mirigeda, near Port In 1934 the first group of Adventist Moresby, in 1932 and 1933. Besides the workers flew into the Highlands of New school there were houses for European and Guinea. They established headquarters at local staff, a church-and a printing press. By Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands, some 1940, Adventist missions had been active in 130 kilometres south of Madang. Papua for thirty-two years, with a total of To the north, in the Admiralty Islands, 1,780 converts. By contrast, sixteen years' there was an enthusiastic espousal of effort in the Territory of New Guinea, where Adventism. A man from Tong Island Christianity had previously been almost returned home after having held a position unknown, had produced an enthusiastic

211 membership of 4,000. there were not. The Japanese then asked When war broke out in the Pacific and who was in charge, and when the pastor said Japanese forces swept southward, Adventist he was, the Japanese wanted to know what missionaries, like other white people in the position he held. When Rogapitu said that he Western Pacific, were hurriedly evacuated. was a missionary and an SDA minister, the Melanesians were left in charge of Adventist Japanese asked what Seventh-day Adven- mission activities. William Sheppard, an tism was. Rogapitu said it was the same Australian Aborigine, with his family, was religion that they had in Japan. The evacuated from Papua. This Aboriginal interpreter was sceptical about this, so the missionary had worked in Papua since 1932, SDA pastor rushed off to Atkins' home at two other Aboriginal families, the Dick Boliu, where he found a copy of the Adventist Richardsons and the Stanley Sheppards periodical, Review and Herald. Rogapitu had having worked there also. The returning seen a story in the periodical with pictures missionaries travelled often on small mis- about Adventists in Japan. The interpreter sion vessels such as theDiari, which brought read the story, and told the pastor that when a group from Port Moresby to Cairns. On Australia was captured and the Americans board the Diari was Cyril Pascoe, who had defeated, Japanese missionaries would come in from Bougainville (Northern Sol- come and do mission work for them. omons) in a party navigating with a pocket Some church workers in the islands compass and a map pieced together with suffered during the Japanese occupation sticking plaster by a ship's surgeon. The because of their allegiance to the Allies. One Melanesia brought a group to Hervey Bay Solomon Islander, Deni Mark, had been (Queensland) from the Solomons, and then placed in charge of the training school at came on to Sydney. Not all the mission Kambubu in 1942, but when the Japanese vessels succeeded in avoiding trouble. The occupied the area, life became very difficult Veilomani was sunk and the Malalagi for him. Despite this, he was able to help wrecked when they were intercepted by a Allied servicemen to safety at the risk of his Japanese destroyer as they were making own life. On several occasions, Deni was their way along the southern coast of New severely beaten by the Japanese, and Britain. The occupants just had time to eventually he became ill and died. In writing scramble ashore and watch proceedings. just before his death, Deni Mark had this to The wisdom of evacuating Europeans is to say: "Eight times they [the Japanese] be seen in the loss of Trevor Collett, a brought me in court, but God was with me self-supporting missionary, and Malcolm each time, and all their word failed." Deni (Mac) Abbott, superintendent of the New Mark was buried on the north bank of the Guinea mission. Both had remained in the Kambubu River, inland from Rugen Har- Rabaul area, Collett to nurse his dying bour. His grave in the bush is still honoured friend, Pastor Arthur Atkins, with whom he by the Baining people to whom Deni brought had been working in the St Matthias group, Christianity. Some years ago as I stood by Abbott to help the Rabaul hospital and to his grave a Baining child, one of twenty ensure that all missionaries had been accompanying me, told how logging con- evacuated. Both died with 1,050 other tractors had honoured their request to avoid Australians when the Japanese prison ship running over Deni's resting place. Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a United Pastor Kata Ragoso, a man of great dignity States submarine. and character, was left in charge of Adventist While the SDA mission was able to work in the Solomons. The happy relation- evacuate most of its European missionaries, ship which had existed between Australian very little could be done for the many and New Zealand missionaries and Ragoso's teachers who were stationed great distances people encouraged them to assist Allied from their homes. Quite often the Solomon servicemen who had been shot down or who Islanders were placed in charge of mission had had their ships sunk. Before the activities as the Australians departed, and in Japanese had gained full control of his area many places they gave heroic service for the Ragoso was whipped and placed three times people under their care. before a firing squad by an Allied officer Pastor Rogapitu, who had been ordained because he would not work on the Sabbath, in 1940, was commissioned to care for nor order his people to do so. lie was for mission work on Mussau. Japanese soldiers some time imprisoned, but eventually eventually visited Pastor Rogapitu, and released in remarkable circumstances. asked this Solomon Islander if there were When Pastor Norman Ferris arrived in the any white men on the island. He replied that Marovo Lagoon in 1945 he found Ragoso

212 of the most difficult terrain ever encountered by soldiers. A large number of those who earned this title were Adventist men from the villages of the Koiari people. Many Adventist servicemen were deeply impressed by their island brethren whom they met during the war. Some came to appreciate island life to the extent that they later returned as missionaries, government officers, or in private employment. Among these were Frank Behrens, Len Barnard, and William and Bert (Bean) Sommerscales, Hilton Meyers, Lance Butler, Richard Thom- son, Rod Fowler, Louis Greive, David Caldwell, Ken Adair, Wilfred Rudge, Maynard Lock, Laurence Gilmore, together with such men as Ward Nolan and Tom Judd, former NORMAN WILES (1892-1920) missionaries who had joined the medical ALMA WILES (1894-1980) corps of the armed forces for the duration of the conflict. These formed a stalwart band When the veteran missionary C. H. Parker ventured who were to be joined in due course by quite among Big Nambus tribesmen (New Hebrides) in 1914, a host of men and women from Australia and he was handled all over by cannibals as a prospective candidate for feasting. Yet to these same people New Zealand intent on rehabilitating the voluntarily went Norman and Alma Wiles in 1916. Adventist outreach and thrusting it forward. Sadly, however, after barely five years among them, Although far from the scenes of war in the Norman succumbed to blackwater fever at twenty-six Pacific, Pitcairn Island, the first South Pacific years of age. Alma bravely buried her husband then travelled alone to the mission headquarters, by sea and island to receive Adventist teaching, was to overland, through hostile villages. be affected by it. Rapid advances in Mrs Wiles possessed the same spirit of dedication as aero-engineering meant a switch from sea to did her parents, American missionaries to Tonga, air passenger traffic, with fewer ships to call Pastor and Mrs E. S. Butz. So she chose to continue as a at Pitcairn. Many young people, more aware missionary, seeing her husband's sacrifice as seed that would bear fruit. After years of service in the New now of the big world outside, migrated, Hebrides and a harvest of souls, she helped to open especially to New Zealand. The population of new work in Aroma, Papua, in 1931. the island became reduced to fifty or sixty. To visit Pitcairn was a task in itself. Pastor Gordon Branster, the chief administrator of busy at his tasks, in fact just leaving for Viru the church area to which Pitcairn belonged, to dedicate a new church, conduct a baptism took six weeks to get there; the Rangitikei on and marry two couples. which he travelled bypassed the island in At the Batuna mission station Ferris found bad weather; Branster had to get back from all equipment cared for: machinery well Panama. He provided a pastoral ministry for greased, vital parts hidden, and the mission five weeks and conducted a baptism. ship Portal well preserved, concealed up a The Seventh-day Adventist Church ulti- creek. mately adopted a policy of providing Pitcairn An example of the loyalty island Adventists with a husband and wife pastor and nurse exhibited toward the Allies is to be seen in team in two-year shifts. The two brothers the behaviour of Baros, a headman of Ferris, Norman and Walter, and their wives Sirovai. When questioned by the Japanese, Ruby (not a trained nurse) and Myrtle have he chose to die rather than disclose the served. Norman and Myrtle were both hiding place of Paul Mason, a coast- watcher. awarded the MBE for particularly valuable Mason saw to it that a small monument to service to the islanders. Baros was placed in Kieta after the war. The relatives of the Pitcairners on Norfolk In Papua, during the hard-fought battles Island have also been well served. The Ferris on the Kododa Trail, the title "Fuzzy-Wuzzy parents spent ten years there early in the Angels" was particularly common. They century. Pastor Ferris senior and his sons were "angels" because of their manifest care built a church there during World War I. and compassion in handling men in pain Walter in 1928 took orders for Adventist and distress. These "angels" assisted the books throughout the island. Australian soldiers as carriers, medical Today about sixty Adventists worship in a orderlies and stretcher-bearers, over some new church opened in 1975. The Adventist

213 Samoan church, Apia.

Tahitian child. Papeete church.

Hospital in Samoa.

Samoan building.

214 services attract many tourists, Adventist and non-Adventist. One pastor, Laurence Gil- more, with characteristic initiative, estab- lished the South Pacific Display Centre with an excellent collection of artefacts, docu- ments and photographs. The Adventists also operate a one-teacher primary school. Similarly Lord Howe Island with its small Adventist congregation of thirty-five, out of a population of 270, is serviced with ministers from Sydney. The French areas of the Pacific have provided the evangelical activities of the Seventh-day Adventist Church with special problems: problems of language— Australians and New Zealanders are not particularly foreign-language conscious— and problems arising because of a mission administered from Australia negotiating hUBERT LEONARD TOLHURST (1890-1981) with government agencies based in Paris. A hurricane on his first night in Ha'apai, Tonga, When peace came to the Pacific in 1945 initiated Hubert Tolhurst to mission service in 1915. there were fewer than 500 Adventists in Five years later his wife, Pearl, died of pneumonic French Polynesia. Ronald Reggie, who influenza, the first student from Avondale College to give her life while on mission service. arrived in Tahiti at that time to superintend Subsequently Pastor Tolhurst became mission the mission, travelled extensively with local president in 1927 and principal of Beulah Mission French pastors Charles Flohr and Charles School in 1933. He then ministered in the North New Doom, encouraging church members and Zealand Conference for over thirty years, having given twenty years to Tonga. providing an evangelical outreach. On one One of his first pupils, Semisi Moala, became the first occasion Reggie was exasperated waiting on Tongan to be ordained as an Adventist minister. It was an outlying island three months for public also Pastor Tolhurst'sjoy to see all seven of his children transport. To church leaders in Australia he enter denominational work. wrote, "With an efficient French-speaking superintendent, a mission school and a rather than with the Australasian Conference mission ship, great opportunities would be Association in Sydney. This eventually before us." But where were they to find a helped to make it possible for a school to be Captain G. F. Jones with that remarkable gift established, and for time to be made for foreign tongues? How does one provide available on the radio. a series of French-speaking pastors who are Late in the 1950s and early 1960s an office excellent administrators with stomach and building, a 500-seat church and a primary mind for the ocean? How does one care for school were erected in Papeete on one large the costly business of ship maintenance? site. The school has proved to be popular, Actually in 1952 an American surgeon, leading to an interest in secondary educa- Lyndon Taylor, donated a sixteen-metre tion. To cater for this interest, a high-school schooner, usefully employed until regular program was commenced in 1979 with Dr air services among the islands were intro- Jean Reynaud, former lecturer in foreign duced, when it was sold. languages at Avondale College, as principal. However, Heggie's advice did not go Compelled at first to use rooms at the unheeded: French pastors and adminis- primary school, it moved in 1984 to new trators were imported. Francis J. R. buildings erected on a ten-hectare moun- McDougall, a pastor, arrived in 1948. Paul tainside site overlooking Papeete. Nouan came as mission superintendent in New Caledonia, with 427 Sabbath-keepers 1951. Six other French administrators in 1985, is France's largest Pacific territory, followed until a local man, Lazare Doom, with a mixed population of about 140,000. was appointed in 1975. Eugene Landa, Many residents are of families which have multi-lingual pastor of wide experience, migrated in search of employment oppor- while president, saw the need for the tunities from Tahiti, Vanuatu, other Pacific Adventist mission to become more closely islands, and indeed the Caribbean. The linked with France. In consequence the Adventist mission has only in more recent material assets of the Adventist Church were times received full legal recognition. It was amalgamated with a French corporation organised in 1954 with Paul Nouan as its first

215 president. In Noumea there is a church, hall, office and president's home on one com- pound. Each Saturday there are two worship services, the larger in French, the smaller in Pidgin—mainly for people from Vanuatu. There are outlying churches at Poum and Canala, on New Caledonia, and one on the island of Mare. Immediately west of French Polynesia are the Cook Islands with Rarotonga the largest. At the end of World War II there were almost 500 Sabbath-keepers in the Cook Islands out of a total population of about 14,500. In 1983 there were 1,213 in a population of about 17,000. There has been quite a migration to New Zealand, where there are several large congregations of Cook Islan- ders, often enjoying close association with HAROLD BULMER PRIESTLEY WICKS New Zealand Maoris. (1884-1984)

The president of the Cook Island mission One of the most remarkable and effective Seventh- at the close of the war was James Cormack, day Adventist missionaries to the islands of the South who decided to run a series of meetings on Pacific was Harold Wicks. Adventist beliefs at his home in Avarua on Trained in England and the United States, at the age Rarotonga. So great was the interest that of twenty-six Wicks was one of the highest-paid electrical engineers in his native New Zealand. On large crowds filled all the rooms, doorways becoming an Adventist he entered the employ of the and windows. One man, a notorious drunk, church. However, in preparation for his lifework he changed gradually as he attended the decided to train as a nurse at the Sydney Sanitarium. He served in the Cook Islands, the Solomons, where he mastered Marovo, and Tahiti. He became a translator of religious materials, including a considerable portion of the Bible into Marovo. At various times he carried on pastoral work in Australia. His practical skills were put to the fullest use in the mission field whether as an engineer, boat builder, medical worker, repairer of spectacles, watches or sewing machines. in his retirement years in response to the needs of a friend he would fashion violin pegs with the utmost perfection. His best contribution, however, was his Christian personality: patience, kindness, tolerance, concern, calmness in crisis, dependability—a tower of strength to his associates. He lived a full life of almost a hundred years.

meetings. The manager of the orchard where he worked was so impressed by the change in him that when the man asked if he might avoid Saturday work he was made JOHN DAVID ANDERSON (1896-1967) foreman of another orchard. Very much at the heart of Adventist Probably the greatest challenge and adventure in the development in the Cook Islands has been life of John Anderson was his call, in 1924, to begin a the boarding school at Papaaroa, started in mission station on the island of Malaita, Solomon Islands. it was a wild, dangerous place of savage 1937 by Pastor Arthur Jacobson. After the heathenism and cannibalism where disease ravaged war a New Zealander, Pastor Donald Watson, the countryside. Nevertheless, John Anderson and his was principal. Two prominent members of wife worked there for twenty-one years and saw God's the teaching staff were Henry Moala of transforming grace. Tonga, and Pastor Vati, the first Cook John Anderson longed to see the Bible translated into the language of the Solomon Island people. Thus, on Islander to be ordained to the ministry. In return to ministry in Australia, he sacrificed time, order to save the cost of sending young men money and energy to fulfil this work. to Fulton College in Fiji, Pastor John Cernik Tall and strong, resolute throughout his ministry, of Australia for a time conducted a J. D. Anderson is remembered as one of God's champions. ministerial training program in addition to the primary and secondary departments. In 1'1'7

44. 0.0,44

att. , C.

e••••-- 41‘

The famous "Bounty Bible."

Fijian family.

Now deceased, they all remembered the Pitcairn.

Student in Gilbert Islands.

The "landing place," Bounty Bay, Pitcairn.

2 1 7 1954 Papaaroa had an enrolment of 140. To traces its origins back to a small school at run institutions of this kind requires Houma in the 1920s, is well known considerable resources; thus between 1965 throughout the nation. It provides schooling and 1973, by government requirement, the up to Year 11 (Australian) and, under its secondary sections had to close until staff principal Tesimale Latu, has highly re- and facilities had been upgraded. spected academic standards. Both Adven- In the past two decades there has been a tists and non-Adventists are keen to have quite vigorous building program: new their children enrolled there. Beulah also churches, a large office building, and new offers training in agriculture. For many years schools. The Adventists of the Cook Islands it has provided.pasteurised milk for the town have become increasingly aware of the of Nuku'alofa. Its farm, in addition, pro- contribution of Christian education to the duces vanilla beans. These industries growth of the church in their part of the supplement the school's income and pro- world. An indication of the friendly relations vide work experience for pupils. The Beulah existing among the various mission bodies brass band, also, helps to keep the school in these scattered island communities is to before the public; it is often called upon to be seen on the occasion of the dedication of perform at official functions such as the a new Adventist church on the island of Atiu. Roman Catholics, London Missionary Soci- ety adherents, and Latter Day Saints, came to swell the numbers to 250, contributing food to the customary feast which followed the dedication and baptism of twelve young people. Adventist education has played an espe- cially significant part in Tonga. Beulah College, a large secondary school which

WALTER GEOFFREY FERRIS (1904-1985)

Walter Ferris was a long-serving missionary to the islands of the South Pacific, with remarkable skills as a ship's captain. He was born in 1904 of a missionary family. Walter, his twin brother David, and his older brother Norman, all became missionaries. Today his daughter is serving in Africa as the wife of a missionary. Walter attended Avondale for seven years, gaining an interest in boats by being placed in charge of a launch on Dora Creek. He served for twenty-three years in Fiji in the Lau group, spending months at a time in pastoral GEORGE LEIGHTON STERLING (1884-1979) visitation among the many small islands of that area. He also served in Tonga on two separate occasions, On the first day of July, 1908, six-foot-tall George among the Aborigines in Queensland, in the Gilbert and Sterling and his newly-wed wife, Maybelle, recent Ellice Islands, as they then were, and on Pitcairn. teacher graduates of Mount Vernon College, Ohio, USA, Throughout life Walter Ferris polished his navigation left San Francisco for the Society Islands. They received skills. He enjoyed teaching navigation to others, no outfitting allowance, taking with them only one including the harbour master of Nuku'alofa, and the trunk, two cases and two small boxes of books. Pitcairn Islanders. Except for one furlough in 1922, George Sterling When officially retired he was nevertheless called never revisited his homeland. For thirty years he and upon from time to time to ferry mission ships across the his wife pioneered Adventist missions on the islands of Pacific from one location to another. In his final years Mauke and Bora Bora and in the Marquesa Archipelago, he operated a ham radio station as a means of keeping toiling in primitive conditions, derided as "dogs." South Sea Island missionaries in touch with the Finally they ministered in New Zealand and Australia. homeland. They typify many other unsung missionaries who have Walter Ferris believed the saying of David Livingstone given their all. that "God had only one Son and He was a missionary."

218 opening of parliament. side of Upolu. The Kosena (Goshen) College, As part of the Adventist school system on a boarding high school, was opened in 1980 Tonga there is, not far from Beulah College, with an enrolment of 120 and a teaching a small institution, the Pierson Laymen's staff of seven led by Cedric Greive of School, designed to prepare young men to Australia. go to villages to present Adventist teachings. The Samoans are a cautious people who On Vava'u to the north there is a five-teacher have been dealing with Europeans for many school recently extended by a "fly 'n' build" years; they have become disinclined to make group. Many parts of the South Pacific have snap decisions on religious matters. Pastor benefited from the enthusiasm and selfless Ronald Taylor, later secretary of the Aus- dedication of volunteers, including those tralasian Division of Seventh-day Adventists, organised under the "fly 'n' build" scheme. found, when he was living on Savaii in the Tonga has done well: churches, schools, Samoan group, that it was desirable to run mission residences, widely scattered several series of meetings in the one locality through these islands, have been erected, in order to enable the indigenous people to extended or renovated. Charles and establish confidence in the preacher. Litera- Rosalind Boyd spent five years from 1978 as ture also played a significant part in self-supporting missionaries in Tonga, spreading Adventist Christianity in Samoa. building on Tongatapu, lia'apai and Vava'u. RobertAveling, who came to Samoa in 1951, While in the lia'apai group Mrs Boyd, herself succeeded in selling, with the aid of helpers, a missionary wife, paid a tribute to Pearl 2,000 copies of Ellen White's Steps to Christ. Tolhurst, who had died there sixty years North-east of Samoa are two groups of before. The grave by the sea was tidied and islands scattered in elongated fashion over the fence about it painted. 2,500,000 square miles of ocean. These are Almost directly north of Tonga are the the islands of Kiribati (until recently the islands of Samoa. Here again in the postwar Gilberts) and Tuvalu (formerly Ellice) with a years Adventist schools were crucial to the combined population of only 36,000. After development of Seventh-day Adventism in the second world war, the Gilbert and Ellice the area. In the early 1950s Adventists living Islands had still not been entered by in Apia were very keen to have an Seventh-day Adventists; the leaders of the English-language day school for their church in the South Pacific pledged them- children. Since the mission budget had selves to correct this. John Howse, son of insufficient funds for such a project, the Timothy H. T. Howse, missionary to Samoa, people took matters into their own hands was chosen to take Adventism to these and bought eight hectares of land opposite islands. As John Wesley once remarked, "All the mission headquarters with money the world is my parish." Howse was one of subscribed by members throughout Samoa. the missionaries evacuated from the Sol- Small at first, the school rapidly outgrew the omons as the Japanese moved south. building initially provided for it. Again no Appointed to a post in Christchurch, New funds were available. So the mission Zealand, he decided to take lessons in superintendent, Herbert Christian, raised navigation from the harbour master at money by showings of movie film he had Lyttelton. His ability to navigate, his taken on the occasion of the visit to Samoa thorough grasp of the Samoan tongue, to of Queen Elizabeth II. At its peak, when which the language of Tuvalu, though not of David Hay was principal, the enrolment was Kiribati is closely related, his strong practical 719, the largest of any Adventist educational bent, his experience of mission work in the institution in the South Pacific. It proved Solomons, his friendly relations with the capable of operating as a self-supporting representatives of other mission bodies, as institution. well as his dedication as a Christian minister, This was a day school. Earlier the Vailoa all made him an ideal person to open Missionary School for the training of Adventist work in these islands. prospective employees for the church had A new style of Adventist mission vessel been established, but was closed in 1957 was built after the war: boats with twin diesel because this function was then being engines and good sea-riding qualities, and performed by Fulton College in Fiji, not so comfortably arranged with space and shelter very far distant. However, the Samoans from sun and wind for those on board. Quite missed the presence of a boarding school, a number of fourteen-metre boats were which they felt was more capable of provided. However, in view of the long producing committed Adventists. So, early distances in open water to be traversed, in the 1970s, land was obtained on the south John Howse was assigned a twenty-metre

219 Press and staff at Batuna, Solomon Islands.

Kata Ragoso.

Choiseul, Solomon Islands.

Evangelistic campaign from a dugout, Malaita.

Batuna school with Pastor Barrett. Solomon Island missionaries.

Translating the Bible into Marovo language.

220 vessel, named by his parents the Fetu Ao, this being Samoan for "Morning Star." Howse arrived at Funafuti in the Ellice Islands on May 31, 1947. The Ellice Islands were difficult to ap- proach with Adventist teaching because of a law excluding religions other than those already established. However, an Ellice man, Niu Tavita, had spent some time in Samoa, married, and had a family. He returned after some difficulty to his home- land and met Howse on his arrival. He had been conducting meetings using trans- parencies and projector. When he began a meeting the house would be empty, but when the lights were turned down it would fill rapidly. Similarly the house would rapidly empty just before the lights were turned up; GERALD PEACOCK (1890-1967) such was the fear of being seen at an Adventist meeting. Howse discovered that Gerald Peacock and his wife, Winifred, arrived in he was not permitted to land and meet the Bisiatabu, Papua, in 1923 to carry on the work begun by Captain and Mrs G. F. Jones. There they learned the people at the various Ellice Islands, but the local language—the first white people to do so—and islanders could come on board while translated a hymnal and parts of the Bible. officials who were glad of the Fetu Ao for From Papua the Peacocks went to the Solomon transport were carrying out their business Islands, where Gerald became mission superintendent. Later they also worked in the New Hebrides; on the ashore. island of Matupi in New Guinea and at Mona Mona Howse bought land on Abemama in the Mission Station in north Queensland. central Gilberts, repaired a jetty left by the Heat, heathenism and hurricanes, snakes, malaria Americans in the lagoon, and built a home and mosquitoes never daunted this couple who served near the ocean whence cooling breezes their Lord with fortitude for almost forty years. blew. Local materials were used, together with water-pipe from an abandoned Ameri- intellectually capable and innovative per- can reticulation system. There he installed son. Before taking up his assignment he had his family with whom he kept radio contact given himself a concentrated course in as he travelled for months at a time among navigation. During two weeks of compas- the various atolls. The only other white sionate leave, he alternated between visiting person on the island was a Catholic priest the Melbourne public library and sitting on who often enjoyed the hospitality of the the back fence of his father's home with a missionary home. sextant. He saw that the training of local Merle Howse, assisted by their eldest ministers was the key to the spread of daughter Joan (now Mrs Arthur Patrick of Adventism in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Avondale College), began a school which He visited six islands in the north, spending was to develop into the Kauma High School, a week on each; he returned with six men to a boarding establishment with an enrolment Abemama, taught them the essentials of in 1984 of about 180. It is fed by five primary Adventist belief in a period of six weeks and schools. It teaches up to Year 9. Those who then returned them to their several wish to study further go to Fulton College in localities. By the end of that year, as a Fiji. consequence, there were eight Adventist Literature for the Gilbertese whose lan- meeting houses, whereas there had for- guage, as we have noticed, is quite different merly been only one. from that of the Ellice people and Samoans, In 1954 the ordinance restricting the had to be developed. Tobinabina, the first movement of new missions into the Ellice translator, became the first native minister group was repealed; a Samoan pastor, there. Siaosi Neru, moved into the area. However, Joan Howse, with a child's ability to grasp persecution of Adventists continued into the the language of the environment, became 1960s. Wherever a church company was fluent in the language of the Gilberts. When raised up it was necessary to provide a Pastor Graham Miller arrived in 1950 to school, since Adventist children were not replace John Howse, for some months Joan welcome at the established schools. How- translated for him. Miller was a very ever, Adventists are now looked upon as a

221 normal part of the social scene. The Mission is Pastor Aisake Kabu, a public president of Tuvalu, speaking at the opening evangelist, who formerly was speaker on the of a new Adventist church on Funafuti in radio program in the Fijian language, begun 1978, declared that Seventh-day Adventists in 1948. This movement toward localisation were in the republic to stay. of responsibility has been encouraged by With the rising cost of diesel fuel, wider the government, which for a time was Adventist mission commitments, recession, reluctant to provide work permits for and the development of air services, it was expatriates. It has, however, been very decided to sell the Fetu Ao. But Seventh-day appreciative of the services rendered to Adventism, firmly based on its school Fijians by white people. In 1970, Ratu Sir system and faithful local pastors, moves Kamisese Mara, at that time Fiji's chief forward steadily. minister, and now Prime Minister, wrote to South-west of the Gilbert and Ellice Pastor Barry Crabtree and his wife Norma on Islands is Fiji, the base from which mission the eve of their return to Australia com- work for these islands was conducted. The mending them for their work, particularly for war in the Pacific did not reach Fiji, although the poor of Fiji. there was much preparation for this possi- In 1974, to strengthen work for the bility. Pastor Allan Forbes, secretary- Indians of Fiji, Pastor Mundu was brought treasurer of the Fiji Mission from 1938 to from India. For six years he followed his 1944, his family evacuated, was kept busy calling in the west coast sugar port of supervising the network of first-aid and Lautoka, and in Tailevu. In March 1984, a ambulance stations established in case of new church, with Indians especially in mind, Japanese air attack. was opened in Lautoka. It resulted from the During the war years Adventists in Fiji work of two teams of volunteer builders from decided that it was time to consolidate and the Wahroonga Seventh-day Adventist upgrade their educational work. Just over 160 hectares of land were obtained fifty kilometres from Suva. During 1940 build- ings were dismantled at Samabula, Navesau and Buresala and re-erected on the new land. Three Australian pastors, Albert Watts, Arthur Dyason, and Keith Satchell, an experienced builder, were chiefly responsi- ble for this work. This new institution, called Fulton Missionary College in honour of John Fulton, veteran missionary to Fiji, began its training program in 1941. Andrew Stewart, of mission fame, was its first principal, followed by Arthur Dyason, who was principal for a total of fourteen years. For forty-five years Fulton has educated young people from as far afield as Vanuatu, Kiribati, Pitcairn, and more lately Papua New Guinea. Its major post-secondary courses STANLEY HERBERT GANDER (1896-1969) have now been taken over by the Pacific Stan Gander from Dorset, England, was quite the Adventist College near Port Moresby. Fulton prototype of the godly practical missionary. Originally has supplied numerous ministers and a fitter and turner, he was in training as a nurse when teachers for the Adventist Church. Its his ability in preparing food resulted in his being graduates have been in demand by govern- employed as a chef at the Sydney Sanitarium and later in various branches of the Sanitarium Health Food ment agencies and private business, and it Company. However, he looked for a change and took has steadily improved its facilities. Its up the work of selling Adventist books. financial basis has been partly moneys Called to the mission field, he served as principal of a supplied by the Adventist Church in Australia new school on Mussau. Then he was brought to mainland New Guinea where he opened Adventist work and New Zealand and, apart from fees, at Kainantu, in the Highlands, and Bena Bena. After the profits derived from its large dairy herd. war he introduced Adventism to the Western Islands, The Seventh-day Adventist outreach in Fiji and the Sepik River people. has become progressively the responsibility Gander was a trailblazer who would willingly have of Fijian pastors, evangelists and teachers. continued serving in New Guinea had he not been seriously injured in a plane crash in which the pilot was For example, at the present time, the killed. president of the Fiji Seventh-day Adventist

222 Doctor Joeli examines Big Nambus chief, New Hebrides.

First Aore Graduation, 1966. Child care in an island hospital.

Joshua and family, early converts. church in Sydney. good doctor, a nurse and a hospital!" At the close of almost a century of The New Hebrides waited sixteen years for Christian endeavour, Seventh-day Adven- a hospital and permanent medical team. But tists in Fiji number approximately 10,000, in 1961, in part due to the enthusiasm of and the Seventh-day Adventist Church is well Freeman McCutcheon, who brought Indian accepted as an integral part of Fijian society. builders and materials from Fiji, and a Another early enterprise in the Seventh- portion of a special worldwide Sabbath day Adventist Pacific mission outreach were school offering, the Aore Adventist Hospital the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu. They were began its work of mercy. The medical not ravaged by war, but lost the services of superintendent was a remarkable man, a missionaries of various denominations Fijian, Dr Joeli Taoi. An Australian nurse, temporarily withdrawn. For returning mis- Isobel Paget, who worked with him for eight years, declared him to have become a legend in his own lifetime. With limited facilities and a staff with little training and experience, this Fijian doctor performed remarkable feats of healing, including difficult surgery. A visiting American volun- teer surgeon stated that he would have no hesitancy about being operated upon by that doctor in that hospital. The British Govern- ment awarded Joeli an OBE. In 1975 because of financial recession in Australia and New Zealand, over- commitment by the Adventist Church, and staffing problems consequent on the return of Dr Joeli to Fiji, the Aore hospital was closed. Medical work performed at the hospital or by missionaries and their wives, itinerating or at their mission stations, has won many ALEXANDER JOHN CAMPBELL (1901-1970) friends among the Ni-Vanuatu. They were Western Australian Alexander Campbell and his wife, glad of the presence of Pastor Joe Miller, Emily, are especially remembered as the Campbells of sitting out the war down south on Tanna. liainantu. Following eleven years in the British They listened attentively to the Christian Solomon Islands, in 1936 they began twenty-five years message of Pastor Alec Thomson working in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. his fourteen-metre boat from village to Missionary Campbell concealed two light civilian aircraft on the Kainantu compound in 1942 sub- village, because each teaching session was sequently used by his friend, Father Glover, to rescue accompanied by medical help, the dispens- about 100 stranded Europeans. He is also remembered ing of basic medicines, an injection for yaws as a craftsman builder who trained skilled native or the extraction of aching teeth. carpenters while his wife gave medical treatments and taught the women homecraft, being termed a "numba Backing up this medical activity has been wan missus." the development of a system of schools. In In 1960 Pastor Campbell became curator of 1952 there were twenty-eight schools in the Sunnyside, Cooranbong, and organised the Pacific New Hebrides. Today the Parker Missionary Museum at Cooranbong. In retirement, 1967-70, he School on Aore teaches up to Year 10, cooperated with International Educational Recordings to distribute hand-operated plastic gramophones for sending students for further schooling to Bible messages in local dialects, for missionary use. Fulton College in Fiji. There remains a close link between the Fijians and the Ni-Vanuatu; much of the sionaries such as Albert Pietz there was evangelical work for the people of that island much in the way of medical help to be done, group has been carried by Fijians. There are especially in the more remote villages. rather more than 5,000 Seventh-day Adven- Epidemic diseases seemed to flourish: a tists in Vanuatu today. cerebral fever, akin to meningitis, dengue If the New Hebrides, as it then was, Fiji and fever, chickenpox, apart from perennials other territories to the south-east had been like malaria and yaws. Eulalia Tucker, spared the ravages of war, the Solomons trained nurse and wife of Charles Tucker, and Papua New Guinea had not. In some engineer at the Adventist headquarters on places conditions quickly returned to nor- Aore, was led to exclaim, "How we need a mal. Pastor David Ferris arrived at Kwailibesi

224 on Malaita in 1945 to find all equipment as it Although the first medical superintendent had existed before the war, carefully was Dr Lynn McMahon, now of Melbourne, preserved by faithful Solomon Islanders. Australia, his successors have been Elsewhere it was the time to start afresh. flew graduates of the Papua New Guinea School mission headquarters were established in of Medicine. The first of these was Dr Haynes Honiara, the main town of the protectorate. Posala. Until recently the doctors there were These mission buildings were erected Douglas and Junilyn Pikacha. chiefly by Adventist Solomon Island minis- The dissemination of literature has ever ters with enormous enthusiasm working been part of Christian evangelism, and in the under the direction of missionaries Wallace, Solomons Adventists have used this with Ferguson, and Sevelu. considerable success. In 1952 the British In 1948 the new Betikama school was built and Foreign Bible Society accepted for just out of Honiara on land that had been a printing the manuscript of the Scriptures military supply dump and which had been translated into the Marovo language. This purchased with money donated by an had been prepared by an Adventist team: Australian. Tasa, Barnabas Pana, and Pastor Rini, Another Australian, Lyndon Thrift, an working with Pastor Robert Barrett. The educator, with a strong background of initial printing was of 3,000 copies. This engineering and practical innovation, was superseded, as it were, the Marovo New the principal. Materials left by the Allied Testament which had been published by the forces were put to good use; Quonset huts Signs Publishing Company in 1941. These were used for dormitories and classrooms. A publications have been particularly effec- motor vehicle was dragged out of the bush tive, because the Marovo language has as were successive drums of petrol to run it. spread from the lagoon of that name on the Only boys were enrolled at first, but in north eastern coast of Vangunu and New 1950 girls were added. It began as a primary Georgia to wherever Adventism in the school; it is now a full high school with 320 Solomons has taken hold. pupils and eighteen teachers. Like most Today the Seventh-day Adventist Church Adventist boarding schools it has industries in the Solomons is promoted and sustained which support it financially and develop by an army of Solomon Island pastors. In practical skills. Betikama produces carvings 1944 there were just over 4,000 Sabbath- and copper artefacts. The Solomon Island keepers in the Solomons; today there are government gave Prince Charles and Prin- 17,100, comprising about 8 per cent of the cess Diana a Betikama carving as a wedding population. The Solomons have provided a present. large number of stalwart pastors and In the period immediately after the second teachers who have served or are serving far world war the medical work for the people of from home in Papua New Guinea and the the Solomon Islands was in full swing. In islands of Melanesia. 1951, for example, the Amyes Memorial The whole area which is now Papua New Hospital built from funds donated by an Guinea, that is, including the Bismarck early Adventist family of Christchurch, New Archipelago and Bougainville has, perhaps Zealand, was extremely busy. Its staff of two more than any other, seen a quite spectacu- Australian nurses and six indigenous assis- lar acceptance of Seventh-day Adventism by tants treated 62, 000 outpatients and 507 its indigenous people. in-patients in one year. Treatments for yaws Prior to the war, the Adventist Church had numbered 6,127. There was another busy established a scattering of mission stations, Adventist hospital developed by a mission- many not far from the coast. As missionaries ary wife and doctor, Dorothy Mills-Parker, at were permitted by the government to return, Kwailibesi near the northern tip of populous they discovered that Adventist congrega- Malaita. Now both these institutions have tions in the proximity of these mission given place to the Atoifi Hospital at Uru stations had remained remarkably stable. Harbour around the corner from Kwailibesi Leonard Barnard, an Adventist who was on the eastern coast of Malaita. It was there serving in ANGAU (Australia New Guinea in 1966, before the hospital opened, that Administrative Unit) before he transferred to Brian Dunn, who with his nurse wife the ministry of the church, had early access Valmae, was to superintend the nursing as a member of the armed forces. At Madang staff, was speared to death by a disgruntled on the New Guinea coast he learned of a native. Atoifi, a ninety-bed hospital with remarkable story of faith and courage. outlying clinics, was accredited as a school When Stanley Gander was compelled to of nursing in 1979. evacuate his post at Madang he left the

225 Tongan Beulah College, Tonga.

The Queen of Tonga inspects students. 1984 Appeal magazines.

John Fua, a colporteur, canvasses in Tonga. Titikaveka JMV Society, Cook Islands, 1951.

226 Adventist congregation in a nearby village in officer or two, bravely enduring loneliness the hands of a group of teachers. The leader, (especially for the women) and risks to Mamatau, was from Buka Island just north of health and even life far from skilled medical Bougainville, and the remainder were from services. Mussau. Enemies of the Adventists reported The list of those who threw themselves them as teaching the members of their flock into this work is a long one, amounting to English (which was true) and of sending more than a hundred persons, including messages to the Australian forces (which wives and children. 'There were single was not). The Japanese captain questioned women such as Barbara Wiseman (later the Adventist leaders who denied sending Marks), a teacher, and Essie Petherbridge information, but confessed to instructing (Banks), a nurse at Mount Hagen, who were their people in simple English which would among these courageous people. enable them to study their English Bibles. Len Barnard, with medical skills acquired They were forbidden on pain of death to in the army, began a liansenide institution at continue these activities or to preach Mount Hagen in the Eastern Highlands, an Christianity; the Emperor alone was to be effort repeated later at Hatzfeldthaven on worshipped. One Sabbath day as they the coast, both financed by government worshipped in their usual fashion, a funds. Japanese detachment led by the same The white missionaries penetrated the Japanese officer entered the church. Some Markham, the Ramu, the lower reaches of soldiers attempted to drag Mamatau from the Sepik; they reached out to islands off the the pulpit. They refrained when the request northern coast; they moved into the water- was made that the meeting might be ways of the Fly River; they pushed up into completed. Highland areas never before subject to At the close of the meeting the leaders Christian influences. As they went they shook hands solemnly and tearfully with the found villagers anxious for a teacher from members of the congregation whom they the "clean mission." had enjoined to be faithful unto death, then walked up to the Japanese captain who demanded, "Did I not tell you that I would behead you with this sword if you refused to obey my orders?" "Tasal (Sir), me fella ready along die now." Their courage startled the officer whose heart had been touched by the tearful partings. lie was willing to die for his emperor; these people for their God. He conferred with his men and announced to the natives that they could henceforth worship as they chose. When telling this story Mamatau proudly proclaimed: "Me fella all the same Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." The established mission stations were manned once more and where necessary rebuilt. Missionaries resumed patrols into LAURENCE ISAAC HOWELL (1902-1975) the countryside over long distances and over steep terrain, providing medical help to the Laurence Howell, like his older brother Cecil, was indigenous people sorely in need of it. They typical of those many courageous, dedicated and intensely practical men and women who carried the carried the gospel with them, quite often gospel as interpreted by Seventh-day Adventists to the with a picture-roll as an aid to Christian people of Papua New Guinea. The brothers came from learning, responding to the physical as well Napier, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand; both attended the as the spiritual needs of men as the Master Longburn Adventist College, New Zealand. Laurence then studied at Avondale; Cecil graduated as a nurse had done. Their activities were looked upon from the Sydney Sanitarium. with favour by a government which found Except for a break of two years during the second the health care of the population a world war, Laurence Howell and his wife, formerly formidable task. Gwendoline Plowman, also of Hawkes Bay, were Missionary families moved into remote missionaries in a variety of localities until his retirement in 1969—an unequalled record of mission service in areas where the local people had never seen that demanding field. a white person other than a government

227 ;7= k..41..atessaiweitikeei Mount Hagen sing-sing dancer. Pacific Adventist College, near Port Moresby.."1111

Sopas from the mountainside.

Sopas gateway, Papua New Guinea. Copperwork on Bougainville.

228 Mr Atkins visiting Mussau, Papua New Guinea. Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea.

Len Barnard treats a spear wound.

4:24 Picture Roll lesson in Karimui District, Papua New Guinea.

lone Markey in village clinic, Papua New Guinea. Medical houseboat on Sepik River.

Plastic gramophone in Sepik country.

229 As the sphere of Adventist missions Kabiufa particularly benefited from the widened there were enormous problems expertise of two excellent agriculturalists: involved in the transportation of supplies. Jacob Mittleider, an innovative nurseryman The introduction of denominationally from California, and Anthony Voigt of owned aeroplanes provided a solution. In Australia, both of whom established a June 1964 the Andrew Stewart, a Cessna tradition of scientific farming. The produc- named after a pioneer missionary, was flown tion of food crops became a commercial as to New Guinea by Len Barnard, who began well as a subsistence industry, now super- an air patrol out of Laiagam (2,200 metres), vised by Knox Timothy, formerly of Mussau. servicing mission stations established to the It was realised after a time that the training north and west. Colin Winch, minister, of ministers and teachers needed to be lifted administrator, trained nurse and pilot, out of schools becoming more and more operated a similar service out of Ambunti, frequented by children and teenagers. Thus south-west of Wewak. The time would come Sonoma, built on a cocoa plantation near when a number of district directors would be Kokopo near Rabaul, became established pilots. These men, always prayerful, ever for ministerial training under the leadership vigilant, sometimes were forced to search of Alexander Currie and Rex Tindall in 1968, diligently for breaks in the clouds in order to and teacher training under Wilfred McClin- negotiate mountain passes with safety. tock in 1970. Violent storms late in the day were always a This trend has carried the Adventist hazard. The minister-pilots often landed and Church in the South Pacific a step further: took off from bumpy airstrips carved out of challenged by societies throughout the the bush, to bring supplies, fellowship and South Seas enjoying a higher level of ministry to families of native teachers general education, the Seventh-day Adven- manning outlying stations. tist Church has developed the Pacific Whence came these dark-skinned Adventist College near Port Moresby, which teachers working in remote parts? Some aims to supply all the South Seas mission had come from the Solomons, and also such fields with indigenous ministers and places as Mussau, Emira and Manus, where teachers holding degrees recognised by the Adventism had established itself more Papua New Guinea Government, Sonoma rapidly than on the Papua New Guinea remaining a training school at a lower level mainland. Others were the product of the of academic work and Kabiufa and Kam- early mission schools, such as those at bubu continuing as high schools. Bisiatabu and Mirigeda, not far from Fort A change of approach also came to Moresby. "Teachers," with just a thimbleful Adventist medical work in Papua New of Western learning, but with a grasp of Guinea. With the government providing Christian beliefs as taught by the Adventist aid-post orderlies ("barefoot doctors") in the Church, strong in faith, and transformed in villages, the earlier role of the missionary life, had moved out to teach villagers who with injections against yaws or performing were without the most elementary literacy. elementary surgery has ceased. But the However, conditions were changing Adventist Church has made a major con- rapidly. There were primitive people in tribution to medical services in Papua New remote areas to whom teachers in the old Guinea by establishing an Adventist hospi- style might minister effectively, but after the tal, initially of ninety-nine beds, at Sopas, war a combination of mission and govern- eight kilometres west of Wabag in the Enga ment activity set new standards in local Province of the Highlands. It has facilities for schooling. The work of the training schools surgery, X-ray, hydrotherapy, and needed to be superimposed on a sufficient physiotherapy. Electricity is provided by a standard of general education, a standard hydro-electric generating plant. It is set in an steadily rising year by year. area with a population of about 100,000 To meet this challenge the Adventist where Adventism has established a strong Church established boarding schools at base. Because of a web of road and air Kabiufa, near Goroka in Papua New Guinea, communications it is also able to provide a and Kambubu, south-east of Rabaul on New well-run medical facility for a wide area of the Britain, where ministerial training and Highlands. It is a centre for health educa- teacher training were offered in addition. tion. It has a nursing school offering a True to the Adventist practice elsewhere, three-year fully accredited diploma of industries were made part of the educational nursing in which Sydney Adventist Hospital process: extensive gardens were necessary graduates continue to play a leading part. to provide food for the boarding students. It was very much the brain child of Dr Roy

230 Sopas Hospital patient, Papua New Guinea.

231 Yeatts of the United States, who did so much were 109,302, or 68 per cent of the total. for the lepers of Togoba near Mount Hagen. Back in 1910, when there were 4,554 A succession of highly skilful and dedicated Seventh-day Adventist members in the doctors have served as superintendents. Australasian Division, only 527 were in the The hospital now looks to nationals for island mission fields. Papua New Guinea leadership there. alone holds, today, 45 per cent of members The Seventh-day Adventist church oper- in the South Pacific. ates a medical boat, The Pathfinder, on the This is the fruitage of evangelism, medical Sepik. The medical staff formerly consisted work, the sale of denominational literature of a pair of Sydney Sanitarium-trained and the development of educational institu- nurses. It too is now in the hands of tions. These activities have involved devo- nationals. tion to a cause and personal sacrifice equally Some indication of the impact of on the part of indigenous people as well as Seventh-day Adventism on the Papua New those of European stock. It has been Guinea mission field is to be seen in financed by Adventist church members, denominational statistics for the political chiefly in Australia and New Zealand as well area administered by the Papua New Guinea as in the South Pacific Islands themselves, Government. At the end of 1983 there were and throughout the world. however, in 447 churches in this area with a baptised addition, year by year, the general public has membership of 72,821. The baptisms or responded to the humanitarian work of the acceptance on the basis of previous baptism Adventist Church by contributing to the and profession of faith for that year church's annual Adventist Appeal, a collec- amounted to 5,756. When it is considered tion which at the present day yields that these baptisms occur only after an $1,000,000 a year. extended testing period of instruction, the When Seventh-day Adventists first entered rate of growth is of considerable signifi- the Pacific almost a hundred years ago, they cance. were often resisted as a harmful, intruding, The number of fully accepted church divisive sect. In most places today the members in the Pacific islands today far Adventist Church with its extensive educa- exceeds those Adventists living in Australia tional, medical and church facilities is and New Zealand. At the end of 1983 there regarded with respect both as a worthy were 51,698 members in these two coun- element in the fulfilment of the gospel tries while in the islands from Pitcairn to commission and as a stabilising force in Papua New Guinea and north to Kiribati there island society.

232 Pastor Aisake Kabu of Fiji is but one of many Pacific island radio evangelists.

^." A blind child experiences the thrill of water-skiing at a New Vision Camp. to. In the Gospels, it is said of Jesus that He structive of human welfare. Adventists had went about doing good; the message of already established abstinence from the use salvation was combined with labour for the of tobacco and alcoholic beverages as tests physical and emotional needs of those of church fellowship, and from the very first around Him. He made clear in His teaching issue of The Bible Echo and Signs of the that the supreme test of genuine religion is Times struck hard in the health and compassion for the requirements of others. temperance columns at the use of both. Apart from individual acts of charity, or They were thus among the forerunners of visiting the sick, there was little that those who believe the use of tobacco to be Seventh-day Adventists in Australia and New highly dangerous, and of those who see the Zealand could do initially by way of use of alcohol as among the most destruc- organised welfare work. Their numbers were tive elements in human society. They have very small and their resources extremely always seen it as undermining the personal- limited. ity of the individual, as a destroyer of The story of Adventist welfare outreach domestic harmony and a killer on the into the community over a hundred years is highways. The Seventh-day Adventist one of steadily increasing sophistication and Church has persisted from its beginnings in organisation. Australasia in opposing the use of liquor and To the first Seventh-day Adventists in the tobacco. Antipodes, their primary duty was to present By 1898, thirteen years after the first their new synthesis of Christian doctrine; to Seventh-day Adventists had arrived in the this a welfare program was necessarily south-west Pacific, Adventist congregations ancillary. They held, of course, strong views had been established and were ready to concerning certain common practices in attempt concerted welfare activity. In Mel- society which they deemed extremely de- bourne, on June 19, 1898, a number of Adventists met in committee and formulated plans to provide a home for the aged and destitute. An Orphans Committee hoped to set up an orphanage in which children might be provided for, pending placement with suitable families. In the meantime, it was itself acting as an adoption agency. Immediately prior to these meetings, a woodyard had been opened in North Fitzroy for the sale of wood, coal and coke. The object of this was to provide needy men with sufficient employment to pay for necessary food and lodgings. With a similar object in mind a laundry was planned for needy women. A larger enterprise was the planned Helping Hand Mission close to the centre of the city in LaTrobe Street. This rescue mission was in fact opened by the Victorian Minister for Land and Customs on Sep- ALFRED JOHN DYASON (1880-1963) tember 12 of that same year. It provided A generation of youth who eventually became accommodation for fifty men and had space missionaries and loyal church members in their for the operation of industries by which homeland, grew up singing such songs as, "Oh! It's those helped could pay for their keep by Good to Be a Cheery JMV", or "Rally to the Sabbath sufficient labour. No one would be turned School"-joyful songs from the pen of musician Alfred Dyason who published his music both within and away, for any destitute man unable to work without the Adventist Church. could have the benefit of meal tickets In adulthood he left his managerial position to enter provided by a generous public. By June of the Sanitarium Health Food work and conference the following year the Mission had supplied departmental leadership, having become an Adventist through the Signs of the Times. 'Anything but 14,894 full meals and 10,430 penny home-missions," he told the Lord. But for that courses. It had provided 7, 757 beds. department he was chosen and called, together with Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Napier, New youth and Sabbath school work. Zealand, had all set up Helping Hand Maker of music for the Lord and father of two institutions of one kind or another. minister-sons, he exemplifies those whom the Lord enables. The Helping Hand institutions were not to remain permanent features of the Adventist

236 welfare scene. They were working from too formed it developed within itself a small fragile a financial base; they depended upon welfare organisation. Among the varied continued charitable support in a field where duties of the Tract Society librarian was that other organisations were already active. of community outreach. "He should not Their viability depended upon highly skilled consider his duty done until he has every business expertise and promotion, and the member doing active , missionary work." requirement of work in return for suste- That missionary work included Christian nance: the vegetarian menu, and the help work by nursing the sick, feeding the peculiar doctrines of the new movement hungry, and caring for the unfortunate, doubtless made the Helping Hand approach visiting the hospitals. More specifically some less attractive to the indigent than other of these activities were listed: better developed places of refuge. Eventu- "Visiting blind and benevolent asylums ally leases were not renewed and buildings Visiting gaols (wherever possible) which had been bought, as in Napier, New Collecting food and garments for the poor Zealand, were sold. Significantly, the Napier Collecting money for Christian help work rescue home went to the Salvation Army. purposes As for the aged and infirm of the Visiting the poor and sick denomination itself, it was believed that Distributing food and clothing grandma and grandpa deserved a place Dorcas work" (presumably here meaning beside the domestic hearth. predominantly the repair and distribution of Not that Adventists were unmindful of clothing). those with special needs. For example, by Children indeed were encouraged to play a 1904, a blind Adventist by the name of Albert part. They "may keep missionary fowls, eggs Phillips had produced a number of Adventist to be given to the sick or sold; flower tracts in Braille and had sent them to forty gardens, to provide flowers for the hospital sightless people in Victoria. To these blind and sick; vegetable gardens; products to be persons it was a breath of fresh air; the sold." reaction was enthusiastic. By 1907 ninety- Thus in a fairly unstructured way a great four were receiving the Braille literature. deal of service to the less fortunate Three years later, 200 blind people members of the community was being scattered throughout Australia and New rendered. The activities of the several Zealand were receiving Adventist Braille churches varied considerably with the literature, and a small machine had been abilities and enthusiasm of the church purchased to facilitate printing. Fifteen blind members and the capabilities of leadership. people had become Adventists, and Albert There were men who developed a special Phillips and his wife were pleading through burden for welfare work. In the 1920s one of the Australasian Record for the names and these was William Carswell in Sydney. A sick addresses of the estimated 4,000 blind widow with children might receive help, a people within the Commonwealth, with woman battling to nurse a chronically ill many more in New Zealand and territories to husband and care for six children might find the north and east. succour: food, clothing, money, and regular Phillips reported in 1914 that he had been home visitation. Carswell used the in the employ of the Union Conference of Wahroonga Adventist church as a base, but Seventh-day Adventists for six years, the drew help from other churches such as monthly Braille paperDay Dawn had passed Woollahra and Concord. They found par- its seventh anniversary and Uriah Smith's ticularly needy districts in Sydney: Redfern, Daniel and the Revelation, an important Alexandria, and Waterloo. Adventist book, was almost ready for By publicising these activities through the publication in Braille. Thus early in church paper, the Australasian Record, Seventh-day Adventism in Australia there Carswell was able to draw on resources both was a serious attempt to carry Adventist in kind and cash from a wide area, including teachings to the blind, a precursor to the New Zealand. spread of literature for the blind stemming Nor was this an isolated example of from the development of the Christian benevolence. In August 1933 the Auckland, Record Braille Foundation in Lincoln, Neb- New Zealand, Dorcas Society reported, as raska. well as gifts of grocery parcels, the The ultimate collapse of the Helping Hand distribution of 672 used garments, 162 new system of welfare institutions did not mean a garments, 281 yards of new material, cessation of labour for the needy and eighty-five pairs of boots and shoes, distressed. As each church company was seventy-nine hats, besides patchwork quilts,

237 COMMUNITY SERVICES

SiNEM RAY ADVINTIST CHURCH

A well-known logo.

Instruction time in the Pacific islands. Community Service in Sydney.

„III EMERGENCY SERVICES Li-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH bedding, blankets, overcoats, rugs, pillows, concerning the size and weight of parcels. jam, fruit, vegetables, wood and coal. These Letters from sundry recipients greatly were depression years; the 1,533 families encouraged this activity. who were assisted were grateful indeed. There were those who, conscious of the In 1936 it was reported that Adventists in effort put forward at the height of the war, Australia and New Zealand were operating believed a similar effort could and should be fifty-one Dorcas societies, and that in 1935 made in social welfare. Eric Hon, an at least 177,938 people were given assis- Australian-born Chinese, encouraged the tance. Much of this sort of activity was, of development of social service centres in course, never reported. association with Sydney Adventist churches. In those hard years various hospital Church buildings were extended with special organisations looked for help in providing rooms and facilities for this purpose. The for distressed families, some of whose first of these opened in 1944 as part of a new members might be hospitalised. In Sydney church building at Drummoyne. Soon calls the Benevolent Society working in associa- began to come in from various quarters: the tion with a number of hospitals looked to almoner of a large public hospital sought a Adventist churches, among others, for temporary home for a boy aged three for a support. Similar hospital appeals in Mel- month; an aged person living in cramped bourne did not go unheeded. quarters was helped by the regular visitation As Adventist ministers visited from home of a nurse. Hydrotherapy treatments were to home, they found families in distress and given at the health clinics. An adoption called on welfare societies in the various agency was developed. As Eric Hon once Adventist churches to provide. wrote, "In a city of two million people there is Then the second world war struck and the an unending call for help of all kinds from Australian public prepared for trouble. the many agencies set up to give assis- Adventist young men served in the Army tance." It was the old theme of social welfare Medical Corps. However, there was work to being developed in a more organised way. be done at home. Reuben Hare, son of In 1954, in response to a call from the Robert Hare, was a moving spirit in calling General Conference of Seventh-day Adven- for a special effort by Seventh-day Adven- tists in Washington, DC, there was a decision tists. Let us, he said, form ourselves into a to provide Dorcas societies with more National Emergency Service capable of complete organisation in the form of a being called upon by government agencies Dorcas Federation in each Adventist confer- as the need might arise. A register of all ence, not so much to control local en- Adventists in Australia and New Zealand was deavour, but rather to encourage and undertaken and training classes instituted. overcome difficulties. "Their needs, plans, First Aid and Home Nursing classes using St and problems will now become those of the John Ambulance manuals and certification federation, and this should make for were in vogue in the back rooms of Adventist constructive development." churches and at Adventist camp-meetings. Europe was still looking for help, and the Men with suitable experience were listed and mission field, especially the highlands of received instruction in preparation for work New Guinea, absorbed bandages, warm as air-raid wardens, rescue, demolition and clothing, blankets, patchwork rugs, and decontamination volunteers, ambulance soap in large quantities. drivers and attendants. Women were trained When floods devastated Maitland on to care for the sick and injured, and to run February 24, 1955, there was a ready canteens. Sanitarium Health Food trucks response on the part of Adventists, espe- were equipped to enable them to be used cially from those living in adjacent areas. immediately as ambulances should the Adventists at Avondale College, for example, need arise. abandoned their Sabbath services to raid In time the Allied armies swept across their cupboards and load a Sanitarium Europe, and converged on Japan and Health Food truck with foodstuffs to feed Adventists turned to meeting the problems rescue workers and the homeless. By of another emergency, the needs of a following detours and back roads, this truck Europe devastated by war. Dorcas societies was able to reach Maitland, the first to arrive packaged contributions of food and clothing with relief supplies. Then came substantial and sent them off to the British Isles, West help from Adventist welfare agencies in Germany, and, indeed, to the Russian- Sydney. occupied zone, according to instructions This disaster, and others such as the fires- received from postal authorities overseas : in Tasmania, which swept down from Mount

239 Wellington into the suburbs of Hobart, port by military aircraft. They use SAWS, suggested the need for more complete renamed in 1983 ADRA (Adventist Develop- organisation and preparation for such ment and Relief Agency), as they do other eventualities: the kind of resources, includ- private welfare organisations to disburse ing transport, needed and the desirability of funds to those in disaster areas. They find in having trained teams of people to move this way that the help really gets through. quickly to set up welfare centres where the One example of the work of SAWS (now distressed as well as rescue workers might ADRA) was the response to the havoc caused find help. Not that Adventists themselves by Cyclone Isaac in Tonga in 1982. Within a failed to participate in rescue and clean-up few hours of the initial call by the Tongan operations; young men from Avondale Government, SAWS was loading relief goods College shovelled many tonnes of silt to into an RAAF Hercules and the RNZAF was clear Maitland homes. preparing to fly out SAWS relief materials The result has been that Seventh-day from New Zealand. SAWS dispatched 200 Adventist churches, particularly the larger bales of clothing (about 8,000 articles), 500 ones, have their Community Services blankets, 300 family tents, $25,000 in cash, centres which are multipurpose, attempting and seeds to replant gardens. A medical to meet the needs of any distressed family, team of two doctors and six nurses was ready to combine through the officers of the made available. The estimated value of aid local Conference when disaster strikes, given in the two weeks following the cyclone providing classes of various kinds as a was $265,000. It is the business of ADRA to service for those who might care to associate meet with love and concern the needs of all with their fellowmen in painting, or mac- who have suffered loss and are in want. rame or making music. Other services also have been updated in These centres have been able to intervene line with changing circumstances, especially in disasters such as the onslaught of Cyclone the denomination's greater resources. In Tracy in Darwin, the Granville train accident, September 1973, Seventh-day Adventists in and Victoria's Ash Wednesday fires. Fre- Australia took a decisive step toward quently they use conference-owned vehicles improving the work for the blind begun by for this purpose. The Victorian Conference Albert W. Phillips in the early years of the of Seventh-day Adventists, for example, century. Since that time Braille, large-print, owns specially constructed relief operation and audio materials had been provided for trailers with a four-wheel-drive vehicle to tow Australasia by the Christian Record Braille them into place. Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Bible An extension of this sort of activity came at School in Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga, the beginning of 1979 with the establish- acted as agent. The worked papers of Bible ment of an Australasian branch of the lessons sent out in Braille from the United Seventh-day Service States were returned to the Christian Record (SAWS). For some time the General Confer- for marking. The work of the Christian ence had been encouraging the Australasian Record was greatly appreciated in the Division to consider this step. When Pastor Australasian field, and the Australasian Allan Forbes, a former hospital adminis- Division decided to set aside for the trator, reached retiring age, the leaders of Foundation an annual appropriation to the Australasian field saw an opportunity to assist in expenses. In September 1972 a provide a new field of service for him in the special committee was set up at the request leadership of SAWS. He paid a brief visit to of two pastors, Lance Butler, a Division the United States to see how SAWS depots officer, and Ivan White who had become were run in that country. The object of SAWS blind, to see whether it might be possible to was to provide relief whenever disaster provide a more effective and popular service occurred anywhere in the world, backed by a for the 25,000 visually handicapped in central denominational organisation. In Australia alone, apart from New Zealand and 1985 SAWS is in its seventh year of the islands of the south-west Pacific. The operation. It has had many calls. Disasters in committee, chaired by Pastor Keith Par- India, the Philippines, Kampuchea, and Fiji, menter, at that time secretary of the have caused SAWS to move into rapid action Division, was told that a severe impediment providing foodstuffs, garments, bedding, to work for the blind in Australasia was the and money drawn from individual church delay which inevitably occurred because of communities over a considerable period. distance and disruptions to the mail service SAWS has earned the respect of govern- to and from the United States. Moreover, ments which frequently provide free trans- materials passing through the tropics were

240 When tragedy strikes, you'll find Adventist assistance, to feed, to clothe, and to comfort.

24 1 frequently rendered useless through warp- their hands. ing. It would seem desirable to set up an Seventh-day Adventists have come up with organisation in Australia with its own library an idea which has helped to satisfy that of materials, a task made all the easier by the need—the Vacation Bible School. This took fact that tapes were gradually replacing hold in Australia and New Zealand in the late Braille for communication with the blind. 1950s. The first in Australia was run by It took a little time to settle all the details. Wilbur Stewart, the Sabbath School director However, in 1975, the new organisation, of the Greater Sydney Conference, and his Christian Services for the Blind, was secretary, Mrs Mabel Kench, at Cabramatta, registered in almost every state in Australia in Sydney's western suburbs. That first and listed by the National Library of Australia attempt was not organisationally perfect—it in Canberra as providing literary services for was experimental—but 100 children at- the visually handicapped. tended and their parents were delighted. By 1982 more than 550 people, including A VBS is held during a week of the many who were not Seventh-day Adventists, holidays, three hours each morning, Mon- were receiving material regularly from day to Friday. A grand concert is held the Christian Services for the Blind. This following Saturday evening so the children consisted mainly of library books in cassette can show parents and friends what they have form produced by the Adventist Media learned. The daily program includes sing- Centre in Wahroonga. This work involved the ing, stories, craftwork, games and other distribution of 1,500 cassettes each week. A activities. Preparation must be in depth, up service has since been developed whereby to ten hours for every hour of the program. visually handicapped Adventists might ob- Much help and supervision from volunteers tain Sabbath school pamphlets and Week of is needed. It is hard work, but the rewards Prayer readings in cassette form. are very satisfying. Many blind people of course are children. In Sydney, early programs were held at In 1979 Christian Services for the Blind Stanmore, close to the heart of the city, began a series of "New Vision" camps for the Wahroonga and Kellyville. Kellyville is a young. The first of these was held at a small church, but it has conducted more Seventh-day Adventist youth camp site on than six Vacation Bible Schools, with the coast near Kempsey, New South Wales. It attendances ranging between 120 and 125, has become an annual event. A similar mostly non-Adventist children from this series of camps have been instituted in semi-rural community on the outskirts of Victoria and South Australia. They provide a Sydney. One of these programs was wide range of activities for the young: water- televised and received wide publicity on a skiing, horse-riding, games, storytelling, city network. devotional meetings and impromptu This is child evangelism of a high order, concerts—all making for good fun and and indeed a means by which the Christian fellowship. faith is made attractive not only to the A great number of sighted young people children themselves, but also to their attend these camps as counsellors, since parents. After all, the basic reason for all sighted helpers are needed on a one-to-one Adventist community outreach is the desire basis. Often the counsellors give up work or to help people and to witness to them of the holidays for a week to help their blind power and beauty of the gospel. friends. A strong bond of comradeship Early in the century Adventists believed develops between the child and his coun- that the best place for an aged couple was in sellor. Both receive a blessing, the giver and or adjacent to the home of their children. the receiver. Messages of warm appreciation Essentially they still do. There the elderly which are received subsequent to these would be in the stream of family life to the camps are a reward in themselves for those benefit of themselves and particularly their who make the effort to participate in the grandchildren. But family life has changed. camps each year. Labour-saving devices in the home have Another area in which Seventh-day Adven- released women from many menial tasks, tists relate in a special way to the community giving them opportunity to find jobs and about them is in the provision of what have develop professional careers. become known as Vacation Bible Schools. In In response to these changing cir- our modern age, when very often both cumstances Adventists, like others, have mother and father are locked in jobs, school provided homes for the aged. It began in holidays can be the bane of parents. Many Victoria in 1952, with planning as early as children are at a loose end; time drags on 1948, four years before government fund-

242 ing was available. A boarding house in Dr Marguerita Freeman. They retired in Mount Dandenong Road, Croydon, was Western Australia and worked selflessly for purchased and named "Coronella." Initially the aged. Similarly the Charles Harrison it provided for twenty-five people in hostel- Home at Cooranbong honours the revered type accommodation. It was registered with figure of Dr Charles Harrison of Loma Linda, the Victorian Hospitals and Charities Com- California, who served for many years as mission as a hostel for the aged. The hostel superintendent of the Sydney Sanitarium has since been replaced by accommodation and Hospital. elsewhere. The largest concentration of Seventh-day Running an aged persons' home is not Adventists in New Zealand is in the Auckland without its romantic moments: in that first area. Hence, it is understandable that the home a friendship blossomed between a drive for homes for the aged should begin ninety-two-year-old "guy," Mr Greathead, there. An Adventist Women's Guild com- and an eighty-six- year-old "girl," which led prising women from a number of Auckland to the first wedding in an Adventist Adventist churches, bought a 2.5 hectare retirement home, an incident of some site at Mangere to establish a home and a moment. number of separate units. An approach was The movement toward retirement made to the New Zealand Welfare Depart- facilities for the aged was given added ment for assistance, but the Department impetus by the Federal Government's considered the site too far removed from Homes for the Aged Act of 1954, which transport, shops, and other facilities. provided one-for-one subsidies on capital It was then proposed to build a new development—something for which Sir conference office, converting, extending Robert Menzies will always be remembered and supplementing with additional build- with gratitude. In 1972 the Australian ings the old conference office, as a centre for Government introduced the Hostels Act, retired people. The government considered which made more capital funds available. the location suitable and the building The various factors have resulted in the proposals practical; it offered substantial establishment of retirement villages in all assistance. The complex was opened on July Adventist conferences in Australia and New 4, 1965, and an additional wing in 1970. It is Zealand except Northern Australia and expected that the whole scheme, the South New South Wales. Victoria has four Bethesda Adventist Home, will soon have separate locations: Nunawading, Warbur- three stages, that is, units, hostel and ton, Ballarat and Bendigo. At Kressville, nursing home. Cooranbong, New South Wales, and In addition to the facilities run directly by Rossmoyne, Perth, Western Australia, there the denomination, there are others operated are large three-stage complexes: retirement by various groups within the church, such as units, hostel, and nursing home. Sydney has the Sydney Adventist Business and Profes- forty-two units and a nursing home of sional Men's Association; Camellia Court at thirty-seven beds at Kings Langley. In 1978, Hornsby is one of these. a modern block of sixty-eight self-contained Altogether it can be said that the suites was added at Normanhurst, a Seventh-day Adventist Church has accepted northern suburb. This imaginatively de- in a very complete way its responsibility to its signed building was named "Elizabeth aged church members as well as others who Lodge" after Elizabeth Petherbridge, whose from time to time apply to be part of an family substantially donated the funds for its Adventist retirement community. construction. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Chris- Recently the twenty-six-bed Arlie Nursing tians should concern themselves with the Home at Wahroonga was purchased, and health of the whole man, that a person's will be run in conjunction with Elizabeth spiritual health and his physical and mental Lodge, thus rounding out Adventist North- health are interlocked. The human body is, Shore facilities for the aged. in their view, a gift from God which should be It is one of the niceties of these maintained by a healthful way of life, and developments that the hostel at Rossmoyne which should not be abused by the on the banks of Bull's Creek was named consumption of any known harmful sub- Sherwin Lodge after Dr Thomas Sherwin stance. who gave lifelong service in Adventist In their early days in Australia and New hospitals. A nursing home of twenty-four Zealand, Seventh-day Adventists opposed beds has been named the "Freeman Nursing the use of beverage alcohol, not only by home" after his wife and lifelong colleague articles in their church papers, but also by

243 ELIZABETH LOOSE „Tilt/plow

Elizabeth Lodge, Sydney, for the aged.

ALCOHOLISM IN ME COMMUNITY!

Charles Harrison Nursing Home and firessville Alcohol education seminars. Retirement Village, Cooranbong.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL 401214.11411)1K1Uffi -

Vacation Bible Schools are popular. Caring for the elderly. Byron Bay Camp. Christian Services for the Blind cater for both young and old. Community involvement in the Pacific islands.

245 giving strong support to those seeking to restrict the sale of liquor in local option alliances. Throughout its century of de- velopment it has constantly opposed the liquor traffic. In this centennial year for Seventh-day Adventists, it is estimated that there are 800,000 alcoholics in Australia; more than one in every twenty Australians is an alcoholic, half of whom acknowledge this. This represents an enormous challenge to everyone, including Adventists. Since the second world war they have approached this problem, which is the equivalent of the use of hard drugs in its effects, in three ways. First, they have addressed themselves to improved methods of public education. In 1946, immediately after the war, the General ERIC HON (1908-1980) Conference of Seventh-day Adventists sought to give additional thrust to its Eric lion was a man of vision, fired to pioneer new worldwide temperance activities by forming programs throughout his forty-one years of ministry. Of Australian-Chinese origin, at thirty-one years of an International Temperance Association age he left his family business to work for the Chinese comprising a combination of the temper- community in Sydney. Thereafter he began the first ance societies of each division of the world Community Services Centre, the first Adventist field. One important activity of this body was adoption agency, the first cooking and nutrition schools and clinics attached to local churches. lie that of working closely in temperance ultimately became first health director of the Trans- education with the newly formed Interna- Tasman Union Conference in 1963. tional Commission for the Prevention of In 1975-6 he led the Metro-Ministry program in Alcoholism. Adventists in Australia took an Greater New York, followed by his final years at Weimar especially active part in the institute held in College, where he prepared students for medical missionary work which he was convinced was Christ's Australia in 1958. blueprint and the "right arm of the message." Another facet of this new thrust in temperance education was the publication in Australia of a new temperance magazine finish." named Alert. This bimonthly journal is now Bradshaw keeps close to his group, taking considered Australia's leading narcotics them on walks around the beautiful grounds education publication with a regular circula- and nearby mountain valleys. The guests are tion of 8,000 to 10,000, which periodically initially domiciled in the hospital section for rises to 20,000 when interested organisa- medical care, and are later given hyd- tions ask for a special run. rotherapy in the health-care centre. Since Second, there is a comparatively new good nutrition is part of the cure, great care venture: the Alcoholism Recovery Program is taken to ensure that the dining room for begun at the Warburton Health Care Centre. guests offers a wide variety of wholesome A major step toward this was a visit by Dr meals. Errol Thrift, the medical director of the Bradshaw realises that every avenue of Warburton Centre, to the St Helena Health support needs to be utilised to ensure Care Centre north of San Francisco. Later success, so he "shepherds" his "flock", advice was sought from leading doctors in averaging about eight in number, to the this field in Melbourne. However, it took the local AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting. It enthusiasm and dedication of a staff is well known that one of the basic principles member, Don Bradshaw, himself a re- of AA is that the participants acknowledge formed alcoholic, to get the program off the that they cannot manage their drinking ground. It began in October 1979 in a small problem themselves, and need help from a way with two participants responding to Higher Power. advertising. Don was quickly promoted from Alcoholism is a problem to be found in the gift shop to the "Alco Room," a small every level of society, regardless of income room next to the third-floor lounge, which or social status, and the Alcoholism Recov- became the social venue where the al- ery Program at Warburton has been able to coholics could meet, swap yarns and help all the different categories of people. It encourage each other in the "fight to the has had 190 admissions in a two-year

246 period. The percentage of initial recovery stop?" Doctors might advise a patient to has been estimated at between 60 and 70 cease smoking, but were at a loss to suggest per cent, one of the highest in Australia. how. On the other hand, the 5-Day Plan, Reunions are held regularly, and Bradshaw tailored from an early Ten Day Plan, and keeps in touch with previous guests through developed on the well-established Adventist personal visits and monthly publications. philosophy that a human being is a closely In a third way Seventh-day Adventists integrated physical, mental, and spiritual confront the alcohol problem. Governments being, proved it had an answer. At the height are constantly under pressure from vested of its public appeal it attracted large interests to relax drinking laws. This would numbers, sometimes up to 200 a session. It only exacerbate a problem already has served the community for fifteen years. frightening in its dimensions. Notice the It was initially opposed by some government resistance offered over the years to random health education branches and, under- breath testing and the restrictions still standably, by the tobacco companies. But it imposed on those who administer it. is now firmly established and widely Seventh-day Adventists will continue to accepted as at least one of the best smoking support governments in their attempt to cessation programs extant. keep the sale and consumption of beverage It is usually conducted by a team working alcohol under control, knowing that it on a voluntary basis: a doctor, a nurse, a represents the world's third-largest health teacher, and a paramedical person. Other problem. volunteers assist. The initial success rate is Earlier in this chapter reference was made 85-90 per cent. to the consistent opposition mounted by Many people say that they could not have Seventh-day Adventists against smoking— "kicked the weed" without the help of the long before their stance was supported by 5-Day Plan. They have tried before to quit on scientific evidence. A comparatively recent their own or have used other methods survey by a non-Adventist group of resear- without success. The 5-Day Plan has given chers has suggested that the Seventh-day them the psychological and physiological Adventist Church is best known in the support they needed. community for the 5-Day Plan to Stop Seventh-day Adventists are well known for Smoking. The 5-Day Plan was pioneered by their interest in health and nutrition, and in two American Adventist men, Dr Wayne these areas they have a good deal to offer McFarland and Pastor E. Folkenburg, in the society. A quiet revolution is taking place in mid-fifties, and was introduced to Australia the dietary habits of people in Australia and in 1960. The first program was held in New Zealand. This revolution has been Wollongong, a steel city, seventy-five triggered by the release of scientific infor- kilometres south of Sydney, New South mation linking diet with cancer and heart Wales. It was conducted by Pastor Douglas disease—Australia's biggest killers. Jenkins with the assistance of a professional The Heart Foundation has led the way in nurse, Ida Bendeich. A few months later it research and education in coronary heart was introduced to the first capital city in disease and its association with diet, Australia, Sydney, by the author of this smoking and other health factors. As a result chapter in the prestigious AMA Theatrette in of a community education program, Macquarie Street. At the time when the 5-Day coupled with research, there has been a Plan was developed, responsible groups, reduction in coronary heart disease since medical authorities and governments were 1975. becoming concerned at the link between World scientists are now giving special smoking and lung cancer, smoking and attention to diet in relation to cancer, and coronary heart disease and other diseases now believe that many cancers are nutrition- associated with the use of tobacco. ally related, some say as much as 50 per The American Surgeon-General's Report cent. In countries where the intake of fat is and the British Medical Association Study high, there is also a high rate of cancer. confirmed these views. Their authoritative In Time magazine June 28, 1982, there reports slowly began to have an influence on appeared an article entitled " 'Cancer public opinion. Governments belatedly took Diet'—Fewer pork sausages, Mom." action to issue public warnings and to Health food faddists have been saying it for years; compel tobacco companies to print warning eat right and you may reduce the risk of getting cancer. At a press conference in Washington last labels on cigarette packets. week, the National Academy of Sciences not only The big unanswered question at that time signalled its agreement with that view, it issued a for people wanting to quit was, "How can I 500-page report specifying just what it means by

247 are associated with lower cancer rates in human populations. The committee counselled against high-dose vitamin pills because of insufficient evidence about their health benefits. Nigh doses of Vitamin A, it added, can be toxic.

In studying diet in relation to heart disease and cancer, the spotlight of science has been focusing on Seventh-day Adventists who, in the main, are vegetarians and who neither drink alcohol nor smoke. One such study, known as the "California Study," compared the death rates of a control group of Adventists with a similar group of non-Adventists in the community. The result was that Seventh-day Adventists have a 6.2 years longer life expectancy. They also have lower rates of some cancers, and if they do get coronary heart disease it usually comes ten years later, on average, than with non-Adventists. Other scientific research has been done with similar results. The results of the "Webster Study" in Sydney REUBEN E. HARE (1899-1977) paralleled those of the "Californian Study." The accumulation of this knowledge has led Reuben Hare was the older son of Pastor Robert Hare, first ordained minister of the Australasian Division. health educators to advocate the lowering of Born in New Zealand, he came to Australia as a baby the consumption of animal fat, sugar and and grew up there. As a young man he trained as a salt in the diet. tradesman, but it was to the Adventist ministry that he Many questions are being asked by rendered forty-seven years of fearless service. concerned people in the community, "How Evangelist, missionary to India, conference presi- dent, editor, initiator and first speaker of the Advent can we change our eating habits? How can Radio Church and leader of the Religious Liberty we become vegetarians? We must give Department of the church as well as Temperance and attention to our lifestyle." Public Relations, he also found time to be active in the St This is where Seventh-day Adventists have John Ambulance Association, where he ultimately achieved the distinction of becoming Knight of the been able to help the community. They have Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem. been training Home Nutrition Instructors with the express purpose of teaching people this new lifestyle. Hundreds have been trained by such people as Daisy Schluntz eating right. "Our committee's recommendations and Bertha Schollenburg over the past should not be regarded as assuring a cancer-free life," said Dr Clifford Grosbstein, University of fifteen to twenty years. Many of these are California biologist and chairman of the NAS panel now instructing others, and there is a that released the two-year study, but by "controlling growing public awareness of the Seventh- what we eat we may prevent diet-sensitive cancer." day Adventist health service. Among the recommendations: The public is eagerly looking to Adventists Cut fat consumption by 25 per cent or more, both the saturated variety of fat found in meat and whole for instruction and practical demonstrations milk products and unsaturated lipids like those in in vegetarian cooking. Wherever these vegetable oils. Animal tests and human population programs are advertised there are usually studies have shown a strong correlation between fat more inquiries than can be catered for. In the intake and rates of cancer of breast and prostate. Eat less smoked, pickled and salt-cured foods, midst of prosperity in this world there is including sausages, smoked fish and bacon. In want; though there is much security, there is Japan, China and Iceland where such foods are also frequent calamity and personal crisis. frequently consumed, there is a higher incidence of Underlying personal indifference and scep- cancers of the stomach and oesophagus. These foods also tend to contain nitrosamines and ticism of eternal verities there is neverthe- polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chemicals known less a longing for love, fellowship, and faith. to cause cancer in animals. Seventh-day Adventists, for all their imper- Eat more fruits and vegetables containing fections, find satisfaction and a sense of Vitamin C (oranges, broccoli and tomatoes) and achievement in attempting to meet these beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A found in squash, carrots and other yellow and green needs. vegetables. Both substances inhibit the formation of chemically induced cancers in laboratory tests; both

248 Grief counselling.

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Multi-Cultural Adventism Stuart Uttley and Austin Townend Today in Australia there is special signifi- settlement of Greenoch and commenced cance in Christ's commission; "Go ye into all preaching there, but not before he and his the world," because the world, in a sense, is associate George Backhouse had covered coming to Australia. The Seventh-day the countryside on bicycles distributing Adventist Church, like other churches, finds invitations to the meetings. The Roennfeldt itself with a multi-racial membership and the family attended these meetings. This prob- challenge of a multi-racial outreach. This is ably surprised the neighbours because proving a blessing to the church, as was so father Roennfeldt was a well-known identity when it made an early ethnic thrust in South as elder, trustee and lay reader in the Australia, in the Barossa Valley, where most Lutheran church in Nuriootpa. Roennfeldt of the settlers were from Germany. It found and his family became Seventh-day Adven- ready acceptance in Tasmania, at Bismarck tists after a quite dramatic occasion one (later renamed Collinsvale), where the evening when Pastor Wall asked Roennfeldt population was also largely of German senior what he thought of the Bible lectures stock. he had been attending. Roennfeldt replied, A German, Ludwig Lemke, who had come "It is the truth, and we will keep the to live in Australia, appears to have been the Sabbath." first person to have introduced Adventist Later that same night Wall and his views to "the Valley," as the Barossa has long associate Backhouse pedalled across to been known in South Australia. Lemke, a Seppeltsfield where they visited the home of rugged, stocky man, bags bulging with August Zeunert. When they put the same many copies of two popular Adventist question to Zeunert as they had to books, The Great Controversy and The Roennfeldt, he asked, "What is Mr Coming King, cycled along the Valley's Roennfeldt going to do?" When told of dusty, unsealed roads calling on farmers Roennfeldt's decision to keep the Sabbath, and townspeople to have them buy his Zeunert remarked, "So will I." That historic wares. It was hard, some of the inhabitants night saw the beginnings of the Seventh-day recalled later, to say No to this earnest, Adventist Church in the Valley. cheery man with an evident burning sense of Other well-known Valley people later mission. Lemke stayed at the home of a joined the church, adding such names as Lutheran minister who was so impressed these to those well known in Adventist that he recommended the books to the circles: Schwartzkopf, Fallscher, Maywald, members of his congregation. Parker, Wegener, Standish, Kranz, Raethel, Further evidence of Lemke's enthusiasm Habermann and Bootsch. The Adventist for the task of taking Adventism to the Valley church in Nuriootpa kept its Germanic is to be found in his plea to Adventist church character; inscriptions on the front and side leaders in Adelaide to send a preacher into walls of the original church building were in the Barossa Valley to "devote himself to the German. German language areas." This request was These families sent their sons and passed on to Adventist headquarters in the daughters to Avondale College (as it is now United States, whereupon a man described known) so that their names have recurred as "one of the church's great preachers," again and again in positions of leadership Daniel Nathan Wall, responded to the call and responsibility, both in Australia and and thus became the first of a long line of overseas through the decades of Adventist Adventist ministers who have worked in the development. Valley. Today a large brick Adventist church Tasmania saw a similar situation in Nuriootpa, the largest town in the Barossa materialise. Two Adventist preachers who Valley, offers concrete evidence of this were of the original American party of 1885, activity. John Corliss and Mendel Israel, preached at Daniel Wall's first series of sermons, Bismarck (later Collinsvale), establishing a delivered to the little settlement of Freeling, congregation of sixty people. They erected a did not cause any of his congregation to church of timber with timber-shingled decide for Adventism. however, Clarence roof—the first Adventist church building to Roennfeldt, who as a young man heard Wall be erected in Australia: 1889. Most of the preach, recalls that "an uncle of mine family names were certainly not English: attended Wall's meetings and kept telling my Appeldorf, Brandstater, Darko, Eiszele, Gall, father about the sermons and the wonderful Fehlberg, Johanson, Petersen, Rabe, preacher." Zanotti, Stellmaker, Voss, and Totenhofer. Undaunted by his apparent lack of success Many people have migrated to Australia in in Freeling, Wall moved on to the tiny consequence of economic or social pres-

252 sures in their home countries, and especially They saw the advantage of forming because of some severe conflict. Australia themselves into a Yugoslav congregation, has become a haven in the way earlier, Great using the languages and the customs of Britain and then America became places of their homeland. This was formalised in new beginnings—enriched because of this March 1960. Eugene Landa, a pastor with a by a variety of cultures. gift for languages who had worked in many The "October Revolution" of 1917 in countries in Europe, Africa, the Near East, Russia, when the Bolsheviks overthrew the and the Pacific, nurtured this congregation. Provisional Government set up earlier that He and the conference president, Leo Rose, year, led to a civil war in which the "Reds" and a Yugoslav pastor from the United were ultimately triumphant. Parties of States, Slavko Manestar, who came later, "White Russians" fled eastward along the encouraged them to raise funds and plan trans-Siberian railway to Manchuria, where their own church building. Manestar was they made Harbin their home. In the 1930s able to provide building expertise as well as Manchuria itself became an area of conflict, spiritual leadership; under his supervision ultimately to be taken over at the close of the much of the erection of the church was second world war by the Communists who carried out by volunteers from the congrega- had resisted the Japanese in North China. tion itself. The new church, known as the The White Russians felt that it was time to Seddon Adventist church, dedicated in leave; they crossed the ocean to Canada, the December 1963, had seating for 360 United States, and Brazil. In 1946 a group people. came to Australia, among them some The Yugoslav congregation, when it was Seventh-day Adventists. first organised, comprised thirty-one mem- A Russian Seventh-day Adventist minister, bers. Yet the congregation grew so rapidly Pavel Rodionoff came later and settled in that not long after the dedication of the Sydney. Rodionoff was a round-faced, jovial church building it was felt that it was man with a very positive outlook and becoming far too crowded for the Sabbath considerable drive. lie rallied his fellow- morning church service. The result was the countrymen in a vigorous effort to organise swarming successively of two Yugoslav the first Russian Seventh-day Adventist congregations from the Seddon group: church in Australia, receiving encourage- Springvale (1979) and St Albans (1984). In ment and financial support from the Greater twenty-one years the Yugoslav Adventist Sydney Conference under the leadership of membership rose from thirty-one to 460, its president Pastor Harold J. Halliday. When not counting 120 children too young to be Rodionoff died, Pastor Jan Borody from considered as ready to receive formal entry Poland took his place. Under his guidance into membership of the church through the congregation succeeded in erecting a baptism. church building in Strathfield, a main-line In due course these congregations were suburb of Sydney. This was not only the first able to enlist the services of younger Russian church, but also the first Adventist Yugoslav ministers, some returning after church for ethnic people in Australia. For the ministerial training at Avondale College: benefit of its older members English Stephen Jakovac, Michael Radovanovic, sermons in that church are still translated Lazar Sretenovic and Vlado Stojanovic. into Russian. Similar activity took place in While the Melbourne Yugoslays were Brisbane, where Russian Adventists, led by getting themselves organised, their vision Pastor Constantin Karalashvilly, formed widened to incorporate Sydney. In 1964 themselves into an ethnic congregation in Pastor Manestar and a helper, Pero 1954. Sparavec, sought out twenty-four isolated The second world war and subsequent and dispirited believers and gathered them upheavals in Europe brought people from together for fellowship. Dragan Jakovac other European lands. In Victoria a group of came from Melbourne to be their group Yugoslav Seventh-day Adventists settled leader. By 1967 their numbers had in- around Spotswood, a western suburb of creased to twenty-eight adults and twenty Melbourne. The English-speaking children. They purchased a block of land at Spotswood Adventist congregation wel- Granville and built a solid-brick hall with comed them, and they felt the warmth of facilities for children. By December 1974, Christian friendship. They shared their faith they had added quite an elegant church; by and fellowship with others from Yugoslavia 1984 their membership had risen to 134 so that their numbers increased quite with some fifty children, with Pastor Vilim rapidly. Medlobi as their pastor.

253 Adelaide's Polish church. Yugoslav baptism.

Combined Brisbane Yugoslav choir. Nunawading (Melbourne) Polish singing group.

254 Three years after the Sydney group was The Polish Adventists in Sydney at first organised, a small Brisbane company was worshipped with the Russian believers. formed. A similar process of accretion and However, in 1972 a Polish-Czecho- building took place so that by 1974 there slovakian church was formed. They met at were two Yugoslav churches in Brisbane, the first in the ageing Arncliffe church building, Salisbury and the Garden City church, and but under the leadership of Pastor Marshak, later a third now known as The Summit who replaced Pastor Borody on his retire- church out in the country between Stan- ment, they succeeded in erecting their own thorpe and Warwick. Together these three church building. One factor in the growth of churches, with some Yugoslays at Stan- this Polish-Czechoslovakian church has thorpe, have a membership of just about been the use of ethnic radio. A ten-minute 250. program went to air three times a week on With seven churches, each led by a behalf of the "Polish Temperance Society." Yugoslav minister, and an attendance of The speakers consisted of university- rather more than 1,000, a great deal has educated young people, including a physi- already been accomplished for the many cian who presented programs on health, Yugoslays still adjusting to the customs and diet and temperance. conditions of their adopted country. The More than fifty Polish believers in Can- future remains bright. berra have taken an active part in the life of The growth of the Seventh-day Adventist the Canberra National church. Church among the Yugoslav people has In 1982 membership among the Polish been matched by a similar development churches stood at rather more than 750, not among the Poles in Australia. In 1959 the including non-baptised young people. first Polish Seventh-day Adventists migrated The story of the establishment of the to Australia. In the next year two families, Chinese Adventist church in Sydney is quite those of Pastors Siemienowics and Borody, a fascinating one. After the second world war arrived. In the next few years many ministers the Australian Government initiated the and scores of church members came. Colombo Plan, providing a means by which The North New South Wales Conference young people from Asian countries could be invited Pastor Borody to come to Newcastle. educated in Australia, returning to their By October 1962, a Polish church was several native lands to play a part in their organised among Polish and Ukrainian development. Thus Sydney found in her believers there, and subsequently a church midst a considerable number of Asian building erected on land donated by Emil students, among them many with an Heidik, a former Polish minister. In 1982 the Adventist background. These worshipped membership stood at sixty-four, led by with the inner city church of Stanmore, Pastor Tadeusz Przychodski. Visitors to that leading to the formation -of an Adventist church today cannot fail to be impressed by Asian Society with Pastors Edward Ho and the atmosphere of worship and cohesion. Eric Hon as leaders. In other centres Polish migrants were In 1965 Denis and Maisie Fook, both arriving and development occurred similar Australian-born Chinese, members of the to that taking place in Newcastle. In 1962 Oatley church, in the course of missionary Pastor Jan A. Skrzypaszek arrived, a man of endeavour, led five Chinese to attend church great kindliness and warmth. By 1964 he regularly and realised that if this work was to had a Polish church organised; under his grow, a Chinese church was essential. benevolent leadership the congregation They spoke to Pastors Ho and Hon who in grew steadily. When Pastor Skrzypaszek turn approached the Greater Sydney Con- retired in 1971 to be replaced by Pastor R. ference president about this. The denomina- Wawrzonek who had followed Pastor Borody tion was sympathetic to ethnic work and in Newcastle, the Melbourne membership there were forward-looking administrators had reached 435, meeting in two churches. who saw how these individual Asians could A third church in the Dandenong area was be welded into a strong evangelical body. At added in 1981. this very time, the conference learnt that the In Adelaide in 1965 a Pastor Jerzy Lipski Marrickville church was unable to find organised a Polish church with a member- sufficient capable leaders because of de- ship of sixty-five. In 1967 a large Congrega- clining membership and thus faced closure. tional church was purchased and refur- This was unfortunate, but in a sense bished. By 1982 the membership stood at providential. The conference offered the 166, with sixty-five non-baptised youth and Asian group the use of the church for children. worship on the understanding that they keep

255 the structure in good repair and meet the hired: a bricklayer, a carpenter and a operating expenses. After twelve months the plumber; capable unpaid laymen did the church would be theirs. rest. It was ready for occupation by October Thus on October 1, 1966, the Chinese of that same year. In 1981 a hall and church was organised with a membership of entertainment facilities were added. Pastor forty and Pastor Edward Ho as minister. This Rudolph Iro, now an ordained minister, proved to be a very successful venture. continues to nurture this church and extend Because of the proximity of industries, a its influence among his fellow-countrymen. building fund was implemented, along with Recent years have seen a considerable a plan for a modern commodious structure migration of people from South-East Asia. In in a better location. The members increased 1975 the first refugees from East Timor in numbers, and so did their enthusiasm and arrived in Melbourne. May Self, the wife of an vision. By 1969 they were ready to procure Adventist pastor, Don Self, in the course of an ideal site in Strathfield off The social work among these people, most of Boulevarde. With a $50,000 donation from a them women and children, established Chinese Hong Kong Adventist business strong ties of friendship with quite a friend, together with the funds from the sale number. By 1977 there was a rapid build-up of the Marrickville church and their own of Vietnamese, Laotians, and Kampucheans building fund, the members were able to in Australia; the problems of settling in and erect a very dignified church with matching adjusting were enormous. A Melbourne hall at the rear. Thus, on November 16, Adventist, Linnie Pohan, in conjunction with 1974, the Greater Sydney Chinese church, the Seventh-day Adventist Community Ser- once a dream, became a reality. It had a vices, worked tirelessly for these people, membership in 1982 of 144, its develop- providing assistance and jobs as well as ment seen as a tribute to providential spiritual encouragement. guidance. By 1978 a number of baptised Asians with Among the thousands of migrants coming their families had either migrated to to Australia following the second world war Melbourne or moved there from other cities. were hundreds of Hungarians, many of them April 1978 saw the first Asian group of reaching out after spiritual values. In 1968 twenty-five adults and three children Pastor Wilbur Stewart, the Victorian gathered together, meeting in the Radio-TV secretary, was led in a remarkable Nunawading High School as a Bible School. way to meet and study the Bible with a man The way was slow and difficult because many by the name of Franchiski Varga, who had could not understand English and others recently arrived in Melbourne. In a little while could not read Chinese. The chief language a worship group had been formed. This, employed was Mandarin, but later English reinforced by several families newly arrived, was used as well. Two Chinese, Pastor provided the basis for a company worship- James Wong and his brother-in-law Yan ping Sabbath by Sabbath in the afternoon in Tuck Lee, were in charge. By 1982 some the Auburn church, Melbourne. As these forty-five adults with sixty children drawn meetings progressed, other new arrivals from ten Asian nationalities were in atten- joined them and soon they numbered over dance. Pastor Wong had become their thirty. regular pastor and fifteen had become During the period of 1969 to 1972, many baptised members of the Seventh-day more families arrived from Hungary and Adventist Church. settled in Geelong, where there was Italian migration to Australia has been employment. Thus for a short period two occurring for many years as part of a meetings convened, one in Auburn, and massive exodus from Italy, but because the another in Geelong. In 1973 the Victorian membership of the Seventh-day Adventist Conference, sensing the need to foster this Church in Italy is small, there were few work, appointed Rudolph Iro, a Hungarian Adventists among the new arrivals, and who had received ministerial training at these tended to find spiritual homes among Avondale College, as a youthful pastor. Australian churches generally. However, in In the course of the next two years the 1970, Dino Vitiello, a denominational groups were united and held their services in worker located in Sydney, gathered twelve Geelong. In 1974, assisted by the Victorian Italian Adventists together with some other Conference, they acquired land suitable for European migrants, into a worship group in a church. In 1975 a church building was the Cabramatta church hall. This endeavour commenced, strongly supported by volun- lasted but one year, those present again teers. For this work only three persons were meeting in nearby English-speaking Adven-

256 Yugoslavian members at riunawading Camp, Victoria.

Seddon Yugoslav church —first in Australia. Mark Peng, Asian church.

257 tist churches. hospitality, personal contact, house-to- In 1975 Leslie Nobbs, an Adventist house visitation, and work with friends and colporteur, met and sold literature to an relatives of members, all contributed to this Italian delicatessen owner named Pat growth. When immigrants arrived they Calarco. Mr Calarco became deeply in- found in the Adventists spiritual assistance, terested in the Scriptures and became a orientation, and local information. Seventh-day Adventist. He himself, won to Friendship did its work. Adventism in this way, became a colporteur The Adventist High School assembly hall with an intense sense of mission. His work was obtained for meetings, and plans were laid the foundation for an Italian congrega- set in motion for the building of a church tion of Adventists. hall. Year by year fifty baptisms were The Greater Sydney Conference seized the conducted; by 1982 the membership opportunity this afforded and invited reached 300, and since that time has gone Australian-born Italian Frank Tassone, an on from strength to strength with three enthusiastic and knowledgable layman of ministers: Fuentes, Olivares and Cortizo Mildura, Victoria, to join the Adventist providing leadership. ministry with a commission to build up the It is believed that there are rather more Italian work in Sydney. Tassone was granted than 250,000 Greeks living in Australia, leave to spend one year at the Adventist most of them in Melbourne. These form college near Florence in Italy for Bible and what is thought to be the third-largest language study. community of Greeks anywhere in the world. In December 1978 twenty-two Italian Because of this, the Victorian Conference in Adventists banded together, pledging 1979 called for the services of Dino themselves to Adventist Italian evangelical Mastromihalis, who had been carrying out activity. They met monthly at the Strathfield ministerial duties in Greece, with special Adventist High School until in June the emphasis on colporteur and youth work. As former Guildford Seventh-day Adventist Mastromihalis commenced to follow up the church became available, at which time the names of interested Greek families, a group began to hold regular church services prominent Adventist evangelist, John Car- there. The membership was still only thirty ter, commenced a long Melbourne public when in March 1981, the newly decorated mission which provided Dino with a further church became the permanent home of the list of names. first organised Seventh-day Adventist Italian As a result, a Greek Sabbath school was church. During the remainder of that year organised in the hall of the North Fitzroy seven people were baptised and accepted Adventist church, which led to the formation into church fellowship so that with a few new of the first Seventh-day Adventist Greek arrivals from Italy the membership at the church outside of Greece. The congregation close of 1981 stood at forty. This was a small consisted of sixteen adults and nine but promising beginning. children. While quiet consolidation of the Italian As the number of Greek Adventists work was going forward in Sydney there was steadily increased, pastored by Mas- a quite spectacular growth of Adventism tromihalis and his English-born wife among the Spanish people there. In 1970 Pauline, the congregation looked about for a the officers of the Greater Sydney Confer- permanent place of worship. A Church of ence became aware that many South Christ church, scarcely a stone's throw from American Spanish-speaking Adventists were the Adventist North Fitzroy church, came on settling in the city and worshipping with our the market. This ninety-six-year-old brick English-speaking congregations. The lan- and slate building was renovated and guage difficulty inhibited a full sense of painted inside and was opened as the Greek belonging. That year Dino Vitiello, our only Christian Church of Seventh-day Adventists Spanish-speaking minister, who had also on May 7, 1983. Among the list of speakers worked for the Italians, brought together was the former minister of the church, fifty-six or so Spanish believers in the Pastor Harmer. The principal speaker, Fairfield area, laying the foundation for later however, was the president of the Victorian exciting developments. Conference, Pastor Ken Low, who closed his In 1975 Ricardo Olivares arrived from address with the pointed quotation from Chile and infused the group with a new sense Acts 18:10. "I have much people in this city." of organisation and missionary fervour. By There has been in recent years a migration 1978, attendances at the Spanish-speaking to New Zealand and Australia of South-sea meetings had grown to 200. Music and Islanders. Auckland, Christchurch, and Syd-

258 ney have acquired quite large communities evangelism, capable of consolidating and of people from Samoa, the Cook Islands extending the group into a well-constituted (especially Rarotonga), Tonga, Niue, and and live church congregation. Fiji. Many are Seventh-day Adventists. Since Without doubt the multiplication of ethnic English has been used in the educational churches in Australia and New Zealand has systems of these islands for many years, the been beneficial to the Seventh-day Adventist language is not unfamiliar to them. How- program of evangelism. It might be thought ever, these people feel more comfortable that out of this could come a fragmentation participating in worship and in the affairs of of the church in Australasia along national their church when they are with their fellows. lines. So far, however, there would appear to Thus, as their numbers have increased, be little sign of this. The uniting force is churches for people from particular island comprised of common Christian beliefs and groups have been organised. In North New utter commitment to Christ as Lord and Zealand they now represent a considerable Saviour. Of secondary importance, how- percentage of the total Adventist ever, is the fact that as time goes on these population—vigorous, devout and outgoing migrant people tend to become integrated people. into the English-speaking community, Nor is this the limit of multinational especially as their children grow up and are Adventism. Other groups are constantly educated beside other young people. popping up here and there: the Portuguese Seventh-day Adventists are ever con- in Sydney, for example, and a Finnish group scious of the Apostle Paul's statement in the in Brisbane. And each time this occurs there third chapter of Galatians, "There is neither seems to emerge providentially someone Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor with dedication, a natural gift for leadership, free, there is neither male nor female: for ye a pastoral concern, and a burden for are all one in Christ Jesus."

259 .1 We Have This Hope Walter Scragg In the 60s and 70s a song swept through brings this age to an end. Adventist churches. In scores of languages, The Adventist educational and health young and old were singing, "We have this infrastructure attracts many who want to hope that burns within our hearts, /Hope in share its benefits. But above these stands the coming of the Lord." These words the attractiveness of its message with capture the essence of Seventh-day Adven- emphasis on a changed lifestyle, bright tist expectations. Looking out at the world hopes for the future and a reasoned, Biblical around them, devout members see political, faith. Adventists believe large numbers will religious and social conditions as reasons flock to the places where the Word of God for hope. A listener might hear them say to provides certainty and salvation. each other, "Things are moving fast. It won't And, in fact, in the South Pacific islands be long now." Thus Adventists affirm their they see this happening. But the concept of belief in a soon return of Jesus Christ. "foreign missions" has changed radically Though now operating large institutions, since the days when missionaries feared for meeting in permanent and large churches their lives as they faced primitive savages and involved in major enterprises, the experiencing their first glimpse of a white people of the Second Advent live with the man. approaching dawn of the kingdom of God in The sacrifice of the missionary has not their hearts. quite ended, nor has the loneliness and This inspired the pioneers of a hundred cultural isolation completely gone. But the years ago to attempt to evangelise the world. mid-1980s have left far behind the world of a Adventists have no doubt in their minds that Norman Wiles dying of blackwater fever, or they must share this message about even of a Brian Dunn, speared to death in a salvation in Christ and the prospect of His Solomon Islands outpost. second coming. And they take great Christianity flourishes strongly in a rapidly pleasure in the expansion of their church; maturing society: no Adventist expects to they seek to prepare a people to meet their re-establish the gospel reticulation system Lord. which made the Anzac nations the reservoir Prospects for continued growth appear of the gospel, piping it out to those in excellent, especially in the developing darkness. nations of the Pacific. In the developed The church has indigenised. Adventist lay societies of Australia and New Zealand persons in every South Pacific island nation growth will continue, but not at the rate do the basic work of the church, witnessing expected in the islands. and organising, while island national pas- Statisticians predict that total member- tors press on with the church's mission. ship will climb from 161,000 (December Today's missionary is a person with 1983) to 312,000 by the end of the century. specialised training and skill, who super- In the Australia/New Zealand axis, that vises the use of resources and provides growth will put the membership at 67,000, administrative guidance. Australians and up from 52,000 in December 1983. In the New Zealanders tend to arrive in island South Pacific a dramatic surge will push settings to teach science and mathematics, membership from 75,416 (December 1983) to nurture and expand educational systems, to 245,000. Yet these statistical projections to heal and teach in hospitals and nursing may not tell the whole tale. The hope that schools, to organise complex agricultural bases itself on the Bible promises would operations or run vocational programs. anticipate far more, or preferably that Jesus More than 14,429 children and youth Christ will return long before these totals are attend Adventist schools in the island reached. nations. Each year an average of fifteen to Growth in the South Pacific islands already twenty nurses graduate from training hospi- far outpaces that in the Anzac duo. A number tals. The church nurtures its education of factors cause this. Birth rates provide a system as a most important area of growth, natural inbuilt growth factor. But a stronger worthy of significant financial investment. reason exists in the contrast between the In Papua New Guinea the church has enthusiastic reception of Christianity in the recently spent $A11,000,000 to build the islands and the casual attitude to religion to Pacific Adventist College, a college for be found in most developed societies. This advanced education. Greeted with en- affects all denominations, including thusiasm by the government, the charter to strongly evangelical movements such as grant degrees arrived before the college Adventism. Yet even here members and opened. Its 1986 capacity of 250 will hardly ministers look for startling changes as God care for the burgeoning needs as the church

262 other areas during times of slow growth. Change pipes the church on into the future, especially in the realm of technology. In 1984 the church approved computers as regular equipment for its pastors and teachers. Soon Compuchurch, the top- selling computer software, or its imitators, will be as familiar to the pastor as receipt books and membership files. Computer literacy comes the way of every child trained in a Seventh-day Adventist high school in Australia and New Zealand. From the pool of talent found in these schools the church will find its leaders and workers. They will be as competent in doing God's business as technology permits. Adventists have a particular view of technology. It speaks to them in two ways. CHARLES HENRY WATSON (1877-1962) First, it reminds them that a knowledge The only Australian ever to become president of the explosion will precede the Second Coming. General Conference was Charles Watson. A Melbourne This they expect, especially in mass media wool-buyer, he became an Adventist in 1902, was and communication technology. Second, ordained in 1912, voted Union Conference president in 1917 and first chairman of the Australasian Confer- God has guided in such gifts so that His word ence Association in 1920. might be made known quickly everywhere. His business acumen and financial integrity were widely recognised in 1922 when he was elected vice-president and associate treasurer of the General Conference. Then, in 1930, he became president of the world church, leading it through the difficult depres- sion years. A man of strength and vision, he "came to the kingdom for such a time." trains pastors, teachers and business per- sonnel. It looks at this stage to a graduation tally of thirty or forty a year. This surge in the training of nationals will provide skills and leadership in their own nations to match the needs of a rapidly growing church. In an expression of its hope for the island nations, the 1984 opening of Pacific Adventist College near Port Moresby bec- koned students into the future with its Apple LIE computers. A grandchild, or perhaps a child of an illiterate primitive may now expect to write computer programs or WILLIAM GORDON TURNER (1885-1978) manipulate sophisticated software. A young businessman from Hastings, New Zealand, So the church adapts its mission to active in the Baptist Church, became aware of Adventist changing needs. New questions demand beliefs from a Sydney Sanitarium-trained nurse who answers. with his wife had set up treatment rooms in the town. This was Gordon Turner, who after graduating from the Are the only reservoirs of Adventist missionary course at Avondale in 1914, entered development and cooperation found in the evangelical work in his birthplace, Melbourne. He advanced societies? Terms such as mission married Mabel Greenfield of Hastings, whose mother and missionary seem inappropriate to Clara was one of New Zealand's first Adventists. describe many situations filled from outside A meticulously organised person and a forceful speaker, Turner soon found himself in church a country. The role of Third- World success in administration, occupying a succession of responsible sustaining the faith and confidence of first- posts. For two separate terms he was leader of the world Christians should not be underesti- Adventist work in Australasia. In between he was mated. Many would assert that God willed vice-president of the General Conference, responsible the missionary expansion of the nineteenth for North America. He was an active preacher until six weeks before his and twentieth centuries so that such areas death at the age of ninety-three. might "pay back" with their zeal and success

263 New inventions are given by God to answer How about youth who find the morality of the hopes He creates. Ellen White has truly the Ten Commandments so different from said: the morality of television or their textbooks? The way in which God uses men is not always How will we answer the questions raised discerned, but lie does use them. God entrusts men with talents and inventive genius, in order that His by the test-tube babies, gene tampering and great work in the world may be accomplished. The sophisticated life-support systems? inventions of human minds are supposed to spring What can be done about sexual and from humanity, but God is behind all. sadistic obscenity and pornography? Of special interest to the church and its How long can the church sustain a members are new mass media develop- position that excludes women from the ments. Already skilled in radio and television ordained ministry and therefore from key production, forward-looking com- leadership roles? municators are examining the possibilities The questions slip out more easily than of satellite broadcasting, videotext, FAX, and the answers, but they must be asked and other systems that will permit the church to answers sought. spread its message effectively and speedily. In a world where scholarship and thought Technology also keeps the church's increase in sophistication the church must hospital system at the front of the private meet the challenge, with eternal absolutes health care sector. The Sydney Adventist as its base. Answers to many questions may Hospital, flagship of the church's health at times elude the seekers, but the quest system in the South Pacific, has pushed itself continues as fallible human beings explore to the fore in new medical technologies. God's goodness and His ways. Open-heart surgery, whole body scans, Through all of this the church will retain its radioisotope evaluations, ultrasound scan- sense of mission because of its commitment ning and other new diagnostic, preventive to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will uplift Him and restorative techniques are seized upon as the Hope of the world. It refuses to regard as soon as practicable. the present as less susceptible to the gospel The giant Sanitarium Health Food Com- than other times. No one expects Adventists pany studies its future with computers and database flow charts. In its laboratories it projects new products to meet the increas- ing demand for food that both tastes good and is good for you. Yet if you flip the coin, technology also threatens the church and its mission. Evangelists report of the competition for attention given by television and video. The faith of the church member and his standards of behaviour are questioned by the morality and ethics of the mass media. The church deplores the breakdown in the family, increasing divorce rates and es- calating interpersonal problems. For this reason, the training of profes- sional workers will surely undergo continual scrutiny and adaptation. Pastors will meet complex social and personal problems that will demand training in counselling, conflict A. WILLIAM CORMACK (1887-1968) management and other person-orientated New South Welshman William Cormack served the skills. They will have to help the church Adventist Church for forty-seven years, beginning in preserve itself against the pressures of 1910. He devoted thirty-one of these years to social change. In these areas, also, ques- leadership beyond Australia. tions abound: Following his presidency of the Western Australian, How can the one-man, one-woman com- North New Zealand and Victorian Conferences, he was invited, in 1923, to become president of the Southern mitment of Christiah marriage survive the Asia Division. In 1934 he proceeded to Washington, DC, view of society where either party may as associate secretary of the General Conference. terminate the contract? A man of spiritually uplifting influence, one of his What about the wandering Adventist eye favourite sayings is especially meaningful in the 1985 centennial year: "Brethren, we're not only homeward that fixes on material rather than eternal bound—we're almost home!" values?

264 LY BIBLE

People of the Book. to withhold their witness while somebody Aboriginal laymen already operate the researches the answers to multitudes of Mirriwinni Gardens Adventist Academy. questions. Observers of Adventism will see a Laymen are looking toward a similar school continued, aggressive, evangelistic ap- at Karalundi in Western Australia. proach. Every age has had an opportunity A look into the future might find an and a way to present the Christian message. Adventist church congregation involved in a Today and tomorrow do not differ from the variety of enterprises. There would be past. evangelism—literature to distribute, video Faith in God's providence joins hands with tapes to lend and collect, a multi-image hope as the church grows. In 1983 the world screen presentation of Bible truths to leaders of the church proposed that between organise and personal visits to make. September of that year and June of 1985, Possibly a new software program may one thousand days in all, a million persons enable nutritionists to provide individually should join the church. In the South Pacific, designed diet plans for weight control and church members joined in a local goal of simple complaints. From the South Pacific twenty-five per day for each of the 1,000 will come a request for skilled craftsmen to days. By mid-1984 the number averaged fly in and build a new wing on a hospital in a thirty-four per day. remote island country. For its own members Adventists feel that they are part of an the primary and secondary schools will organisation which faces the future unaf- continue to express hope in the future of the raid. A firm belief in the second coming of church. Jesus Christ gives a particular dimension to This special mould which Scripture and a their thinking, and enriches their commit- sense of mission have placed on the church ment to caring for a troubled society. Money will see the Ten Commandments em- and skills accumulate to answer the needs of phasised in the face of declining moral the world. It continues to be remarkable that standards. With pleasure for pleasure's sake a body of Christians with their eyes so surely dominating behaviour patterns, preachers fixed on the end of this present world can yet will zero in on such issues as selfishness, pour out resources to aid those hurt by materialism and indifference to others' social upheaval or natural disaster. Adven- needs. Adventists possess a unique lifestyle. tist Development and Relief Agency prog- This will continue to separate them from rams will surely grow as the church makes its such social evils as alcoholism and drug infrastructure available in partnership with addiction. With a brand-new 5-Day Plan to government and private agencies. Stop Smoking they will continue their One way of understanding how the church inroads on tobacco addiction. views the future is to look at how it spends its Those who cast a visionary eye toward the money. New schools such as those in future see an increasing role for Adventists Papanui and Longburn in New Zealand carry in local and national government, especially their own message of hope and certainty. in the developing nations of the South The decision to build large additions to the Pacific. There, in particular, Adventist Sopas Hospital to house a training program population percentages continue to rise. for Registered Nurses tells how the church Considerable numbers of church members perceives its future in Papua New Guinea. hold parliamentary seats or serve at senior Large sums of money will support an government levels. For a generally small extensive and continuous evangelistic out- and conservative church which avows the reach. In the large cities of Australia and New separation of church and state, this presents Zealand, the very latest in halls and an unusual opportunity. equipment vehicle the gospel. The Trans- Everywhere the church perceives opening Tasman Union Conference of the church doors. In the highlands of New Guinea, puts its future this way: "Our objective is to tribesmen clamour for the Adventist pre- model and inspire total dedication to sence in their villages. In the cities of the finishing the work called for in the Gospel south, health education programs draw Commission, through an awareness of our record attendances. In the ethnic mix of rich denominational heritage, and through a migrant and refugee a resource undreamed commitment to our distinctive Biblical of has opened to the church in the needs of message." many nations. In the layout rooms of the In another major cash commitment the Signs Publishing Company, books and church has asked Aboriginal leaders to magazines modern in style take shape. guide it in developing plans to assist Adventists have not lost their vision, their Australia's indigenous people. Adventist mission or their zest for Christian witness.

266 Early Seventh-day Adventists ended their Bible-based gospel message. letters with the greeting, "Yours in the Seventh-day Adventists would like their blessed hope." For all its planning, all its neighbours of today and tomorrow to know buildings, all its infrastructure, the church that the seventh-day Sabbath, a devotion to still lives under the divine promise of the a healthful diet and lifestyle, or the special returning Lord. This eschatological church role of their prophetic messenger, Ellen places itself in a prophetic role and will White, important as they may be, are not the continue to speak to the world of the End and first concern. Rather, they would point to the preparation for the End. work of their Lord, Jesus Christ, as the If you link its latter-day perspectives with a source of their expectations. concern for Bible truth you have almost They do not want to be separate, however captured the genius of this movement. You different their ideas may be. Their very have begun to see why it continues to be involvement with education and health, with among the fastest-growing denominations. relief and evangelism, speaks of their own Certainty of faith, a reason for living, and sense of vulnerability in a world bent on God's plan for the future make its message self-destruction. attractive and reasonable. A world vision Above all else they would want to be linked with fellowship and distinctive life- known for the hope that they possess. This style have created a cohesive international hope calls from the future with the family of faith. assurance that God waits for His people to That almost has the Adventist faith meet Him there. The hope they know today capsuled, but not quite. Adventists believe in has changed their lives and has given them a changed life here and now. They expect optimism on behalf of themselves and their Christ to fulfil in them the promise that there fellow voyagers on Planet Earth. To share will be a people prepared for His return. that hope through witness and word, Adventists believe that the world is not through compassion and concern, has perfectible through human efforts, but in the made Adventists what they are. With this near future God will perfect it through the confidence they continue to tell each other direct action of Jesus Christ. And while no and the world: man of himself can count himself free from "We have this hope that burns within our sin or perfect in moral and spiritual living, hearts, God can and does account His people Hope in the coming of the Lord. blameless and give them strength to live We have this faith that Christ alone im- under the divine command to holiness. parts, Adventists have a special appeal to the Faith in the promise of His Word. people of Australia and New Zealand. Of all We believe the time is here advanced Western nations, these two have When the nations far and near the greatest concentration of believers. The Shall awake, and shout, and sing — church also appeals greatly to the island Hallelujah! Christ is King! nations of the South Pacific. Adventists are We have this hope that burns within our convinced that such attraction is a gift from hearts. God which arrives with their distinctive, Hope in the coming of the Lord."

An Orwitatiovx If you would appreciate further information concerning Seventh-day Adventists, their beliefs and prac- tices, you might care to write to the Communication Department, Seventh-day Adventist Church, 148 Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga, NSW 2076.

267 Editorial Committee N. P. Clapham, Chairman E. Hansen, Secretary M. R. Hook A. G. Lindsay R. H. Parr A. N. Patrick J. R. Priestley Illustration Commit- tee R. W. Taylor, Chairman J. Garrard, Secretary E. G. McDowell A. H. Tolhurst E. W. Were S. Ross Goldstone, MA ("New Zealand"). Editorial Assistants Adventist pastor and youth leader, who has developed a lively interest in the his- W. A. Townend tory of Adventism in Australasia, on which L. A. Bow he is a popular speaker and writer. Ross Goldstone, himself a New Zealander, was particularly industrious in exploring the history of Adventism in his native land AUTHORS while serving for a time as a pastor there. All the foregoing authors except two are graduates of Avondale College.

Noel P. Clapham, MA, PhD, DipEd Admin (Editor; "Origins," and co-author with H. Elaine J. Fletcher ("Public Evangelism"). Clifford of "Hospitals and Healing"). The Freelance Adventist writer. Former lady longest-serving academic of Avondale Bible worker. Her husband, Austen College (thirty-eight years). Formerly Fletcher, is a successful Adventist chairman, Department of Humanities, cur- evangelist who currently is teaching rently semi-retired senior lecturer in his- techniques of personal and public tory. evangelism at Avondale College.

268 Robert H. Parr, BA ("The Sanitarium Health Food Company"). President, Grea- Donald E. Hansen, BA (lions), PhD (As- ter Sydney Conference of Seventh-day Ad- sociate Editor; "The Adventist Press"). ventists. Formerly secondary headmaster Senior lecturer at Avondale College, in Seventh-day Adventist schools; editor, specialising in Australian History. Formerly Shakespeare Head Press; editor of Signs technical editor of Motor Manual, and sec- of the Times, Australasian Record, and ondary headmaster in Seventh-day Adven- Good Health. In demand as a preacher tist schools. and writer, especially for young people.

Herbert E. Clifford, FRCS, FRACS ("Hos- pitals and Healing," co-author with N. Arthur N. Patrick, BA, MA, MDiv, DMin, Clapham). Surgeon and administrator of MLitt ("The Founding Mothers"). Registrar the Sydney Adventist Hospital, of Avondale College. Formerly pas- Wahroonga, since 1968. An ordained Ad- tor/evangelist in New Zealand and the Un- ventist minister. A South African, Dr Clif- ited States. Later, lecturer in the Depart- ford served for ten years as surgeon, mis- ment of Theology, Avondale College, and sionary and hospital administrator in concurrently director of the Ellen G. Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) in southern White/SDA Research Centre. Author of Africa. thesis on pioneer Australian women.

269 Goldie M. Down ("Adventist Youth"). A freelance writer, particularly of pioneer Trevor G. Lloyd, BA, MEd, PhD ("Church stories. Married to retired evangelist David Schools"). Formerly chairman, Department Down. The Downs spent many years in of Education, Avondale College; principal India, concerning which Goldie Down is a Bible teacher, Sydney Adventist High highly entertaining storyteller. Goldie School; editor of International Adventist Down, herself a mother of four vigorous Bible Curriculum. At present on study young people, has always taken an inter- leave and editing Adventist Readers. est in the youth of the church.

Milton R. Hook, MA, EdD ("Avondale"). W. Glynn Litster, BA, MEd, PhD ("The Communication director, Greater Sydney Aborigines"). Primary supervisor, Papua Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. New Guinea Union Mission. A former Formerly a church pastor and Bible headmaster of Adventist high schools, at teacher in several Adventist educational Avondale, NSW, and in Auckland, NZ. Au- institutions. He has done considerable re- thor of a master's thesis: The Seventh-day search on the circumstances surrounding Adventist Church and Aboriginal Educa- the founding of Avondale College. tion.

270 Stuart M. Uttley ("Multi-Cultural Adven- Robert D. Dixon, MA ("The Pacific Is- tism," co-author with W. A. Townend). A lands"). An Adventist secondary school retired Adventist minister. Formerly local teacher and educationalist. Formerly conference president and then president member of the Education Department, of the Trans-Australian Union Conference. Avondale College; later Education director In the course of leadership of Adventist for the Central Pacific Union Mission. Au- churches and conferences he was deeply thor of thesis concerning Adventist work in involved in the development of ethnic Papua New Guinea. groups and churches.

Reginald Keith Brown ("The Church and W. Austin Townend ("Multi-Cultural Ad- the Community"). Health, Temperance ventism," co-author with S. M. Uttley). An and Communication director, Trans- Adventist Youth and Lay Activities leader Australian Union Conference of Seventh- and conference president, who in retire- day Adventists. He was trained as a minis- ment has continued to be an active writer, ter at Avondale College and as a nurse at contributing articles to newspapers and the Sydney Sanitarium (later Sydney Ad- religious journals, chiefly Adventist. While ventist Hospital). Became a registered president of the South Australian Confer- physiotherapist. Now an Adventist minis- ence he became familiar with ethnic de- ter, he is active in both community out- velopments in that state, including the his- reach programs and in collecting informa- torical background of Adventism in the tion on Adventist local history. Barossa Valley.

271 John B. Trim, BA, and Marye Trim, BA Walter R. L. Scragg, BA, DD (hon causa) LittB, MEd ("Mini-biographies," co-authors ("We Have This Hope"). President of the with R. Parr and N. Clapham). A husband- Australasian Division of Seventh-day Ad- and-wife team, both interested in writing. ventists. He is the son of W. M. R. Scragg, John is a minister; Marye a teacher. They veteran Adventist theologian, evangelist, spent five years in India. John has held and a conference president, now ninety- several posts involving public relations five, who was a boy in one of the first Aus- and health education, and is now an as- tralian youth societies. Walter Scragg Jr, sociate administrator of the Sydney Adven- himself a pastor/evangelist, became direc- tist Hospital. Marye is a lecturer at the tor of the Communication Department of Catholic College of Education, Sydney, the General Conference, Washington, DC, with a special interest in the teaching of later president of the Northern European English. Division, and more recently president of the Australasian Division.

The Editor wishes to thank all those who have assisted in the gathering of information, those who have lent photographs for reproduction, and the many who have read sections of the script and who have suggested amendments.

272 INDEX - Seventh-day Adventists in the South Pacific 1885-1985 Produced by Marian de Berg, Ellen G White/SDA Research Centre (2003)

Abbott, Malcolm 212 Avondale College Foundation 160 Abemama (Kiribati) 221 Avondale Health Retreat 80,81, 84, 155 Aboriginal Work 179, 183, 188-197, Avondale Press 62, 73 see Avondale 218, 221, 266 Avondale School for Christian Adair family 120 Workers College 159 Adair, George 109 Avondale Symphonic Choir 252 Adair, Ken 213 Backhouse, George Adelaide, S.A. 10, 37, 44, 52, 80, Bagnall, Gladys 173 211 128, 236 Baigani (Timothy) Admiralty Islands (PNG) 211 Baker, Josie 119 Advent (McMahon boat) 48 Baker, William L.H. 146 Advent Herald (ship) 205,206 Baldwin, Ernest 175 Advent Review & Sabbath Herald 115 Ballarat, Vic. 10, 37, 61, 243 23 Adventist Media Centre 52, 242 Bardadoes St Church, NZ Aged Care 242,243 Barnard, Len 54, 213, 225, 227, Alert Magazine 54, 246 230 Allbon, Rhae 156 Barrett, Robert 225 Allen, Malcolm 141 Basin, The (Youth camp) Vic. 136 Allum, Francis A. 147, 162 Bathurst, NSW 44 Ambunti (PNG) 230 Battye, Walter 33 Amyes Memorial Hospital (S.I.) 225 Batuna (Solomon Islands) 207, 213 Amyes, S.H. 23, 81, 101 Beattys (Vic.) 173 168 Andamoka, S.A. 74 Beavis, Lucy M. Anderson, Albert W. 62, 173, 182 Bedtime Stories 74 Anderson, Clifford 62 Behrens, Frank 213 118 Anderson, John D & Mrs 207, 216 Belden, Sarah Anderson, Hilda 119 Bell, Barkley Grenville 92 Anderson, Ormond,K 62, 173 Bell, Goodloe H. 176 222 Anderson, Roy Allan 49, 52, 62, 89, 173 Bena Bena (PNG) Andre, Hattie 119, 122, 157, 201 Bendeich, Ida 247 Andrew Stewart (plane) 230 Bendigo Church, Vic. 46, 243 147 Andrews, J N 13 Benson, A.H. Aore Training School (N.H.) 205 Berambah Govt Station 188 Aore Hospital (New Hebrides) 224 Bethany Rescue Home, NZ 80 Apia (Samoa) 219 Betikama School (Solomon Is) 225 Appeldorf Family 252 Beulah College (Tonga) 204, 218,219 Archee Brothers 141 Bidmead, Margaret(Bowers) 183 Archer, John 208 Bible Echo - see Echo Publishing House Archer, Ronald 197 Bible Echo & ST 18,23,31,37,61, Ardmore Camp, NZ 30, 33 63, 114-116, 118- Arnhem Land 74 120, 123, 125, 236 Arnold, William 10, 60, 61, 114 Bible Story, The 73 Ashburton Camp, NZ 30 Big Nambus People 205 Ashcroft, Charles 178 Bisiatabu (PNG) 211, 230 Ashfield, NSW 81, 128 Blair, Ross 192 Atchin (New Hebrides) 205 Blanch, James A. "Pat" 193 Atiu (Cook Islands) 218 Blandford, James 188, 192 Atkins, Arthur 212 Blenheim, NZ 22 Atoifi Hospital (Solomon Is) 225 Blind - Work for 237, 239,249 Auburn, Vic 256 Blyde, Mervyn 192 Auckland, NZ 18, 20,21, 23, 30, 33, Bobongie, June 197 95,96, 116, 201, 243, Bokhara, W.A. 46 258 Boliu (Solomon Islands) 212 Auckland Adv. Hospital 95,96 Bolton, Fannie 115, 119 Auckland Mission, NZ 21 Bootsch Family 252 Australasian Bible School 20, 32, 146,147, 168 Borgas, Lou (Ludwig) 189, 192 Australasian Medical Missionary 119 Borody, Jan 253, 255 & Benevolent Assn Bougainville 211,212, 225, 227 Australasian Missionary College see Avondale Coll. Boulting, Charles 52, 55 Australasian Record 73,74, 105, 119, 129, Boulting, Wanda (Niebuhr) 179 136, 237 Bounty (ship) 200 Australasian Signs of Times 63, 134 Bourke, NSW 54 Australasian Union Conf. 147, 150 Boyd, Charles & Rosalind 219 Australian Red Cross 95 Boyd, Ella 162, 204 Australian Tract Society 61 Boyd, Maude Sisley 122, 155 Aveling, Robert 219 Bradford, Graeme 55 Avondale College 20, 21, 22, 32, 38, Bradshaw, Don 246,247 45, 81, 101, 105, Bramford, Violet 178 122, 146-165, 179, Brandstater, Arthur 23 182, 227, 240, Brandstater Family 252 252,253, 256 Brandstater, Gordon A. 80 Branster, Gordon 213 Chapman, Will 178 Brassey, Lord 61 Charles Harrison Home 81, 93 Braucht, Dr F.E. 80, 201, 204 Chesson, Alfred & Mrs 202 Brettville Estate 146,147, 165 Chesson, Pastor 49 Brighton, Vic. 15, 100 Chinese Church 255,256 Brisbane, Qld 44, 49, 52, 134, 253, Choiseul (Solomon Is) 207 255 Christ in Song 44 Britten, Loma 134 Christ's Object Lessons 31 Broken Hill, NSW 47, 49 Christchurch, NZ 23, 30,31, 80, 101, Brooks, Charles D. 141 258 Brown, Reginald K. 271 Christchurch Health Home 23, 80 Brunswick Church, Vic 47 Christchurch Mission 23 Buka (PNG) 227 Christchurch Sanitarium 23, 31, 101 Bunoa, Pauliasi 201,202 Christian, Clem 134, 140 Bunyip, Vic. 46 Christian, Haywood 200 Buresala Training School (Fiji) 202, 208, 222 Christian, Herbert 219 Burnham, Eliza J. 118, 146 Christian Help Bands 129 Burnham House, Vic 60 Christian Services for Blind 237, 239,240 Bums, Nelson 33, 38, 52 Cina (mission ship) 202 Bumside, George 33, 52, 54, 131 Clapham, Noel 159, 268 Butler, Lance 88, 213, 240 Clark, David 159 Butler, Lewis 88 Clarke, John 157 Butler, Russell 88 Clarke, Margaret (Miller) 183 Butz, Edwin 204, 213 Claus, Paul 33 Butz, Florence 119, 204, 213 Clayton, Jasper 154 Cabramatta, NSW 256 Cleary, Evelyn 182 Cady, Benjamin & Mrs 204 Clifford, Herbert 93, 269 Calarco, Pat 258 Colcord, Willard 116 Caldwell, David 213 Coles Family 201 Caldwell, Dr & Mrs 32, Collett, Trevor 212 Caldwell, Robert A. 74 Collinsvale, Tas 53, 252 Cambridge, NZ 23 Colporteurs 29-31 Camp Meetings 31, 116 Coltheart, Alison 141 - Adelaide, SA 44 Coltheart, John 33, 53,54 - Ardmore, Auckland, NZ 30, 33 Community Work 236-248 - Ashburton, NZ 30 Comus Orphanage 129 - Ashfield, NSW 128, 147 Concord, Anna 119 - Brighton, Vic. 44, 100, 116, 128 Conley, Annie (Nurse) 123 - Brisbane, Qld 44, 116 Conley, John 33, 81, 131 - Bathurst, NSW 44 Conley, Marjorie 165 - Chaneys, NZ 30 Conley, Robert 81 - Devonport, Tas. 1903 44 Connell, Morgan 22 - Dunedin, NZ 23 Coober Pedy, S.A. 74 - Geelong, Vic. 46, 116 Cook, Lilian M (Bae) 48 - Masterton, NZ 30 Cook Islands 33, 62, 160, 200,201, - Napier, NZ 30 204,205, 216, 218, - New Plymouth, NZ 30 259 - Oamaru, NZ 30 - Atiu 218 - Timaru, NZ 30 - Mangaia 200 - Wanganui, NZ 30 - Papaarou 216, 218 - Wellington, NZ 30 - Rarotonga 200,201, 205, 207, - Western Australia 1902 44 216 Campbell, Alex & Emily 224 Coombe, Leslie 132 Campbell, Emily 115 Cooper, J.H. 188 Campbell, W.S. 122 Coopemook, NSW 45 Canala (New Caledonia) 216 Corliss, John 0 10, 13, 36, 37, 66, Canberra, ACT 255 114, 116, 252 Cam, Dr 155 Corliss, Julia 114 Cam, Edgar 31, 80 Cormack, A.William 104, 264 Cam, Eric 31, Cormack, James 131, 133, 216 Cam, Margaret 31, Coronella Retirement Homes 38, Cam, Yvonne 31 Corrimal, NSW 37 Carpendeit, Vic 48 Cortizo, Pastor 258 Carr, Septimus 162, 201,202, 208, Coulston, Thomas 150 211 Cox, James 163, 165 Carstairs, Will 48 Cozens, Ruth 188 Carswell, William R. 32, 33, 150, 237 Crabtree, Barry & Norma 222 Carter, John 55, 258 Craig, Frank 109 Caviness, George 162 Crisp, James 159 Cemik, John 216 Crosslands (Youth camp) 137, 140 Chalmers, James 132 Cudney, Andrew J. 200 Chapman, Elliott 62 Cunninghame (Lakes Entrance) 48 Chapman, George T. 107, 109, 178 Currie, Alexander 230 Chapman, George, Snr 178 Currow, Arthur 79, 201 Chapman, Raymond 92 Currow, Elwyn 79,80 Currow, George A. 169, 182 Flanigan, Veronica 128 Currow, Louis & Lizzie 79, 169, 201,202 Fletcher, Elaine J. 268 Curtis, Will & Mrs 128 Flohr, Charles 215 Cutler, Sir Roden 95 Fly River (PNG) 227 d'Ray, Nita 92 Flying Programme 141, 163, 230 Dandenong, Vic 255 Folkenburg, Pastor E. 247 Daniel & Revelation 29, 61 Fook, Denis & Maisie 255 Daniells, Arthur G 19-23, 31, 32, 4446, Footes, Fred 109 70, 85, 115, 119,120, Forbes, Allan 93, 222, 240 128, 147 Fowler, Rod 213 Daniells, Mrs Mary 20, 21, 119 Fraser, Laurence 29 Darko Family 252 Freeling, SA 252 Davis, Marian 115 Freeman, Rita 119 Dawson, Andrew 109 Freeman, Dr Marguerita 81, 88, 122, 243 Deane, Paul 200 Freemantle, W.A. 52 Desire of Ages 115,116 French Polynesia 204, 215,216 Devonport Church 44 A Friend in the Kitchen 119 Diari (Mission ship) 212 Fuentes, Pastor 258 Dickson, Alexander 10, 114 Fulton College (Fiji) 208, 216, 219, 222, Diet & Nutrition 247,248 224 Dixon, Robert D. 271 Fulton, John 201,202, 205, 208, Doom, Charles 215 222 Doom, Lazare 215 Funafuti (Tuvalu) 221,222 Douglass, Ada 134 Fuzzy-Wuzzy Angels 213 Down, Goldie M. 270 Gade, Semiti 202 Driver, Assoc pastor 48 Gadsen, Mrs 134 Dunedin, NZ 23 Gall Family 252 Dunlops (Vic.) 173 Gander, Stanley H. 222, 225 Dunn, Brian & Valmae 123, 225, 262 Gane, Edith (Smith) 182 Dyason, Alfred J. 236 Garden City, Qld 255 Dyason, Arthur 192, 222 Gates, Elsie 156 Early Writings 131, 176 Gates, Pastor E.H. 105, 156,157, East Timorese 256 200,201 Echo Publishing Co, Vic. 60-63, 65, 89, Gawler Church, SA 44, 46 100,101, 104 Geelan, Arthur 137 Education System 168-185 Geelong, Vic 46, 116, 256 Edwards, Eva 119, 201,202 Geiss, Mr & Mrs 85 Eiszele Family 252 German settlers 252 Ellice Islands see Tuvalu Giblett Family 44 Emira 230 Gilbert & Ellice Islands 218,219, 221,222 Engelbrecht, George 205 Gilmore, Laurence 213, 215 Ethnic Work 252-259 Gilson, William 179, 184 Evangelism 33-57 Gisborne, NZ 21, 32 Fairfield, NSW 258 Goldstone, S. Ross 268 Fallscher Family 252 Good Food & How to Prepare It 119 Farnsworth, Eugene 19, 23 Good Health 54 Farnsworth, Vesna 119, 176 Good Health Cookery Book 119 Faulkhead, Emma 119 Gooding, Evelyn 160 Faulkner, Norman 133, 175 Goroka (PNG) 230 Fehlberg Family 252 Graham, Ann 78 Ferguson, Maggie 204 Graham, Edith 119, 129 Ferguson, Missionary 225 Granville, NSW 253 Ferris, David 218, 224,225 Gray, Ken 131 Ferris Family - Snr 213 Great Controversy 29, 115, 131, 176 Ferris, Leah 173 Greater Sydney Conf. 140, 242, 255,256, Ferris, Norman 192, 212,213, 218 258 Ferris, Ruby (Chatman) 176, 213 Greathead, Mr 243 Ferris, Walter & Myrtle 213, 218 Greek work 258 Fetu Ao (mission ship) 221,222 Greenfield, Beatrice 80 Fiji 14, 38, 201-202, 204, Greenfield, Clara 263 208, 211, 216, Greenoch, SA 252 218,219, 222, 224, Greer, George W. 31, 157, 159 240, 259 Gregg, Lizzie 119 - Buresala Training School 202, 208, 222 Greive, Cedric 219 - Fulton College 208, 216, 219, 222, Greive, Louis 213 224 Greive, Marjorie 122 - Lautoka 222 Greive, Ruth (Kent) 176 - Navesau 202, 222 Greive, Sidney 89 - Samabula 222 Griffin, Margaret T. 176 - Suva 200, 202, 222 Guildford, NSW 258 - Tailevu 222 Gumer, Susan 119 - Viti Levu 202 Ha'apai (Tonga) 219 Fisher, George S. 100,101, 104,105, Haberman Family 252 107, 109, Ill Hadfield, Gwen 134 Five-Day Plans 54, 247 Halliday, Harold J. 253 Halsey, E.C. 100,101 Israel, May 118 Hansen, Donald E. 269 Israel, Mendel C 10, 11, 14, 22, 37, Hancock, John 143 61, 114, 116, 118, Hansen, James 150 125, 252 Hardy, Bro 154 Italian migrants 256, 258 Hare Boarding House, NZ 24, Ivey, June 95 Hare, Edward 18, 20, 24, 29, Jacobson, Arthur 216 Hare, Elizabeth Jakovac, Dragan 253 Hare, Eric B 79, 131, 162, 173 Jakovac, Stephen 253 Hare, Henrietta 119 James, Ethel (now Thrift) 39 Hare, Joseph 18, 32, 175 James, Dr Howard 89 Hare, Metcalfe 150,151, 154 James, J. Ross & Mrs 205 Hare, Reuben 131, 239, 248 James, Iram 151 Hare, Robert 18, 19, 21, 22, 131, Jeffes, Norman 109 173, 239, 248 Jenkins, Douglas 247 Harker, Harold 162 Johanson, Bertram 70, 109 Harlow, Bertha 155 Johanson, Eric & Nettie 70, 132, 179 Harris, James 29, Johanson, Faith 119 Harris, Pr Jim 141 Johanson Family 252 Harris, Mrs (Paap) 22, Johanson, Johan Marius 70 Harrison, Charles 89, 93, 243 Johanson, Walter 70 Harrold, Percy 92 Jones, Griffith.F. 74, 133, 201, 205- Haskell, Hefty 119, 122, 151 207,211,215,221 Haskell, Stephen N 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, Judd, Tom 213 22, 29, 32, 60, 114- Jugha (Marovo Lagoon) 207 116, 118, 132, 146, Junior MV Society 133, 140, 143 151, 154-6, 175 Kabiufa (PNG) 230 Hatzfeldthaven (PNG) 227 Kabu, Aisake 222 Hawaii 13, 200 Kadina Church, S.A. 44 Hay, David 219 Kaeo, NZ 18-21, 32, 116 Hay, Iva 134 Kaikoura, NZ 22, 175 Hay, Marian 134 Kainantu (PNG) 211, 224 Healey's Hotel, Cooranbong 150 Kaitaia, NZ 33 Hefren, Archibald 182 Kambubu (PNG) 212 Heggie, Ronald 215 Karalashvilly, Constantin 253 Heidik, Emil 255 Kauma High School (Gilberts) 221 Hellier, Mr & Mrs H 81 Keith, John 92 Helping Hand Mission 236 Kellogg, J.H. 79, 85, 115 Herald of Health 62 Kellogg, Merritt 85, 88, 120, 201 Herald of Truth 32 Kellogg, Mrs Merritt 120 Hickox, Pr 45 Kench, Mabel 242 Higgins, Annie 119, 128,129, Kent, H.E. 176 /limes, Joshua 12, Kent, Herb 176 Hindson, Anna (Ingels) 119 Kent, Hilton 176 Hindson, James 119 Kent, James W. 33, 46, 49, 131 Ho, Pastor 255,256 Kent, John 176 Hodgkinson, W.G. 66 Kent, Len 176 Hon, Eric 239, 246, 255 Kent, Mary (Taylor) 176 Hook, Milton R. 270 Kent, Ruth (Greive) 176 Hooper, Walter 136 Kent, Thomas R. 176 Hoopes, Lewis A. 176, 179, 184 Kent, Tom 176 House We Live In 176, 179 Kilroy, Wilfred 109 Howell, Cecil 227 Kiribati (Gilbert Is) 218,219, 221,222, Howell, Laurence & Gwen 227 232 Howell, Myrtle (Palmateer) 178 - Abemama 221 Howse, John 219, 221 - Kauma High School 221 Howse, Merle 221 Knight, Lyn 160 Howse, Timothy H.T. 219, 221 Koiari people (PNG) 213 Huahine (Society Is) 200 Kokoda Trail (PNG) 211, 213 Hubbard, Lizzie 79 Kosena College (Samoa) 219 Hughes, Alfred 150 Kotz, Dr S.A. 92 Hughes, Catherine 119 Kranz Family 252 Hughes, Cassius & Ella 151, 154,155, 160, Kranz, Russell 54, 137 172 Kress, Daniel & Lauretta 81, 88, 119 Hungarian immigrants 256 Kressville Retirement V. 81 Hunt, William 84,85 Kuhndt, Alice Jane 120 Hyde, William 162 Kuresa, Sauni 137 Imrie, L.J. 104 Lacey, David 150 India 38, 39 Lacey Family 120 Indian Work 202, 204 Lacey, H.C. & Lillian 151, 155 Ingels, Anna (see Hindson) 119 Laiagam (PNG) 230 Iro, Rudolph 256 Lakes Entrance, Vic. 48 Irwin, C.R. 155 Lamplough, Albert 150 Israel, Jessie 114, 118 Lamplough, Fred 151, 154 Israel, Lizzie 114, 118 Lamplough, Robert 150 Landa, Eugene 215, 253 Marshak, Pastor 255 Lane, Ruth (Hare) 131, 169 Martin, Pr Ken 141 Lang, Russell 192 Maryborough, Qld 47 Latu, Tesimale 218,219 Mason, Paul 213 Lauder, Pr Bill 136 Masters, Fairley 70, 123, 160, 178 Launceston, Tas 52 Masters, George 70, 123, 160, 178, Laughlin, Allan 97 202 Lautoka (Fiji) 222 Mastromihalis, Dino/Pauline 258 Lawrence, L.N. 146, 150 Maywald Family 252 Laxton, George 93 Mead, Ken 137 Lee, Yan Tuck 256 Meaford, Summer Hill 79,80, 84 Leech, William 111 Medlobi, Vilim 253 Leeder, Stan 136 Meier, Willard 162 Lemke, Ludwig 252 Melanesia (Mission boat) 133, 212 Leslie (Tasmania) 129 Melbourne, Vic. 10, 13,14, 37, 60, Letham, John 92 116, 137, 236, 239, Lewin, Helena 119, 134 246, 253, 256, 258 Life and Health 133 Meyers, Dudley 202 Lindsay, Harmon 150 Meyers, Ellen 202, 204 Lipski, Jerzy 255 Meyers, Harold & Mrs 136, 202 Litster, Clyde 192 Meyers, Hilton 213 Litster, W. Glynn 270 Michel, Jude 97 Lloyd, Trevor G. 270 Mildura 52 Lockwood, Matilda 32 Miller, Graham 221 Lock, Glynn 132 Miller, Joe 224 Lock, Lester & Enid 132 Miller, William 12 Lock, Linette 132 Millist, Harry 182 Lock, Maynard 213 Mills, Joseph 162 Lock, Wm & Marguerite 132, 211 Mills-Parker, Dorothy 225 Long, Eddie 137 Milne, Richard 97 Longburn College, NZ 21, 31,32, 176, 183, Minchin, H.E. 128 227 Minchin, Leonard 136,137 Loughborough, John 13, 200 Minchin, Mrs H.E. 129 Lord Howe Island 215 Mirigeda (PNG) 211, 230 Louis, Stanley 192,193 Mission Vessels 37, 133, 200-202, Low, Ken 258 204-206, 211,212, Lucas, Theodore 137 221,222, 232 Lukens, Morris 47, 48 - Advent Herald 205,206 Lyndon, Frank 204 - Cina 202 McClintock, Wilfred 230 - Diari 212 McCoy, James 200, 201 - Few Ao 221,222 McCoy, Mary Ann 200 - Malalagi 212 McCullagh, Stephen 22, 147, 175 - Melanesia 133,212 McCutcheon, Freeman 224 - Pathfinder 232 McDougall, Francis J.H. 215 - Phoebe Chapman 200 McDowell, E. Gordon 159,160, 179, 182 - Pitcairn 14, 30, 37, 200,201, McEnterfer, Sara 81, 85, 151 204 McElhany, James 44 - Veilomani 211,212 McFarland, Dr Wayne 247 Missionary Leader 131 McLaren, Bert (Dr) 92 Missions - McLaren, Gilbert (Capt) 211 - Auckland, NZ 21 McMahon, Ben 49, 182 - Christchurch, NZ 23 McMahon family 48, 49 - North Fitzroy 37 McMahon, Lyn 225 Mitchell, Edna 92 Mackay, Qld 45 Mitchell, Maxwell 95 Magnusson, Eric 160, 163, 165 Mittleider, Jacob 230 Maitland, NSW 239,240 Moala, Henry 216 Malaita (Solomon Islands) 207,208, 216, 224, Moala, Semisi 215 225 Monowai (ship) 118 Malalagi (mission ship) 212 Montevideo Maru (Japanese ship) 212 Malekula (New Hebrides) 205 Moorea (Society Is) 200 Mamatau (Buka Is) 227 More, Hannah 10, 114 Manestar, Slavko 253 Morning Watch Calendar 132,133 Mangaia (Cook Islands) 200 Morrison, E.M. & Mrs 61, 128 Manjimup, WA 44 Mount Hagen (PNG) 227, 232 Manus 230 Mount Kembla, NSW 37 Maoris - work for 32, 33, 129 Muckersy, Mrs A. 118 Mara, Ratu Sir Kamisese 222 Multi-Cultural Adventism 252-259 Mark, Deni 212 Mundu, Pastor 222 Markham (PNG) 227 Murdoch, William 157, 159, 162, 182 Marks, Barbara (Wiseman) 227 Murphett, Edward 85 Marovo Lagoon (Solomon Is) 227, 212 Mussau (S.I.) 212, 227, 230 Marovo Language Bible (SI) 225 Myers, Cameron 109 Mairickville, NSW 255,256 Naden, L C. 52, 54 Marsh, Joseph M. 200,201 Naden, Roy 54, 137 Nakasamai, Mitieli 202 Pallant, Jesse 37 Nano (Solomon Is) 211 Pallant, Mary 79,80 Napier, NZ 30, 32, 80, 175, Palmateer, George 178 236,237 Palmer, Calvin 92,93 Napier Church, NZ 21, 80 Palmer, Cyril S. 157, 204 Napier Rescue Home, NZ 236,237 Palmer, E.R. 172 Narrogin Church, WA 44 Palmer, Reuben 88 Navara, Nafitalai 202 Palmerston North, NZ 21,22 Navesau (Fiji) 202, 222 Pana, Barnabas 225 Nawara, Timoci 202 Papaarou (Cook Islands) 216, 218 Neale, Percy 156 Papeete (Tahiti) 215 Nelson, NZ 22 Papua New Guinea 39, 208, 211-213, Neru, Siaosi 221 221,222, 224,225, New Britain (PNG) 212 227, 230-232, New Caledonia 215,216 262,263 - Canala 216 - Admiralty Islands 211 - Noumea 216 - Ambunti (Wewak) 230 - Poum 216 - Bena Bena 222 New Georgia (Solomon Is) 207 - Bisiatabu (Moresby) 211, 230 New Hebrides 123, 201, 205, 208, - Bougainville 211,212, 225, 227 213, 215, 221,222, - Buka 227 224 - Fly River 227 - Aore Training School 205 - Goroka 230 - Aore Adv. Hospital 224 - Hatzfeldthaven 227 - Atchin 205 - Kabiufa 230 - Big Nambus people 205 - Kainantu 211, 224 - Malekula 205 - Kambubu 212 - Parker Missionary School 224 - Koiari people 213 - Santo 205 - Kokoda Trail 211, 213 New Lynn Samoan Ch, NZ 33 - Laiagam 230 New Plymouth, NZ 30 - Markham 227 New South Wales 37, 38, 44,45, 239, - Mirigeda 211, 230 240, 247, 255 - Mount Hagen 227, 232 "New Vision" Camps 242 - Mussau 212, 227, 230 New Zealand - general 16-33 - New Britain 212 see below also - Pacific Adv. College 222, 230, 262,263 New Zealand Missionary College see Longburn Coll. - Pierson Laymen's School 219 New Zealand - North Is. 18-24, 30-33, 80, - Port Moresby 211, 222, 230 95,96, 116, 175,176, - Rabaul 212, 230 179, 183, 227, - Ramu 227 236,237 243, - Rugen Harbour 212 258,259, 266 - Sepik District 232 New Zealand - South Is. 22,23, 30,31, 80,81, - Sonoma 230 101, 116, 175, 179, - Sopas Hospital 230-232, 266 182,183, 258, 266 - Togoba 232 NZ Conft,reuce 21, 141, 143 - Wabag 230 Newcastle 32, 52, 255 Park, Mary (Robinson) 173 Nicholas, Francis 155 Parker, Charles & Myrtle 201, 205,213 Niue Island 208, 259 Parker Family 252 Nobbs, Leslie 258 Parker Missionary School (New H) 224 Nobbs, Mrs Alfred 120 Pannenter, Keith 134, 240 Nolan, Ward 213 Parr, Robert H. 134, 143, 269 Norfolk Island 47,120, 200,201, Pascoe, Cyril 212 213, 215 Pascoe, Vincent 182 North Fitzroy, Vic 37, 60, 258 Pascoe, William 23, Nouan, Paul 215 Pathfinder (mission ship) 232 Noumea (New Caledonia) 216 Pathfinders 140, 143 Nuriootpa, SA 252 Patrick, Arthur N. 269 O'Hara, Harold 182 Patrick, Joan (Howse) 221 O'Neill, C.B. 74 Peacock, Gerald & Winifred 192, 221 Oamaru, NZ 30 Pennington, Mary 176 Oatley, NSW 255 Perth, WA 49, 52, 236 Olivares, Ricardo 258 Petersen Family 252 Oliver, Fay 197 Peterson, Pastor 137 Olsen, O.A. 147 Petherbridge, Essie (Banks) 227 Onnondville, NZ 22,23 Phillips, Albert 237, 240 Osborne, Ben 109 Phoebe Chapman (mission ship) 200 Owen, Mary 23, Pierson Laymen's School 219 Paap, Charles & wife 22, 25, 47 Pietz, Albert 224 Paap, Frederick 176 Pikacha, Douglas & Junilyn 225 Paap, John/Caroline 22, 175 Piper, Albert H. 22, 123, 201, 207 Paap, John Jnr 155 Piper, Elva 21, Pacific Adventist College (PNG) 222, 230, 262,263 Piper, Harold E. 21, 22, 45 Pacific Union College 159,160, 162, 182 Piper, Hester 123 Paget, Isobel 224 Piper, Lily (Brown) 21, Piper, Mabel 22, 176 Rosendahl, Edward 196 Piper, Mary 22, 23, Rousseau, Lemuel & Mrs 146,147, 150,151 Piper, Reginald 22, Rowe, Annie 114 Piper, Ross 21, 54 Rowe, Rita 93 Pitcairn (ship) 14, 30, 37, 200,201, Roy, Miriam 188 204 Rudge, Edmund B. 104, 204 Pitcairn Island 14, 200,201, 204, Rudge, Gladys 204 213, 218, 222, 232 Rudge, Neil 204 Pohan, Linnie 256 Rudge, Phillip B. 188, 192, 196,197 Polish Church 255 Rudge, Wilfred 213 Polynesian People 33, 201, 204 Rugen Harbour (PNG) 212 Pomare, Maui 32, Rurutu (Tubuai Is) 200 Ponsonby Church, NZ 21, 33, 175 Russian settlers 253 Port Moresby (PNG) 211, 222, 230 Rutter, Florence (Searle) 172 Posala, Haynes 225 Saint Albans, Vic 253 Poum (New Caledonia) 216 Saint Lawrence, Qld 45 Prescott, W.W. 31, 150,151 Salisbury, Qld 255 Pretyman, Cecil 175 Salisbury, Wilbur D. 65, 85, 89 Pretyman, Katie (Judge) 173, 175 Samabula (Fiji) 222 Pretyman, Robert 175 Samoa 33, 200,201, 204, Price, James 93 219, 221, 259 Prismall, Prissie 160, 178 - Apia 219 Przychodski, Tadeusz 255 - Kosena College 219 Queensland 32, 37, 39, 44, 47, - Tutuila 200 116, 134, 140, 255 - Upolu 219 Quick, Venus 134 - Vailoa 204, 219 Quinlin, George 197 Sanitarium Health Food Co 31, 95, 100-111, 236, Quinn, Pr R.D. 47 264 Quintal, Jane 201 - Auckland Factory 109 Rabaul (PNG) 212, 230 - Australasian Food Res Lab III, 264 Rabe Family 252 - Café work 105 Radley, John & Mary 85 - Caramel Cereal 100 Radley, Rose Marie 85 - Cerix Puffed Wheat 109 Radovanovic, Michael 253 - Christchurch Factory 101, 105, 109 Raethel Family 252 - Cooranbong Factory 101, 104, 155, 157 Ragoso, Kata 208, 212,213 - Grain Products 109 Raiatea (Society Is) 200, 204 - Granola 100, 107 Raininini, Hannah 120 - Granose 107 Rand, Dr Silas 81 - Marmite 107, 109 Ranogga (Solomon Is) 207 - Melbourne shop & café 105 Rarama (paper) 202 - North Fitzroy Bakehouse 100,101 Rarotonga (Cook Is) 200,201, 205, 207, - Palmerston North Factory 109 216 - Plant Development Div. 111 Read, Albert 200,201 - Sydney shop & Café 101, 104,105 Read, Sybil 201 - Weetbix 109 Reekie, Frederick Wm 66 Santo (New Hebrides) 205 Reeves, Clifford 52 Satchel], Keith 222 Reid-Smith, Mr & Mrs 32, 33 Scarfe, Eileen (Smith) 173 Rendova (Solomon Is) 207,208 Schools - Rennell Islands (Solomon Is) 208 - Albany, WA 183 Review & Herald 78, 212 - Albion, Qld 183 Rex, Stan 74 - Albury, NSW 183 Reye, Raymond & Mrs 204 - Auburn, NSW 182 Reynaud, Jean (Dr) 215 - Auckland, NZ 31, 183 Richards, Franldin/Eulalia 88 - Avondale, NSW 172, 183 Richards, William 176, 192 - Bickley, WA 178 Richardson, Dick 212 - Bishopsbourne, Tas 175 Richardson, Geoffrey 157, 159 - Bookara, WA 178 Richardson, Harry 151 - Boxwood, Vic 173 Richmond, Vic. 14 - Brisbane, SQ 175, 183 Rini, Pastor 225 - Burwood, NSW 182 Robartson, Esther 192 - Cambridge, NZ 31,32, 176 Roberts, Bruce 197 - Cannel, WA 176, 178, 183 Robinson, Ella (Sharp) 173 - Central Coast, NSW 183 Rockhampton, Qld 45 - Christchurch, NZ 31, 175, 179, 182 Rodionoff, Pavel 253 - Collinsvale, Tas 179 Roenfelt, Erwin 52 - Concord, NSW 182 Roennfeldt, Clarence 252 - Corndale, NSW 175 Roennfeldt Family 252 - Darling Range, WA 176 Rogapitu, Pastor 212 - Darwin, NT 183 Rogers, Madge 134 - Doonside, NSW 183 Roma, Qld 47 - Dunedin, NZ 183 Romero, Elizabeth 125 - Enrolments 179, 184,185, 262 Romero, L.A. 61, 125 - Eugowra, NSW 176 Rose, Leo 253 - Fremantle, WA 179 - Hamilton, NSW 175, 182 Sherwin, Thomas A. 81, 84, 88,89, 243 - Hawthorn, Vic 182 Sibley, David 33 - Hobart, Tas 175, 183 Siemienowic, Pastor 255 - Huon Valley, Tas 179 Signs of the Times 63, 73, 115, 129, - Kaikoura, NZ 175 134, 236 - Kalgoorlie, WA 179 Signs Publishing Co 62,63, 65, 73, 89, - Kangarilla, SA 179 133, 225, 266 - Karalundi, WA 183, 192-194, 196, Singh, Narain 266 Singh, Nur Banadur 204 - Kensington, SA 179 Sisley, Teacher 173 - Kyogle, NSW 175 Sisley, W.C. 150 - Launceston, Tas 175 Skinner, Melvin 136 - Lismore, NSW 183 Skinner, T.W. & Mrs 151 - Longbum, NZ 32, 183, 266 Skrzypaszek, Jan A. 255 - Mackay, Qld 183 Smith Family (Vic.) 173 - Marrickville, NSW 182 Smith, W.J. 175 - Mildura, Vic 183 Snow, Charles Miles 63 - Mirriwinni Gardens, NSW 183, 197, 266 Society Islands 200, 204, 218 - Mona Mona, Qld 179, 183, 188-190, - Huahine 200 192,193, 196 - Moorea 200 - Moonah, Tas 182 - Raiatea 200, 204 - Mt Gambier, SA 179 Solomon Islands - 132, 202, 205, - Mumblepeg, NSW 183 207,208, 211, 212, - Murgon, Qld 188 216, 219, 221, - Murwillumbah, NSW 183 224,225, 230 - Napier, NZ 175,176, 183 - Amyes Memorial Hospital 225 - Narrogin, WA 179 - Atoifi Hospital 225 - New Plymouth, NZ 176 - Batuna 207, 213 - North Fitzroy, Vic 173, 182 - Betikama School 225 - Nunawading, Vic 183, 256 - Boliu 212 - Oakley, Vic 183 - Choiseul 207 - Osborne Park, WA 176 - Malaita 207,208, 216, 224, - Palmerston North, NZ 179 225 - Papanui, NZ 266 - Marovo Lagoon 207, 212 - Penguin, Tas 183 - Marovo New Testament 225 - Pine Rivers, Qld 183 - Mussau 212, 227, 230 - Ponsonby, NZ 175 - New Georgia 207 - Prospect, SA 178,179, 182 - Ranogga 207 - Rockhampton, Qld 179 - Rendova 207,208 - Stanmore, NSW 173 - Rennell Island 208 - Stratfield, NSW 258 - Vangunu 207 - Timaru, NZ 183 - Vella Lavella 207 - Toowoomba, Qld 182 - Vim 213 - Upper Preston, WA 178 Sonoma (PNG) 230 - Victoria Park, WA 182 Sopas Hospital (PNG) 230 - Wahroonga, NSW 175, 182,183 South Australia 10, 37,38, 44, 46, 52, - Wallsend, NSW 175 74, 80, 128, 236, 252 - Wanganui, NZ 179 Spanish work 258 - Warburton, Vic 173 Sparavec, Pero 253 - Wellington, NZ 175,176 Spotswood, Vic 253 - Wiluna, WA 183, 192, 196 Springvale, Vic 253 Schluntz, Daisy 248 Sretenovic, 1272r 253 Schnepel, May 175 Stacey, Barbara 131 Schollenburg, Bertha 248 Standish Family 252 Schowe, Charles H. 156, 179, 182 Stanmore, NSW 255 Schowe, Winifred 156 Stanthorpe, Qld 255 Schwartzkopf Family 252 Starr, George & Nellie 30, 45, 115, 119, 146 Scott, Henry 10, 60, 114 Statistics for Island fields 232 Scott, William 44 Stawell Church, Vic. 44, 47 Scragg, W.M.R. 52, 54, 128 Steed, Ernest 128, 137 Scragg, Walter R.L. 128, 272 Steed, Horace 128 Seddon, Vic 253 Steed, Julie 119 Self, Don & May 256 Steel, Minnie 79 Semmens, Alfred & Emma 79,80 Stellmaker Family 252 Sepik District (PNG) 232 Steps to Christ 205 Sevelu, Missionary 225 Sterling, George & Mrs 39, 204,205, 218 Sharman Elsie (Matron) 119, 122 Stevens, Jackson 193, 196 Shannon, Arthur 109, 173 Stewart, Andrew G. 119, 162, 205, 208, Shannon, J.G. 150 222 Shannon, Robert 173 Stewart, George G. 204 Sharp, Frederick L 85, 173 Stewart, Mrs Alexander 61 Sheppard, Stan & Mrs 189, 212 Stewart, Naomi 205 Sheppard, Will & Mrs 189, 212 Stewart, Pr Robert 48 Sherwin Lodge 84 Stewart, Wilbur 242, 256 Sherwin, T. J. 150 Stockton, Henry 132 Stockton, J.H. 61 Tudor, Thelma (Smith) 182 Stojanovic, Vlado 253 Tulloch, Allan 93 Stratford, Victor 131 Turner, Lionel 182 Strathfield, NSW 85, 253, 256 Turner, William 189, 192 Summer Hill Sanitarium 31, 79-81, 84,85 Turner, William G. & Mabel 263 Summerscales, Bert (Bean) 213 Tuvalu (Ellice Is) 219, 221,222 Summerscales, William 213 - Funafuti 221,222 Summit, The- Qld 255 Tutty, Robert 211 Sunnyside 81, 150 Tutuila (Amer. Samoa) 200 Suva (Fiji) 200, 203, 222 Ulrich, Laura 119 Swannell, Ray 95 Ulrich, Carl 79, 109 Sydney 10, 13, 14, 21, 37, Union Conference Record 61-63, 66, 128 44, 53, 81, 85, 116, University Societies 143 128, 133, 137, 237, Upolu (Samoa) 219 239, 242, 243, Uttley, Stuart M. 52, 55, 271 246,247, 253, Vacation Bible Schools 242 255,256, 258,259 Vailoa (Samoa) 204, 219 Sydney Adventist Hospital 31, 32, 78, 80,81, 85, Van de Groep, J. 66 88, 92-95, 227, 230, Vandeman, George 53 232, 243, 264 Vangunu (Solomon Is) 207 Tahiti 39, 200,201, 215,216 Varga, Franchiski 256 - Papeete 215 Vanuatu - see New Hebrides Tailevu (Fiji) 222 Vati, Pastor 216 Taitu (PNG) 211 Vaughan, Dudley 192-194 Tamworth, NSW 47 Vava'u (Tonga) 219 Taoi, Dr Joeli 224 Veilomani (mission ship) 211,212 Tasa (Solomon Is) 225 Vella Lavella (Solomon Is) 207 Tasmania 11, 21, 38, 44, 52,53, Venden, Morris 143 116, 129, 239,240, Vetter, Louise 122 252 Victoria 11, 37, 44, 46, 48, Tassone, Frank 258 60,61, 65, 89, 92,93, Tavita, Niu 221 100, 116, 128,136, Tavodi, Perri 202, 208, 211 243, 253-258 Tay, John I. 14, 163, 200,201 Ballarat 10, 243 Taylor, Lyndon 215 Bendigo 46, 243 Taylor, Mary (Kent) 176 Brighton 15, Taylor, Ronald 219 Melbourne 10, 13, 14 Te Kao Maori choir 33 Richmond 14, Te Karere o Te Pono 32 Victoria's Home of Health 89, 92 Temperance Work 243-247 Vince, Ronald 54, 137, 140 Tempest, Henry Clifford 111 Vim (Solomon Islands) 213 Tenney, George 116 Viti Levu (Fiji) 202 Thompson, Alexander 197 Vitiello, Dino 256, 258 Thompson, Henry 30 Voice of Prophecy 52 Thompson, Richard 213 Voigt, Anthony 230 Thomson, Alec 224 Voss Family 252 Thomson, H.E. 154 Wabag (PNG) 230 Thorpe, Ethelbert & Lydia 80, 179, 204 Wahroonga Church, NSW 44, 53 Thrift, Alan 159 Wainman, W.E. 61 Thrift, Errol 92, 246 Waldorff, Pastor 48 Thrift, Ethel (nee James) 39 Wall, Daniel Nathan 252 Thrift, Grace (Stewart) 182 Wallace, Missionary 225 Thrift, Lyndon 225 Walling, May 115 Thrift, Roy A.R. 39 Wantzlick, Pr G.A. 45 Timaru, NZ 30 Warburton, Vic. 65, 89, 243 Timothy, Knox 230 Warburton Sanitarium 84, 89, 92,93, Tindall, Rex 230 246,247 Togoba (PNG) 232 Ward, Sarah 120 Tokanui, NZ 23 Warren-Springdale, WA 44 Tolaga Bay, NZ 23, 32 Warwick, Qld 47 Tolhurst, Hubert L. 123, 204, 215 Watson, Charles H. 175, 263 Tolhurst, Pearl 123, 204, 215 Watson, Cyril 175 Tonga 21, 200, 204, 213, Watson, Donald 216 215,216, 218, 219, Watts, Albert 222 240, 259 Waugh, Frances N. 204 - Beulah College 204, 218,219 Wawrzonek, Pastor R. 255 - Tongatapu 219 We Have This Hope 262, 267 - Vava'u 219 Wegener Family 252 Tongatapu (Tonga) 219 Welfare Work 236-248, 266 Toowoomba, Qld 32 Wellington, NZ 18, 21,22,30, Totenhofer Family 252 175,176 Townend, W. Austin 271 Were, Louis 52 Trim, John & Marye 272 Wessels, Anna 150 True Education Reader Series 179 Wessels Family 150,151 Tucker, Charles & Eulalia 224 Wessels, John 84,85 Wessels, Pieter 84 Westerman, Alan 182 Western Australia 37, 44, 52, 243 Whisker, Walter 182 White, Arthur 137 White, Edward E. 159,160, 162, 192 White, Ellen G 13, 21, 30, 31, 44, 62,63, 78,79, 81, 84,85, 88,89, 100,101, 114-116, 118, 122, 125, 128, 146,147, 150,151, 165, 168,169, 172, 184, 264, 267 White, Ellen G - books 31, 79, 116, 131, 202, 205, White, Ivan 240 White, James 12, 13, 30, 78, 116, 200 White, Willie 30, 115, 146,147, 151, 169 Wicks, Harold P.B. 205, 216 Wiles, Alma 123,136, 162, 205, 213 Wiles, Norman 123, 162, 175, 205, 213, 262 Wilkinson, Enid (Hare) 132 Williams, Freddie 100,101 Winch, Colin 230 Windsor Church, NSW 44 Wollongong, NSW 37, 247 Wood, Bryan 57 Wong, James 256 Workers from America 37 Worsnop, E. 150 Yeatts, Roy 230, 232 Yettie, Phyllis 93 Youlden, Geoffrey 55, 57 Young, Sarah 204 Young, Simon 200 Young, Vincent 137 Youth 128-143 Yugoslav settlers 253-255 Zanotti Family 252 Zanotti, Will 189 Zeunert Family 25 Photographs Currow, George Arthur 169 Curtis, Pr & Mrs — about 1888 130 Aboriginal Work 186, 190, Daniells, Arthur Grosvenor 20 191, 194, Dannevirke camp baptism 42 195, Dedication Stone-Brighton camp mtg 15 Addington Camp, 1934, N.Z. 26 Dial-a-Prayer evangelism-Frame/Scragg 50 Adelaide Sanitarium, 1908 82 Dixon, Robert D. 271 Adventist Book Centres 71 Down, Goldie M. 270 Adventist Media Centre, Wahroonga 51 Dunn, Brian & Va 121 AMC video suite 51 Dyason, Alfred John 236 AMC on location in Papua New Guinea 51 Early N.Z. Personalities 8,9, 25 "These Times" radio broadcast 51 Echo Publishing House — rented premises 64 Adventist Retirement Village, Manukau 28 Echo staff prior to move to Warburton 64 Advertising VOP in the West 50 Education photos — old & new 180,181 Aerial Evangelism — preparation, take-off 43 Elizabeth Lodge, Sydney 244 Allum, Francis Arthur 147 Ethnic Groups 254, 257 Anderson, Albert W. 62 Evangelists Carter, Roennfeldt & Bradford 43 Anderson, John David 216 Farnsworth, Eugene William 19 Annual Conference, Magnetic Island-1930 42 Ferris, Walter Geoffrey 218 Arnold, William 60 Fiji 217,233 Atoifi — nurse training, Solomon Is. 96 Fisher, George Septimus 101 Auckland Camp, 1912 26 Fleming, Jan — ready for canoe trip 121 Auckland-Turner Street 24 Fletcher, Elaine J. 268 Australian Tract Society Office 64 Freeman, Dr M & staff— Avondale Retreat 87 Avondale Brass Band 1913 149 Freeman, Marguerita & Thomas Sherwin 84 Avondale College 144,145, Fulton College 177 - then and now & early pictures 148,149 Fulton, John Edwin 208 - commercial class 174 Gander, Stanley Herbert 222 - early pictures 152 Gates, E.H. & Mrs & others 206 - Faculty, 1910 & 1929 171 Gilbert Islands 217 - grads, Principals 153 Glen limes Church, N.Z. 28 - current photos 158, 161, Goldstone, S. Ross 268 164 Hansen, Donald E. 269 - School for Christian Workers, 1897 170 Hare Boarding House, Auckland 24 Avondale Health Retreat, late 1800s 82 Hare, Edward-100th birthday 24 Avondale Memorial Church 41 Hare, Eric B. 79 Avondale Village Ch 1890s 40 Hare, Reuben E. 248 Batuna, Solomon Islands 220 Hare, Robert 19 Beavis, Lucy Mabel 168 Harrison, Charles 89 Bett-Bett, (Dolly Bonson) 195 Haskell, Stephen Nelson 10 Beulah Missionary College 177, 226 Health Retreat, Ashfield, NSW 82 Bible Correspondence School at AMC 51 Hindson, Mr & Mrs James 121 Blanch, James Arthur 193 Hon, Eric 246 Blind camp 234,235 Hook, Milton R. 270- Borgas, Lou (Ludwig) 189 Howe, Muriel 80 Boulting, Charles 55 Howell, Laurence Isaac 227 Brown, Reginald Keith 271 Israel, Mendel Crocker 11 Bums, Nelson C. 38 "It Is Written" Evangelism 43 Burnside, George advertises broadcasts 50 Johanson, Johan Marius 70 Butler, Lewis & Mrs — 1' San patients 86 Jones, Griffiths Francis 206,207, Byron Bay Camp, NSW 244 Jones Missionary College 174 Caldwell, Robert Archibald 74 Kabu, Pastor Aisake 233 Campbell, Alexander John & wife 224 Karalundi School, W.A. 194 Campbell's Bush, near Kaeo, 1905 25 Kaeo River, N.Z. 25 Caro, Margaret 31 Kellogg, Dr & Mrs Merritt 87, 206 Carr, Septimus Walford 208 Kent, James William 46 Carswell, William Robert 32 Kressville Unit, Cooranbong 244 Chapman, George Thomas 107 Litster, W. Glynn 270 Choiseul, Solomon Islands 220 Lloyd, Trevor G. 270 Christchurch Sanitarium 82 Lock, William Norman 211 Clansman — ship in N.Z. 25 Longbum — Early 27 Clapham, Noel P. 268 Longburn Church, NZ 41 Clifford, Herbert E. 269 Longburn today 27 Collinsvale Church, Tas 40 Longburn — early & 1984 174 Colporteurs — some of first Australian 67 McMahon, Robert & Henry & rowboat 42 Coltheart, John F. 54 Malaita, Solomon Islands 220 Community Services 238, 241, Masters, Fairley 70 244, Mirriwinni Gardens 191, 194 Cook Islands 72, 226 Mona Mona Mission 190 Cook, Lilian Mabel (Bae) 48 Moulds, Mr & Mrs (nee Radley) 87 Corliss, John Orr 10 Murdoch, William Gordon Campbell 162 Corliss letter to fellow salesmen-Bendigo 71 Naden, Laurence Christopher 54 Cormack, A. William 264 Napier Church, N.Z. 26 Cudney, A.J. & other missionaries 206 New Hebrides — pictures 223 North Fitzroy Church, Vic 40 Scott, Henry 60 North N.Z. Administrative Office, Manukau 28 Scragg, Walter R.L. 272 North N.Z. Baptisms — Stan Rex 28 Semmens, Alfred & Mrs 86 Opera House — venue evangelistic series 56 Sheppard, Will 195 Paap, C.A. & Mrs 25 Sherwin, Thomas & Marguerita Freeman 84 Pacific Adventist College 228 Sherwin, Dr T & staff, Sydney, 1912 86 Pacific Island Colleges 177 Ships — Mission 209 Pacific Islands & people 203, 238, Sibley, David-Mission car 42 245 Signs Publishing Co & Food Factory 64 Palmer, Cyril Stewart 157 Signs Publishing Company 68 Palmerston Nth Church, NZ 41 Signs Publishing Company & Signs Hill 68 Papua New Guinea 112,113, - Editorial tent 68 210, 228, - flood that precipitated venue change 68 229, 231 - building present premises 68 Parr, Robert H. 269 - Letterpress & old bindery 69 Parramatta Church, NSW 40 - Printing, case-making, despatch 72 Pathfinders 126,127, Snow, Charles Miles 63 130, 138, Solomon Islands 220 139, 142 Sonoma College — top right 177 Patrick, Arthur N. 269 Sopas Hospital, PNG 228,231 Peacock, Gerald & Mrs 221 South Auckland Samoan Church, N.Z. 28 Peng, Mark, Asian Church 257 South Pacific Youth Congress choir-1964 130 Piper, Albert Henry 207 Sterling, George Leighton 218 Piper, Harold Edgar 21 Stewart, Andrew Graham 208 Pitcairn Island — School, etc. 174, 217 Stockton, Henry 132 Pitcairn — Mission ship 26, 198,199, Summer Hill Sanitarium, 1897 82 Polish groups 254 Summer Hill graduation certificate 1902 87 Ponsonby Church, N.Z. 26 Sunnyside — E G White & staff 1896 149 Possingham, Pr Robert 234,235 Sydney Opera House evangelism-Carter 43 Printing Press 64, Sydney Adventist Hospital 76,77 Pukekura School, N.Z. 27 - kitchen, 1914 87 Quinlin, Pr & Mrs meet Presidents 195 - Staff in first year 86 Radio Church speakers & quartet 50 - Staff, 1920 87 Radio 2UE — ready for cue 50 - Sanitarium takes shape, 1902 82 Ragoso, Kata 220 - "San" — distinctive facades 90 Reekie, Frederick William 66 - CT, Nuclear, Heart, 5-day Plans 91 Rex, Stan — in baptismal font 28 - ICU, Health Ed 91 Richards, HMS, Coltheart series, Sydney 42 - Training class 1983 94 Rotomahana-Mrs White's transport, 1893 25 - Windows, theatre 94 Rudge, Phillip Bulpit 197 - Reunions, facilities, admin 96 Saint Kilda School 170 - Graduation 1956, Logo 96 Samoa 214 Tahiti 214 Sanitarium Health Food Co - Tauranga Church, N.Z. 26 - Adelaide way 110 Tay, John I. & wife 14,206 - Auckland factory — old 102 Tent missions still attract crowds 57 - Auckland head office & factory 103 Thompson, Henry — Literature Evangelist 27 - Auckland shop, early 60s 110 Thrift, Roy A.R. 39 - Australasian Food Research Lab. 110 Tolhurst, Hubert Leonard 215 - Christchurch — original factory-Papanui 102 Tongan Welfare worker 121 - Christchurch factory — old 102 Townend, W. Austin 271 - Christchurch factory 103 Trans-Pacific Publishers, Suva, Fiji 72 - Cooranbong factory 98,99, 103 Trans-Pacific Publishers presses — 70s 72 - Cooranbong — Building new factory 108 Trim, John B. & Marye 272 - Cooranbong — original factory 102 Turner, William Gordon 263 - Cooranbong — ovens 108 Uttley, Stuart M. 271 - Early food laboratory 110 Vaughan, Pr & Mrs 194 - Extract from Halsey diary, 1900 108 Vandeman, George — early days 50 - first traveller's car in NSW 110 Voice of Youth teams 142 - Head office, Wahroonga, Sydney 103 Wahroonga Church, NSW 41 - Northcote, Vic. 1893 — first factory 102 Warburton Brass Band 69 - old packs & labels 106 Warburton Church, Vic 41 - Pahnerston North factory 103 Warburton Health Care Centre — today 83 - Present fleet is distinctive 110 Warburton Sanitarium & Hospital-early 83 - Protein foods 108 Warburton Sanitarium — 1930s 83 - Rockingham Park shop 110 Watson, Charles Henry 263 - Warburton factory & truck — old 102 West Coast, New Zealand 16,17 - Warburton factory 103 Westwood, Neville — pioneer colporteur 69 Sapfor House, Adelaide 130 White, Ellen Gould 13 Schools - Wicks, Harold Bulmer Priestley 216 - Avondale H.S. Physics class 174 Wiles, Alma & babies — New Hebrides 117 - Avondale H.S. students 166,167 Wiles, Pr & Mrs in heathen company 121,213 - Carmel, 1910 171 Women in wide range of roles 124 - Prospect, S.A., 1909 171 Youth in activities 135 Schowe, Charles Henry 156 Yugoslav groups 254,257 Scott, Catherine (W.A.) 40 hr vs sow hi ;N:si-ns A‘no $1 dvatfAtlay.,.1 fen./ v 6.T 7epr, 1$4re5. 474/774.4.e

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