The Victorian Conference office in Nunawading, Victoria, Australia. Photo courtesy of Craig Gillis. Victorian Conference, South Pacific Division BARRY OLIVER Barry Oliver, Ph.D., retired in 2015 as president of the South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists, Sydney, Australia. An Australian by birth Oliver has served the Church as a pastor, evangelist, college teacher, and administrator. In retirement, he is a conjoint associate professor at Avondale College of Higher Education. He has authored over 106 significant publications and 192 magazine articles. He is married to Julie with three adult sons and three grandchildren. The Victorian Conference is a constituent of the Australian Union Conference. Its headquarters are located at 141 Central Road, Nunawading, Victoria 3131, Australia. Its unincorporated activities are governed by a constitution which is based on the model conference constitution of the South Pacific Division of the General Conference of Seventh- day Adventists (SPD). Its real and intellectual property is held in trust by the Australasian Conference Association Limited, an incorporated entity based at the headquarters office of the SPD in Wahroonga, New South Wales. Current Territory and Statistics Most of the Victorian Conference functions are managed by three corporations that act as trustees for the conference: Seventh-day Adventist Church (Victoria) Limited which oversees the day-to-day operations of the conference itself and was registered on November 3, 2003,1 Seventh-day Adventist Schools (Victoria) Limited, which oversees the operation of the education entities within the conference and was registered on November 3, 2003,2 and Seventh-day Adventist Aged Care (Victoria) Limited which oversees the operation of the aged care facilities within the conference and was registered on March 24, 2004.3 The territory of the Victorian Conference is “the state of Victoria, excluding the municipality of Wodonga adjacent to the New South Wales city of Albury, and including the populated area adjacent to Mildura on the northern side of the Murray River, extending from and including the town of Gol Gol through the district of Sunraysia to and including the town of Wentworth.”4 In the 2017 Annual Statistical Report of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the Victorian Conference was listed as having 78 Churches and 17 companies. Church membership at the end of 2016 was 10,873 making it the third largest conference by membership in Australia.5 The conference had 735 active employees. Its tithe receipts for 2016 totaled US$10,501,459. Its tithe and offerings per capita were US$1478.94.6 Schools Edinburgh College, formerly operated by the Australian Union Conference and known as Lilydale Academy, was transferred to the Victorian Conference in 2013.7 It is located at 33 – 61 Edinburgh Road, Lilydale, Victoria, 3140, Australia. Gilson College, currently operating on two campuses, is located at 450 Taylors Road, Taylors Hill, Victoria, 3037, Australia. The Taylors Hill campus was formerly known as Keilor College and commenced operations in 1986.8 The Mernda campus was opened in 2012.9 It is located at 370 Bridge in Road, Mernda, Victoria, 3754, Australia. Henderson College commenced operations on February 6, 1951.10 It is located at 606 – 616 Cowra Avenue, Irymple, Victoria, 3498, Australia. Heritage College currently operates on two campuses. The elementary school campus at Narre Warren South commenced operations in 1988.11 It is located at 333 Centre Road, Narre Warren South, Victoria, 3805, Australia. The secondary school campus at Officer commenced operations in 2008.12 It is located at 66 Startling Road, Officer, Victoria, 3809, Australia. Nunawading College currently operates as both an elementary and a secondary school. The primary school was established in 1964.13 The campus is located at Laughlin Avenue, Nunawading, Victoria, 3131, Australia. The secondary school commenced operations in 1974. It is located at 161 Central Rd, Nunawading, Victoria, 3131, Australia. Nursing Home and Retirement Facilities Adventcare Whitehorse, formerly known as Coronella, was established by action of the 66th session of the Victorian Conference on January 22, 1953.14 It has 134 beds and is located at 163-165 Central Road, Nunawading Victoria, 3131, Australia. AdventCare Yarra Ranges was established in 1973.15 It has 42 beds and is located at 5 Woods Point Road, Warburton Victoria, 3799, Australia. AdventCare Bendigo, originally known as Bendigo Homes for the Aged, was approved for construction on November 7, 1974.16 Later, the facility was named Alawara and then renamed AdventCare Bendigo.17 The facility hostel ceased operations on March 7, 2018,18 following action taken by the Seventh-day Adventist Aged Care (Victoria) Limited Board on December 12, 2017.19 The Independent Living Units continue operating.20 Camp Facilities Nunawading Camp Ground, located on Nunawading Central Road, was purchased in 1946.21 Annual camp meetings were held at the site until 1999.22 The site remains as the property of the Victorian Conference. The Basin Youth Camp ground was purchased in 1936.23 It is located at 151 The Basin-Olinda Road, The Basin, Victoria 3154, Australia. It operated as a youth camp for the conference until it was sold in 2001.24 Camp Howqua youth camp was established in 1977.25 It is located at 127 Howqua River Road, Howqua, Victoria, 3273, Australlia. The conference operates an Adventist Book Centre, located at its conference office, 141 Central road, Nunawading, Victoria. It was formerly called the Book and Bible House. The Origins of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Victoria, Australia Melbourne, Victoria, was chosen as the location for the initial activities of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia. The year was 1885.26 The first missionaries, all from the United States, were S. N. Haskell, J. 0. Corliss and family, M. C. Israel and family, Henry Scott, a printer, and William Arnold.27 During the first evangelistic series of meetings which concluded on January 10, 1886, the first Seventh-day Adventist church in Australia was organized at North Fitzroy. The church had 28 founding members.28 It was reported that “the following Sabbath seven were baptized and united with the church, and the next Sabbath ten more united, swelling the number to forty-five. Last Sabbath three more were received into fellowship, making a church of forty-eight members.”29 Other churches were organized in Victoria within a relatively short period of time. By 1888, it was reported that there were already churches organized in Ballarat, Trentham, and Castlemaine.30 Ballarat was the first provincial city outside Melbourne to attract an evangelistic series. By August 1886, M. C. Israel was well underway with his presentations.31 In a letter written on September 20 of that year, Israel wrote that “a church has been organized at Ballarat with twenty-one names on the roll of membership. To these will be added quite a number of others in the near future.”32 A Bible Institute was conducted commencing on September 14, 1890. It lasted for four weeks. Study was concentrated in three broad areas: prophecy and history, Bible exegesis and doctrines, and Christian work. Every effort was made to give attention to both doctrinal and practical teaching.33 The first camp meeting was conducted at Middle Brighton in 1894. It was also a workers’ meeting. Quoting from The Bible Echo, The camp-meeting which is just now closing at Middle Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, is the first meeting of the kind ever held by Seventh-day Adventists in Australia. And it has indeed been a refreshing season. Including the workers' meeting, it has been in progress since Dec. 29 [1893], or for a period of about three weeks...Sr. White's talks have been most excellent, as they always are. She urges the people to prepare for the end, and says she has not come to Australia to fold her hands, or to give a peace-and-safety cry.34 The Beginnings of the Organized Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia At the annual session of the General Conference, held at Battle Creek in November 1884, the committee on resolutions reported that it had “resolved, that in our judgment, steps should be immediately taken to open a mission in Australia.” The resolution was adopted by the floor of the session.35 The committee on fields of labor then presented a partial report in which its fourteenth recommendation read, “That Eld. S. N. Haskell go to California in time to attend the fall camp-meeting, and as soon after this as possible go to Australia to superintend the establishing of a mission there; and that Eld. J. 0. Corliss, and other laborers who may be selected, go at the same time to labor in the mission.”36 There was considerable discussion on the recommendation with some dissenters. After remarks by Elders Haskell, Butler, White, and Waggoner, it was referred back, without instructions, to the committee.37 After reconsideration of its recommendation, the committee on fields of labor brought back their report with a 25th recommendation as follows, “That in view of the great importance of spreading the truth to earth's remotest bounds, and of opening a mission in Australia as soon possible, Eld. S. N. Haskell go to Australia next May, taking with him a competent corps of laborers to establish a mission; and that he return in time to attend the next General Conference.”38 In May 1885, S. N. Haskell, J. 0. Corliss, and M. C. Israel, (the two last-named with their families,) Henry Scott, and W. Arnold set sail for Australia. They reached Sydney on June 6, 1885, after a voyage of twenty-nine days. They moved on to Melbourne and commenced work, thus establishing a foothold for the Church in Victoria and Australia.”39 As early as 1888, it was reported that work in Victoria was self-supporting.