With the Wellington camp meeting fresh in their minds, the workers looked forward optimistically to plans for the first camp meeting in Australia. They entertained hopes that there would be a response similar to that witnessed in New Zealand. The meeting was scheduled to open in Melbourne on Friday, January 5, 1894, and there was just time to get the tents pitched for this innovation in gospel preaching.
But this was not the only matter on the minds of the workers as they arrived in Sydney. A. G. Daniells, president of the Australian Conference, met their ship Wednesday morning, December 20. He had done some preliminary work in searching for a rural site for the school. For a week after the worker group from New Zealand arrived, they also were busily engaged in searching for a school site. That Thursday, according to Ellen White's diary, they were off by train to visit the Fountaindale Estate, fifty miles in the country. After weekend meetings in Sydney, Kellyville, and Parramatta, in which O. A. Olsen and Ellen White participated, they were off again on Monday morning to visit another tract of land. Again on Tuesday, before taking the night train for Melbourne, they visited other sites. It would be desirable, of course, to have something to report at the coming conference session, which would be held in connection with the camp meeting.
Preparation for the Camp Meeting
For weeks in Melbourne there was feverish preparation for the convocation. At the Bible Echo office, not only printing presses were in operation, but sewing machines also. Family tents were being made in three sizes for the camp meeting. Prices and styles of what might be purchased in the city did not fit the plans of the camp meeting committee, so good material was secured, and by early November, thirty-five were ready for sale or for rent.
The committee on location found a ten-acre tract of land, grass-covered and partly shaded by eucalyptus trees (blue gum), in the suburb of Middle Brighton, nine miles from the Melbourne post office. It was south of the city, near the bay, and was served by an excellent railway line that had trains running every thirty minutes from morning till late at night.
The weekly issues of the Bible Echo reminded readers, both Seventh-day Adventists and others, of the coming meeting and the excellence of the location--"one of the nicest and most accessible places we have been able to find" (The Bible Echo, November 8, 1893)--and the plans for tenting on the grounds.
The Bible Echo for December 8 carried an Ellen White appeal for an outstanding attendance, as she pointed out the objectives of the meeting. It was to be a time of spiritual refreshing for the church and also an effective means of reaching the city with the third angel's message. "Come to the Feast" was the title of the three-column invitation, which opened with the words:
Dear Brethren and Sisters in Australia,
The first Australian camp meeting among us as a people is about to take place. This meeting will mark a new era in the history of the work of God in this field; it is important that every member of our churches should be present, and I urge you all to come. The enemies of truth are many, and though our numbers are few, we would present as good a front as possible. Individually you need the benefits of the meeting, and God calls upon you to number one of the ranks of truth.
Combining the two strong reasons for everyone to come, she wrote:
God has committed to our hands a most sacred work, and we need to meet together to receive instruction as to what is personal religion and family piety; we need to understand what part we shall individually be called upon to act in the grand and important work of building up the cause and work of God in the earth, in vindicating God's holy law, and in lifting up the Saviour as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
Notice was also given of some of the best help the denomination could supply in making the meetings a success. The president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists would be present. Ellen White and W. C. White would be there; and Dr. M. G. Kellogg, ship physician for the Pitcairn, would be giving instruction along health lines. One notice especially delighted the believers of a few years:
Our readers will be pleased to hear that Elder J. O. Corliss, who spent some time in Australia five or six years since, is now on his way back, accompanied by Elder W. A. Colcord. They expect to be with us at our camp meeting.--The Review and Herald, December 1, 1893.
It was announced also that there would be a dining tent on the campgrounds, "furnished with tables, dishes, chairs, et cetera, and with proper waiters to serve the meals." (Ibid., November 22, 1893).
A week-long workers' meeting would immediately precede the camp meeting, so the pitching of tents began on Tuesday, December 26. Initial plans called for fifty family tents, but these were taken so early that orders were given for twenty-five more.
Attendance was so large at the workers' meeting that Ellen White exclaimed in her letter to Edson and Emma White: "We are now on the ground, where to all appearances there is a veritable camp meeting."--Letter 86, 1894. And when on Tuesday, January 2, the large pavilion was pitched and she was asked to speak in it in the evening, she wrote that she "was surprised that so large a number of believers were on the ground."
Camp Meeting Opens with Large Attendance
The camp meeting opened on Friday, January 5, as scheduled. Through buying and renting, the number of family tents had more than doubled during the week of the workers' meeting. Even though they were in stringent economic times, every possible effort had been made to "make all things in the camp meeting after the divine order" (The Review and Herald, September 25, 1894), so as to leave the right impression upon the people.
The Sabbath meetings were a feast for the believers, and by then the grounds were being filled with people from the community whose interest had been aroused by the tent city and the distribution of reading matter.
As Ellen White wrote to her son and his wife in America, and also to Dr. Caro, the dentist in New Zealand, she was filled with ecstasy:
The community is stirred in Brighton--a beautiful town. Places thickly settled stand all about and surrounding the city of Melbourne. People of the finest and noblest of society are coming from all places. The tent is filled in the afternoons and evenings, so there is scarcely room for them to find a seat.--Letter 125, 1894.
We see nothing like the bitterness of opposition we met in Wellington. A deep interest is developing everywhere. People come twenty and thirty miles, bringing their lunch, and remaining from morning till night. They say, "Never, never, did we hear the Bible made so plain before. We are amazed at what we hear. Strange things are brought to our ears." In the afternoons and evenings throughout the week our congregations number about one thousand....
The congregations surprise us all. The interest is wonderful. The first class of people are searching for truth as for hidden treasures. All who come to the meetings seem astonished beyond measure. They are pleased with everything Elder Olsen presents before them, and express themselves as well pleased with the words I spoke upon temperance Wednesday afternoon, also on Sunday afternoon, and upon education Thursday afternoon, when the subject of our school was up.--Letter 100, 1894.
The visitors made good use of the dining tent. On Sunday, January 14, 190 were served. The cost to the patrons was only six pence, or twelve and a half cents. No meat was served, and the diners really enjoyed their meals (Manuscript 3, 1894).
"This camp meeting is advertising us as nothing else could," Ellen White wrote in her letter to Mrs. Caro. "The people say it is a wonder of wonders, this city of clean, white tents. Oh, I am so thankful that the Captain of the Lord's host is upon the encampment."--Letter 100, 1894.
By Friday, January 12, there were 108 family tents on the grounds, with 445 persons occupying them. Several houses just off the grounds were rented to accommodate families without tents. In the camp were a number of people who had accepted the third angel's message from reading such books as The Great Controversy, Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, and the missionary journal Bible Echo, and were for the first time mingling with fellow Sabbathkeepers. Wrote Ellen White in the midst of the meeting:
You can hardly imagine the delight of these persons as they feast upon the rich banquet that heaven has prepared for them, and their hungry souls are filled. A holy joy pervades the encampment.... Many voices are heard expressing the gratitude of joyful hearts as men and women contemplate the precious truth of the third angel's message, and come to realize the paternal love of God.--Letter 86, 1894.
Ellen White took some time out on Sunday, January 14, to write to A. T. Jones in Battle Creek. She reported:
The first Sabbath of the conference meeting [January 6] three commenced the observance of the Sabbath, and yesterday five more took their position on the truth. Two businessmen [A. W. Anderson [Note: Father of the well-known evangelist and teacher R. A. Anderson, and his brothers, ormond and Dr. Clifford.] and his brother Richard] with their wives and relatives, numbering eight, begged for tents in order that they might remain on the ground and attend early-morning and evening meetings. One of the men will return every day with his horse and carriage to Melbourne, a distance of eight or ten miles, and look after the business, returning at night. These two brothers keep a large music establishment and are convicted of the truth, and we believe will yet take their position. Far and near the sound has gone out concerning this city of tents, and the most wonderful interest is awakened.
Other campers crowded together a bit to make two tents available to the Andersons, who camped there for a few days. "Had we tents," continued Mrs. White to Jones, "many from the outside would camp with us on the ground who never heard that there were such people as Seventh-day Adventists until this time." She added:
We have already extended the meeting one week, and may have to extend it still longer. The Lord is among us working to His own name's glory.
Then she told about the weather, which had been delightful until Sabbath, January 13, when a sandstorm overtook them.
Sentinels were placed at every post of the tent so that there was no flopping of the tent or raising of the poles, for they were held down. Three family tents and two larger tents were blown down. The larger tents were blown down because the center poles broke; but these circumstances did not disturb us, since the Lord is at work.
The Lord is encamped on the ground, and will take care of His own work. The prince of darkness may use his power to annoy and perplex us, but he cannot overthrow us. We gave up our tent to those who were without shelter, and came to the school building.--Letter 37, 1894.
Beneficial Contacts with Capt. and Mrs. Press
A Capt. Press and his wife, of Williamstown, attended some of the meetings. Mrs. Press was the president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and for several years had been a vegetarian. She sought an interview with Mrs. White, and visited with her in her tent. Mrs. Press requested Ellen White to address her group and urged participation on the part of Seventh-day Adventists in the work of the WCTU. The WCTU president called for someone to give the union members lessons in hygienic cooking; when told the Adventists had no one in Australia well enough qualified, her response was, "Tell us what you do know."--Letter 88a, 1894. Mrs. Press also urged Ellen White to take an all-out stand to banish all meat from her own table. As to this point Mrs. White wrote: "I have had much representation before my mind in the night season on this subject."--Letter 76, 1895 (CDF, p. 488) but with her travels, with a diversity of cooks of varied skills, and with the pleading of certain of those who ate at her table, she had not taken a stand that would have cleared the table entirely of meat. In this connection, while on the Brighton campground, she wrote:
As a denomination we are in the fullest sense total abstainers from the use of spirituous liquors, wine, beer, cider, and also tobacco and all narcotics, and are earnest workers in the cause of temperance. All are vegetarians, many abstaining wholly from the use of flesh food, while others use it in only the most moderate degree.--Letter 99, 1894.
A year later she could write, "Since the camp meeting at Brighton, I have absolutely banished meat from my table. It is an understanding that whether I am at home or abroad, nothing of this kind is to be used in my family, or come upon my table."--Letter 76, 1895 (CDF, p. 488).
It was with difficulty that Ellen White found words to speak adequately of the camp meeting and its influence. In her report to Jones she declared:
This is the first camp meeting that Melbourne has seen, and it is a marvel of wonder to the people. There is a decided interest to hear the truth. This interest we have never seen equaled among those not of our faith. The camp meeting is doing more to bring our work before the people than years of labor could have done. ... Yesterday the most noted physician in North Fitzroy was here to listen. Some ministers have been here, and a large number of businessmen.--Letter 37, 1894.
Writing to Edson White, she said, "Taking it in on all sides, this is the best camp meeting we have ever attended," and added:
Many visitors come from long distances, and as it used to be seen in 1843 and 1844, they bring their lunch and remain through the day. A number of the citizens of the place have declared that if they were not living close by, they would hire tents and camp with us on the grounds. They value the privilege of hearing the Word of God so clearly explained, and they say the Bible seems to be full of new and precious things, and will be like a new book to them.--Letter 86, 1894.
The Business Session of the Australian Conference
There was conference business to attend to. Eight meetings were held, beginning on Monday morning, January 8, and running through the week. Resolutions were adopted expressing gratitude to God for His blessing in "the progress of the message" and for the excellent help sent to the Australian field, including the visit of O.A. Olsen. Resolutions were also adopted pointing out that in consideration of the times, there should be the faithful reading of The Great Controversy and the Testimonies, especially the chapters on "The Coming Crisis" and "The Impending Conflict." Issues involving church and state loomed. Steps were taken to increase the circulation and reading of the Bible Echo, now a weekly, and other journals of the church.
The school location and future plans for its operation were reviewed, with Ellen White speaking on the subject, but as plans were beginning to take shape for the forming of an Australasian Union Conference, all decisions relating to the school were assigned to that potential organization. The nominating committee brought in the name of A. G. Daniells to continue as president of the Australian Conference, with the Echo Publishing Company, rather than an individual, named to serve as treasurer. Other officers and committees were appointed.--The Bible Echo, February 5, 1894.
A Union Conference Is Born
As was the case with all local conferences and missions throughout the world, those in Australia were separate units under the direction of the General Conference, with headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan. Local conferences, when formed, were accepted into the General Conference. The arrangement oftentimes proved awkward.
One problem was the time element. Mail to and from the States took a month each way. Then there was the distance between local conference or mission and the General Conference. Institutions were developing to serve the peoples of the whole South Pacific, and they needed careful supervision. All this led A. G. Daniells and W. C. White to give study to a type of organization that would bind together the local organizations in a given area into an administrative unit, which in turn would be responsible to the General Conference. In several trips they took together to New Zealand and back, they had time to canvass the matter carefully and to outline a course that might be followed.
But they were not alone in their concerns. O. A. Olsen, as president of the General Conference and chairman of the Foreign Mission Board, had clearly seen the problems. He was now in Australia in close association with White and Daniells, and Mrs. White as well. While the workers were assembled in Brighton for some days together, there was opportunity for united study to the forming of what was called a union conference. With the business of the Australian Conference out of the way by the end of the second week, the key workers turned their attention to the creation of a new type of organization, which would stand between local conferences, missions, and institutions, and the General Conference. In this way matters of local concern could be studied and acted upon by those nearby.
On Monday morning, January 15, with W. C. White, who had been appointed by the General Conference as the "superintendent of the Australasian Field," in the chair, some 250 persons came together to consider the matter of forming a union conference. Olsen was asked to preside at the meetings dealing with the matter. There were nine in all, during the next ten days. Committees on organization, nominations, and resolutions were appointed. Early in the work, the committee on school location gave its report, which was printed in the February 26, 1894, Bible Echo:
The committee on school location reported that diligent inquiry had been made for suitable sites near Melbourne and Sydney; that several places had been found which they thought were worthy of consideration: and they recommended that the executive committee of the conference be authorized to take immediate steps to raise funds, and to purchase land which in their judgment is most suitable, and that their decision be made as early as is consistent.
The committee on organization presented a constitution that would foster the beginning of the new union conference and called for steps to be taken to enable it to hold church and school property. The nominating committee recommended for officers:
President, W. C. White
Vice-President, A. G. Daniells
Secretary, L. J. Rousseau
Treasurer, Echo Publishing Company
The Work of the Union Outlined
The committee on resolutions during the ten days of the conference brought forward twenty-seven propositions relating to various phases of the union conference and its work. Among these was a resolution recognizing the responsibility of the union conference in the light of the gospel commission. Ten comprehensive resolutions had to do with the school, its location and development. Six related to the publishing work, the Bible Echo, and the production and distribution of literature.
Others had to do with the sending of worthy young people selected by the union conference to Battle Creek for training as medical missionaries and missionary nurses, and the inviting of church members to come to the colonies as self-supporting missionaries, with the Foreign Mission Board of the General Conference giving counsel as to qualifications, locations for labor, et cetera.
Several resolutions gave authority to the executive committee for its various lines of activity in moderating between conferences, arranging for travel, and the transaction of the business of the conference between sessions. Various committees were named to manage and edit the Bible Echo, to take care of religious-liberty issues and handle transportation, and to implement the decision reached that the next session of the Australasian Union Conference would be held sometime late in the year 1895.
It was a trailblazing meeting, setting up in essence what the church as a whole would adopt when the appropriate time came. Olsen was strongly in favor of what was accomplished and worked closely with the brethren. The development of the union conference organization would relieve the world headquarters of many administrative details. The union conference plan was well thought through and devised with understanding and care. It opened the door for true advancement throughout the Australasian field and in time the world field.
The School--Its Character and Location
The resolutions relating to educational work in Australasia called for securing a permanent site for the school and providing buildings and facilities to expedite the work. Perhaps the most far-reaching and controversial resolution was the one that read:
Whereas, It is desirable that the Australasian Bible School be located away from the large cities, and in a place favorable to simplicity and economy, and where agricultural and manufacturing industries may be developed for the benefit of students, and of families having students in school, and
Whereas, A village settlement close to the school would be a desirable place of residence for ministers and canvassers, who must be separated from their families much of the time, and for many persons of various pursuits who wish to fit themselves or their children to be laborers for Christ, therefore,
Resolved, That we recommend the purchase of a site suitable for the purposes aforementioned.--Ibid.
Not all workers present could envision a school in a rural location where "agricultural and manufacturing industries" would be developed and carried on for the benefit of the students. Australia was in the depths of a depression. Families were losing their homes because they could not meet the most modest mortgage payments. Thousands were out of work. How could the little band of workers in Australasia go into the country, secure a large tract of land, erect buildings, and start a school? On one occasion a prominent member of the Melbourne church, after listening to the proposal to establish an industrial school in a rural region, declared to W. C. White:
This plan of building such a school is not an Australian plan at all: The demand for having such a school is not an Australian demand. The idea of establishing a school at this time, when our cause is so young and weak, is not an Australian idea!--DF 170, "The Avondale School," WCW to F. C. Gilbert, December 22, 1921.
Other resolutions gave strong support for the summer school about to open in Melbourne, and provided for the continued operation of the Australasian Bible School for another full term.
Every evening during the session, evangelistic meetings continued through the fourth weekend. The meetings held in the large tent were well attended to the last Sunday night, January 28.
Breaking Camp
Thoroughly weary but with a sigh of nostalgia, Ellen White wrote on Monday, January 29:
In a few hours we leave this pleasant spot, where the Lord has manifested His power and His presence in a marked manner. I have spoken sixteen times during this meeting, besides having considerable to say in the ministers' meetings. The meetings that have been held here have drawn heart to heart. A feeling of tenderness and love has been manifested throughout. The discourses have been given with power. Many have seen great light, and there has been manifested a hunger of soul for the truth, precious truth. Some have not missed a meeting....The camp meeting has been in every way a success. We wish there were many more workers to take right hold and follow up the interest.--Manuscript 4, 1894.
Far-Reaching Influence of the Brighton Camp Meeting
About a hundred souls were baptized as the immediate fruitage of the Brighton camp meeting, among them the two Anderson brothers (Letter 40b, 1894). Their wives followed a few months later. An evangelistic tent was pitched in North Brighton, and Elders Corliss and Hare continued with a series of meetings that were well attended. Another tent was pitched in Williamstown, across Hobson's Bay from Brighton and twelve miles south of Melbourne. Here M. C. Israel and W. L. H. Baker carried on the evangelistic thrust. Churches were raised up in both communities. Ellen White spoke at both places, several times in Williamstown, either in the tent or a hired hall.-- MSS 5, 6, 1894.
Mrs. Press was in the harvest at Williamstown. Almost immediately a private cooking school was conducted by Mrs. Starr and Mrs. Tuxford in the Press home, giving the family helpful guidance in food preparation (Letter 127, 1894). All in all, the first camp meeting held in Australia was a success and served to establish a pattern of fruitful evangelistic camp meetings.