The autumn and winter months of 1894, April to July, were a time of anxiety, disappointment, and discouragement. Overtaxation in April in writing, especially the American mail with the burden of meeting the Anna Phillips situation, brought to Ellen White two months of weakness and illness. The desperate financial crisis in Australia brought almost overwhelming demands that could be met only partially. The proposal of the Foreign Mission Board, pressed by O. A. Olsen, that Ellen White should quickly finish her work on the life of Christ and, with W. C. White, visit Africa and then proceed to America by way of Europe (this at just the crucial time in getting the school started in Australia [4 WCW, p. 463]); the frustration of not being able to make much progress in writing on her book; the lawsuit by Will Walling against Ellen White, for what he claimed was the alienation of the affections of his daughters, Addie and May; the confusion brought about by the many visitors to the White home, and their treating it much as a hotel, even though some members of the family had to bring cots into the dining room at night; and on top of this, the action of the General Conference Committee, because of financial adversity in America, to cut her wages by $2 per week and W. C. White's by $1 per week, when every available dollar was so much needed--all pressed hard upon her. Ellen White was tempted to board the next boat back to America and take up her writing at her Healdsburg home.
But this was not Ellen White's way of meeting difficulties. She would not turn and run, but would face it all courageously. She would put her trust in Jesus and face the issues day by day.
The Earnest Search for a School Site
When Elders Olsen and White returned with Ellen White from New Zealand to Australia in late December, 1893, the search for school land began in earnest. Following up investigations Arthur Daniells had made, they visited several places during their few days in Sydney. This continued off and on through the late summer and fall. The school had been made a union conference project, which drew W. C. White, the president, very closely into the task. By the time Ellen White had moved to New South Wales, the conviction seemed to prevail that the school should be located in that colony, with its warmer climate, perhaps within seventy-five miles of Sydney.
The suffering of Sabbathkeeping families, not a few of whom lost their homes, led some church leaders in Australia to feel that the land that would be secured for the school should be large enough to provide little farms for some of these families. Thus they thought in terms of a thousand or two thousand acres. The big problem, of course, was the shortage of money. Their dire situation is revealed in a letter W. C. White wrote May 16 to his longtime friend C. H. Jones, who was at the Pacific Press: "We are planning to buy a large tract of land, and we can scarcely get enough money to go and see it."--4 WCW, p. 385.
When W. C. White made the move in early April from Melbourne to Granville, he stopped over at Thirlmere to examine two tracts of land they had heard were available. After the weekend with the churches close to Granville, he and his associates were off Monday morning to Dapto, fifty-six miles south of Sydney, where they found three thousand acres of beautiful land on Lake Illawarra. They got back at midnight, and three hours later started off for Morisset, seventy-six miles north on the coast, to see a tract of land near Dora Creek and Cooranbong. After a day there, they went twenty miles on to Newcastle. Then back to Morisset, where another day and a half was spent examining the Brettville estate on Dora Creek (Ibid., 254).
The latter consisted of nearly 1,500 acres, which could be purchased for $4,500. After hearing the report of what had been found, Ellen White wrote to Dr. Kellogg in Battle Creek:
Most diligent search has been made for a tract of land of several hundred acres on which to locate the school, so that the students may have an opportunity to till the soil, and poor families may have a little piece of land on which to grow vegetables and fruit. These would go far toward sustaining them, and they would have a chance to school their children. But money matters are very close. We are all hard pressed for means, and know not just what to do unless money shall come in. We must live, and have means to carry forward the work.--Letter 47, 1894.
While at home in Granville, W. C. White devoted some time each morning to reading the manuscript on the life of Christ. He gave study also to a manuscript prepared by J. O. Corliss for two tracts dealing with some of the D. M. Canright criticisms of Ellen White and Seventh-day Adventists. The most misleading falsehoods were being disseminated in the Melbourne area by the Protestant ministers in an effort to combat Adventism.
A few days later the workers reached the decision that the Brettville estate at Cooranbong was the place for the school. A contract was signed and $125 paid to bind the transaction until a further inspection could be made by the president of the Australian Conference and other workers from Melbourne in mid-May (Letter 40, 1894; 4 WCW, p. 423).
Ellen White reported:
Brother and Sister Lawrence went yesterday [May 16] with a tent, W. C. White has taken a supply of bedding and provisions, and thus the party will be provided with board and lodging, to save hotel bills. And the fact that they can spend their nights on the ground will expedite business. All will return Monday or Tuesday.--Letter 46, 1894.
The L. N. Lawrence family, father, mother, and daughter, had come from Michigan at their own expense to aid wherever they could with the work in Australia. This was in response to an appeal made by Ellen White in The Review and Herald, February 14, 1893 (see also The General Conference Bulletin, 1893, 316), in which she declared:
What a great amount of good might be done if some of our brethren and sisters from America would come to these colonies as fruit growers, farmers, or merchants, and in the fear and love of God would seek to win souls to the truth. If such families were consecrated to God, He would use them as His agents.
When Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence reached Dora Creek they found they could rent a small house, three rooms and a kitchen (4 WCW, p. 457). So when the church leaders came in on Thursday and Friday they found a place to stay. Those who came to inspect the land were Brethren Daniells, Smith, Reekie, Humphries, Caldwell, Collins, and White. McCullagh followed early the next week after Sabbath obligations had been fulfilled. Even though she was not feeling well, there came a time when Ellen White could not refrain from joining the group. This she did on Wednesday morning, May 23, accompanied by Emily Campbell, George Starr, and Mr. McKenzie (Manuscript 75, 1894; 4 WCW, p. 457).
By the light of a candle Ellen White wrote of it early the next morning:
We found a good dinner waiting for us, and all seemed to eat as if they relished the food. After dinner we went to the riverside, and Brethren Starr, McKenzie, and Collins seated themselves in one boat, Brethren Daniells, McCullagh, and Reekie in a still larger boat, and Willie White, Emily Campbell, and myself in another.
We rode several miles upon the water. Though the stream is called Dora Creek, yet it has the appearance of a river, for it is a wide, deep stream. It is somewhat salt, but loses its saltness as it borders the place which we are investigating. It required two rowers to pull the boat upstream. I should judge this is no creek, but a deep, narrow river, and the water is beautiful.... On our way we passed several houses upon farms of about forty acres of land....
When we landed on the ground to be explored, we found a blue-gum tree about one hundred feet long lying on the ground. There was a fire in the center, and the smoke came out of the forked ends, and the main trunk, which united together to form three chimneys; several feet of one fork was a burning mass of glowing coals. The day before, Willie and Brother Reekie had taken their dinner at this place and had kindled a fire in a knot of wood, and it had been burning ever since. There was no danger of setting the woods on fire, and it was a pretty sight.
Willie, Emily, and I rested here for a little while, but the rest of the party took their shovels and went on to examine portions of the land that they had not yet passed over....Around us were immense trees that had been cut down, and parts were taken out which could be used.... I cannot for a moment entertain the idea that land which can produce such large trees can be of a poor quality. I am sure that were the pains taken with this land, as is customary to take with land in Michigan, it would be in every way productive.--Letter 82, 1894.
She had most likely read the negative report of Mr. A. H. Benson, the government fruit expert who had examined the land at the request of church leaders. He had declared it for the most part very poor, sour, sandy loam resting on yellow clay, or very poor swamp covered with different species of Melaleuca. According to him the whole of the land was sour, requiring liming and draining (DF 170, A. H. Benson, "Report of the Campbell Tract Near Morisset, N.S.W.," May 21, 1894; see also 4 WCW, pp. 410-412).
It has been told that when Mr. Benson handed the report to a member of the committee he remarked that "if a bandicoot [a marsupial about the size of a rabbit] were to cross the tract of land he would find it necessary to carry his lunch with him." (See DF 170, "The Avondale School," WCW to F. C. Gilbert, December 22, 1921.)
"While sitting on the log," Ellen White recorded, "my mind was actively planning what could be done.... I could see nothing discouraging in prospect of taking the land. But our party returned, and broke up my future faith-prospecting." She was escorted to some parts of the land, walking and resting and thinking. As the larger group came together near the boat landing, they brought encouraging reports of their findings.
Wrote Ellen White:
They came from their investigation with a much more favorable impression than they had hitherto received. They had found some excellent land, the best they had seen, and they
thought it was a favorable spot for the location of the school. They had found a creek of fresh water, cold and sweet, the best they had ever tasted. On the whole, the day of prospecting had made them much more favorable to the place than they had hitherto been.--Letter 82, 1894.
But night was drawing on, and the party returned down Dora Creek to the cottage by the light of the stars. As Ellen White pondered the work of the day there was one point that troubled her. She wrote:
Everything about the place had impressed me favorably except the fact that we were far from the great thoroughfares of travel, and therefore would not have an opportunity of letting our light shine amid the moral darkness that covers our large cities like the pall of death. This seems the only objection that presents itself to my mind. But it would not be advisable to establish our school in any of our large cities.--Ibid.
High-priced land they could not buy--this land was only $3 per acre. There were problems of having the school too close to the city, with its many temptations. All in all, Ellen White was well pleased with the prospects.
Ellen White retired early, but the committee earnestly discussed their findings on into the night. There were diverse opinions, for there was considerable variation in different parts of the land, but the majority felt the enterprise could be made to succeed. Added to this was their observation of Mrs. White's confidence in the potentialities of the property. Late that autumn night, the committee voted to purchase the Brettville estate for $4,500.
Special Evidence in the Healing of Elder McCullagh
Although the vote had been taken to buy the acreage, it was felt that to be sure, another day should be spent in further investigation. On Thursday morning before leaving the little cottage at Dora Creek, they met for prayer to seek God's special guidance. As Ellen White prayed, she felt impressed to plead with God for some token, some special evidence, that would make certain to all present that they were moving in God's providence.
In the group that morning was Elder McCullagh, who, afflicted with diseased lungs and throat, was losing ground physically. In writing to O. A. Olsen, she tells what took place:
While we were all bowed in prayer, the Lord rolled upon me the burden of prayer for Brother McCullagh, that he should be blessed, strengthened, and healed. It was a most blessed season, and Brother McCullagh says the difficulty has been removed from his throat, and he has been gaining ever since.--Letter 57, 1894.
McCullagh, speaking of it later, said that it seemed as though a shock of electricity went through his body. His coughing ceased and he soon regained his normal weight and strength. Thirty-four years later he was still living.
The further examination of the property on that Thursday confirmed the conviction that they should move forward with plans for the establishment of the school on the Brettville estate.
Report to the Foreign Mission Board
In his report written June 10 to the Foreign Mission Board in Battle Creek, W. C. White describes the tract in considerable detail, filling four single-spaced typewritten pages:
Much of the land in this section of the country is a clayey gravel with subsoil of shale or rock, or a coarse red sand with a subsoil of red clay. So much of it is of this character that the district is generally spoken against. There is much good land to be found in strips, and some most excellent soil in places.... We estimate two hundred acres fit for vegetables, two hundred fit for fruit, and two hundred good for dairying. The cost of clearing will vary considerably.--4 WCW, pp. 420-422.
Twenty-five years earlier, land in the area had been cleared for agriculture, and orange and lemon orchards had been planted. But the settlers neglected their orchards and turned to the cutting of timber to supply the nearby mines. W. C. White reported:
We have prayed most earnestly that if this was the wrong place, something would occur to indicate it, or to hedge up the way; and that if it was the right place, the way might be opened up. So far, everything moves most favorably.... We have signed a contract to buy the place, and have paid £25. At the end of this month, June 30, we are to pay £275, and then we have two years in which to pay the balance, with the privilege of paying all at any time.-- Ibid., 422, 423.
Making a Beginning
The first step was to find the funds with which to make the payment of £275 due on June 30. W. C. White reported to A. G. Daniells:
On Thursday, June 28, I borrowed £150 from Brother Sherwin and £105 from the Australian Tract Society, and scraped up all there was in our house, and made payment of the £275 due on the first payment.-- Ibid., 488.
Their solicitor (attorney) said the title was good. Two weeks later Mr. Lawrence, the church member who had come from Michigan, rented an old twelve-room hotel in Cooranbong, known as the Healey Hotel, and the furniture at the Bible school in Melbourne was sent for. Arrangements were made for surveying the land (6 WCW, p. 68). The last two weeks of August found quite a company of workers at Cooranbong.
Ellen White was on the lookout for the manner in which the land in the Cooranbong area produced. There were excellent oranges and lemons, but during the depressed times these brought but small returns. Vegetables did well; they bought cauliflower for "a mere song," as she termed it, large bags full for eight or ten cents. At that price they purchased a large quantity and used it for horse and cow feed.
She observed: "The people need to be educated as to how to raise fruit and grains." The letter to Edson and Emma continued:
If we had several experienced farmers who would come to this country and work up the land and demonstrate what the land would yield, they would be doing grand missionary work for the people. At Melbourne, your Uncle Stephen Belden plowed a piece of land, and worked the soil thoroughly, and raised a most profitable crop of sweet corn for the school. Everyone told him not to undertake it, but he was determined to show them what could be done. He will come on the school land here, and carry out the same plan.--Letter 89a, 1894.
As soon as it had been decided to purchase the Brettville estate for the school, a horse and cart were purchased in Sydney and dispatched to Cooranbong for the Lawrence family and visitors to use. Mr. Collins, a colporteur leader suffering some eye difficulty, and Jimmy Gregory collected provisions for three days and started out on the seventy-six-mile journey. At Cooranbong the rig proved very helpful. It was put to use by Ellen White and Emily and May while visiting Cooranbong in August.
In describing her thoughts to Marian Davis, her close working companion, she exclaimed:
The more I see the school property, the more I am amazed at the cheap price at which it was purchased.... I have planned what can be raised in different places. I have said, "Here can be a crop of alfalfa; there can be strawberries; here can be sweet corn and common corn; and this ground will raise good potatoes, while that will raise good fruit of all kinds." So in imagination I have all the different places in a flourishing condition.--Letter 14, 1894.
Then Ellen White introduced an intriguing reference to special light on the matter presented to her "at different times":
In the dream you have heard me relate, words were spoken of land which I was looking at, and after deep plowing and thorough cultivating, it brought forth a bountiful harvest. Having had this matter presented to me at different times, I am more than ever convinced that this is the right location for the school. Since I have been here for a few days and have had opportunity to investigate, I feel more sure than at my first visit that this is the right place. I think any [of the] land which I have seen would produce some kind of crop.--Ibid.
The Furrow Story
In 1898 she wrote specifically of an experience with which several were familiar:
Before I visited Cooranbong, the Lord gave me a dream. In my dream I was taken to the land that was for sale in Cooranbong. Several of our brethren had been solicited to visit the land, and I dreamed that I was walking upon the ground. I came to a neat-cut furrow that had been plowed one quarter of a yard deep and two yards in length. Two of the brethren who had been acquainted with the rich soil of Iowa were standing before the furrow and saying, "This is not good land; the soil is not favorable." But One who has often spoken in counsel was present also, and He said, "False witness has been borne of this land." Then He described the properties of the different layers of earth. He explained the science of the soil, and said that this land was adapted to the growth of fruit and vegetables, and that if well worked it would produce its treasures for the benefit of man....
The next day we were on the cars, on our way to meet others who were investigating the land; and as I was afterward walking on the ground where the trees had been removed, lo, there was a furrow just as I had described it, and the men also who had criticized the appearance of the land. The words were spoken just as I had dreamed. [Note: Neither of the two Ellen G. White accounts of this experience fixes precisely the time of the dream and later the seeing of the furrow on the School Land. Nor do they pinpoint the exact location, except "close to where our school buildings now stand" (Letter 350, 1907). W. C. White penciled in on a copy of the account as given in Manuscript 62, 1898, the words, in parentheses, "the committee on their last visit." In 1921 he placed the event as following the ashfield camp meeting when "A large committee were sent up to give the land another careful examination" (DF 170, WCW to F.C. Gilbert, December 22, 1921). An inability to fix precisely the exact timing or point out the exact location cannot undercut the validity of the event. In 1958 the author was taken by Jack Radley, retired mission boat captain, to the approximate location of the furrow as pointed out to him by his father, john radley, of castle hill. The latter had seen it in connection with one of the inspection trips to cooranbong as the purchase of the estate was under consideration. Today a granite monument on the college grounds commemorates the furrow experience and reminds all of God's providence in the founding of the College.]--Manuscript 62, 1898.
As she recounted the experience in a letter to Edson White some years later, she seemed to locate the finding of the furrow at a point in time not so early as her first visit to the property, but rather a little later when serious questions were raised by church leaders acquainted with the soil of Iowa, and the whole matter of the land at Cooranbong hung in the balance. In her dream she had seen the furrow as in an open space "close to where our school buildings now stand." She recounted finding the furrow this wise:
When we came to Avondale to examine the estate, I went with the brethren to the tract of land. After a time we came to the place I had dreamed of, and there was the furrow that I had seen. The brethren looked at it in surprise. "How had it come there?" they asked. Then I told them the dream that I had had.
"Well," they replied, "you can see that the soil is not good." "That," I answered, "was the testimony borne by the men in my dream, and that was given as the reason why we should not occupy the land. But One stood upon the upturned furrow, and said, 'False testimony has been borne concerning this soil. God can furnish a table in the wilderness.'"--Letter 350, 1907.
Norfolk Villa, Prospect Street, In Granville
When Ellen White and her traveling companions returned to Granville, it was to a different house. Per Ardua, the brick building they had moved into in late March on coming to New South Wales, was at the foot of a hill. It had low, rather small windows, and Ellen White became less pleased with it. On looking around in June, as winter came on, they found a large house, Norfolk Villa, on the top of a nearby hill in a neighborhood known as Harris Park. W. C. White described it as high, light, and dry, and planned more conveniently than where they had been living. It had ten rooms and rented for the same rate as the previous property, $5.00 a week. "It is ... real homelike," he said, with a "big dining room," which was a real comfort, for the whole family could gather (4 WCW, pp. 459, 489).
Ellen White's tent was pitched as an extra bedroom for the many visitors who came and went (Letter 30a, 1894). The day after they were settled in the new home, July 9, Ellen White wrote to Edson:
We are now in our new home. The house is the best we have ever lived in. It is two-story. I have the room above the parlor. Both parlor and chamber have large bay windows, and the scenery is very fine. Everything is nice and pleasant here, and it is more healthful....
I shall not write many letters now, but I shall endeavor to put all my time and powers in writing on the life of Christ. I have written very little on this book, and unless I do cut off and restrain my writing so largely for the papers, and letter writing, I shall never have strength to write the life of Christ.--Letter 133, 1894.
Running a Free Hotel
With the interest developing at Cooranbong, the White home was a sort of stopping-off place, rather like a free hotel, a situation to which they tried hard to adjust.
She wrote of the heavy burden of entertaining. As preparations were being made to send off Jimmy Gregory and Mr. Collins with the horse and cart to Cooranbong, Ellen White wrote to Willie:
We are supplying them with provisions for a three-day journey. We are expected to entertain all the saints who come and go, to shelter and feed all the horses, to provide provisions for all who go out, and to lunch all who come in.
This would be all very well if it were only an occasional thing, but when it is continual, it is a great wear upon the housekeeper and upon those who do the work. They are continually tired and cannot get rested, and besides this, our purse will not always hold out so that we can keep a free hotel.
She asked:
But what can we do? We do not wish to say No, and yet the work of entertaining all who come is no light matter. Few understand or appreciate how taxing it can be; but if this is our way to help, we will do it cheerfully, and say Amen.
But it is essential that we donate large sums of money to the work and that we lead out in benevolent enterprises.... Is it our duty also to keep a free hotel, and to carry these other burdens? May the Lord give us His wisdom and His blessing, is our most earnest prayer.--Letter 85, 1894.
Within a few days Ellen White caught herself. She felt remorse and self-condemnation for complaining. Repenting, she bravely wrote:
I begrudge nothing in the line of food or anything to make guests comfortable, and should there be a change made in the matter of entertaining, I should certainly feel the loss and regret it so much. So I lay that burden down as wholly unnecessary, and will entertain the children of God whenever it seems to be necessary.... I would not have it otherwise in entertaining, if I could. The Lord has made us stewards of His grace and of His blessings in temporal things, and while writing to Elder Loughborough a letter on this subject, my mind cleared wonderfully on these matters. No! I want not to hoard anything, and, God helping me, those who have embraced the truth and love God and keep His commandments shall not go hungry for food or naked for clothing if I know it.--Letter 135, 1894.
New Home Is Better for W. C. White
W. C. White, a widower whose growing girls were living at his home in Battle Creek, was driven as it were from pillar to post in his living accommodations. Forced to the strictest of economy by the shortage of means, he contented himself with a room in his mother's home. He traveled the ocean by steerage; took low-fare, slow trains when there was a choice; and as union president often typed his own letters and worked prodigiously.
The new home offered some relief, for his room, which served also as his office, was large, light, and airy. He kept an observant eye on his mother and her welfare, and when at home made it a point to walk with her for a few minutes after breakfast or dinner. Of this he wrote on July 20: "She cannot walk far at a time, but it does her good to walk a little way," sometimes as much as around a block. To go much farther pained her hip (6 WCW, p. 69).
Work at Cooranbong Brought to a Standstill
In late August, as W. C. White, L. J. Rousseau, L. N. Lawrence, and others were at Cooranbong with the surveyor, tramping over the newly purchased land, two letters were handed to W. C. White, one from F. M. Wilcox, secretary of the Foreign Mission Board in Battle Creek, and the other from W. W. Prescott, educational secretary of the General Conference. White read them to Rousseau and Lawrence as they rested in the forest. The two letters carried the same message. The writers of each had just attended a meeting of the Foreign Mission Board at which W. C. White's letter of June 10, with his description of the land at Cooranbong, had been read. Each conveyed the same word, that the board felt, from the description of the land, it would be well to look for other property that was more promising, even if because of a higher price not more than forty acres could be secured. White called a halt to the work in progress, and the surveyor was sent back to Sydney (DF 170, "Report of the Proceedings of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Union Conference for the Year 1894": 6 WCW, pp. 126, 129).
To Prescott, White wrote on September 3:
As regards the land, we are acting upon the suggestion of the Mission Board, and have suspended all operations as far as we can. How this will affect our future progress and prospects, we cannot now conjecture. If it were an enterprise of our own, we might have many forebodings, but as we are servants of a King, and as He has power to make light from darkness, and to turn what looks to be failure into success, we shall wait and trust.--6 WCW, p. 126.
Dreaded misgivings swept over W. C. White. He later described the circumstances in the report he prepared to present to the constituency at the camp meeting to be held at Ashfield, near Sydney. After noting the careful inspection of many properties and that there had been twenty-eight meetings of the committee on school location between January 23 and August 29, he reluctantly wrote:
Letters were received from the secretary of the Foreign Mission Board and the educational secretary of the General Conference acknowledging receipt of the description of the place sent them by W. C. White and intimating their fears that the place was not suitable for our work. The same fears were felt to some extent by W.C. White, L. J. Rousseau, and [A. G.] Daniells; therefore, at a meeting held in Sydney, August 27, White, Daniells, McCullagh, Reekie, and Rousseau being present, the following resolution was adopted:
Whereas, The Mission Board has expressed its doubts and cautions regarding our school location, therefore,
Resolved, That we delay further proceedings at Cooranbong until we have time to consider the question of location.--DF 170, "Report of the Proceedings of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Union Conference for the Year 1894."
Somewhat stunned, W. C. White found himself frequently humming the words "Wait, meekly wait, and murmur not" (6 WCW, p. 137), and threw himself into the search for what might be a more promising site for the school. To Ellen White also, the decision of the Foreign Mission Board was a blow, and she waited at Cooranbong for word on what action would be taken by the committee on school location to be held in Sydney, Monday, August 27. On that same day she wrote:
The more I see the school property, the more I am amazed at the cheap price at which it has been purchased. When the board want to go back on this purchase, I pledge myself to secure the land. I will settle it with poor families; I will have missionary families come out from America and do the best kind of missionary work in educating the people as to how to till the soil and make it productive.--Manuscript 35, 1894.
On Wednesday, August 29, Ellen White received a telegram calling for her to return to Sydney the next morning. Cutting her restful stay at Cooranbong short, she and her women helpers took the morning train, arriving at Sydney about noon. They were met by W. C. White, Daniells, Reekie, and Rousseau, and taken to the mission. Here, after refreshments, the news of the decision of the committee on Monday was broken to Ellen White. That evening she wrote in her diary of it:
Brethren Rousseau and Daniells had propositions to lay before us that the land selected for the locating of the school was not as good land as we should have on which to erect buildings; we should be disappointed in the cultivation of the land; it was not rich enough to produce good crops, et cetera, et cetera.
This was a surprising intelligence to us, and we could not view the matter in the same light. We knew we had evidence that the Lord had directed in the purchase of the land. They proposed searching still for land.... The land purchased was the best, as far as advantages were concerned. To go back on this and begin another search meant loss of time, expense in outlay of means, great anxiety and uneasiness, and delay in locating the school, putting us back one year.
We could not see light in this. We thought of the children of Israel who inquired, Can God set a table in the wilderness? He did do this, and with God's blessing resting upon the school, the land will be blessed to produce good crops.... I knew from light given me we had made no mistake.--Manuscript 77, 1894.
It was clear where her confidence lay, and this was a point that neither the committee in Australia nor the Foreign Mission Board in Battle Creek could put out of mind, yet their best judgment led them to look with misgivings on plans to build a college at Cooranbong.
While to Ellen White the Brettville estate at Cooranbong was the right place, she knew that the final decision must be made by the men carrying the responsibility of leadership, and they must be sufficiently confident of their decision to see the plans through not only in favorable circumstances but also in the face of the most foreboding difficulties.
The course now outlined seemed to her "very much like the work of the great adversary to block the way of advance, and to give to brethren easily tempted and critical the impression that God was not leading in the school enterprise. I believe this to be a hindrance that the Lord has nothing to do with. Oh, how my heart aches! I do not know what to do but to just rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him."--Ibid.
The decision to search further for land held, and the task was begun. Ellen White reluctantly joined the committee in inspecting some new sites.