On January 1, 1899, Ellen White, reviewing the accomplishments in Australia and particularly at the Avondale school, wrote: "Two school buildings are completed, and the main building is now going up. The meeting-house is finished and paid for, but there are fences to be built and trees to set out to make the place pleasant and attractive.... The things that need to be done in order that the work of God in our school shall not be hindered must be done."--Letter 49, 1899. The third term of school opened a few weeks later, on February 1, to run thirty-six weeks to October 8. S. N. Haskell, who taught through the first two terms of the school and was a strong influence in the institution, was now serving as president of the New South Wales Conference. His wife, who had also taught some of the Bible classes, was, of course, with him in Sydney. This loss of staff members, and the rapid growth of the school, called for some major adjustments in both administration and faculty.
Agriculture, a very important part of the Avondale program, needed to be managed and taught by one well qualified. C. B. Hughes, who had served as principal, was assigned that responsibility. The teaching of higher mathematics was added to his duties, as well as that of business manager. A. G. Daniells, president of the Australasian Union Conference, was asked to come to Cooranbong and fill the office of principal temporarily. E. R. Palmer, the general canvassing agent, was to come also as one of the teachers and eventually serve as principal. Several teachers were brought in from Australasia and America to build a proper faculty.
The School Gains Unofficial Recognition
As the school became favorably known in the surrounding communities, several non-Adventist students were enrolled in the school. A minister residing in Newcastle sent his son, as did several businessmen (Letter 74, 1899), including the well-known biscuit manufacturer Mr. Arnott (Manuscript 191, 1899).
In February, 1899, there appeared in The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales an article written by W. S. Campbell, a government fruit expert, titled "The Seventh-day Adventist Settlement and Industrial College and Cooranbong." He reported very commendably on developments at Cooranbong. Mr. Campbell mentioned that in the year 1894 his counsel was sought by three men who belonged to a denomination he had never heard of, who were looking for a suitable tract of land on which to locate a school and establish a colony. While W. C. White had several times invited him to visit the school at Cooranbong, it was not until requested by the Minister of Agriculture that he did so, most likely in late 1898. Describing his visit, the article stated:
I must say ... that I was more than pleased with my visit, for I found the settlement to be an extremely interesting one, and the progress made ... remarkable, considering the short time it has been established.
Mr. Campbell had with him Mr. Fegan, a member of Parliament. He wrote of going to the home of Mrs. E. G. White, and was surprised to find there "an orchard of well-grown fruit trees of different kinds. Peaches of many varieties, bearing heavily magnificent, luscious, well-flavored fruits, such as would do credit to any orchard." The report continued:
Here we met Mr. C. B. Hughes, the business manager.... Mr. Hughes took us through the buildings, which are very extensive, well built, and comfortable. A large two-storied building for girls, another extensive one for meals, et cetera, with separate laundry, kitchen, et cetera, at the rear. Some distance away, a three-storied building for boys, and between the boys' and girls' residences is a place of two stories, a building for lectures and so on.
On the eastern side of the knoll, and extending to a level area, originally a ti-tree swamp, lies an orchard of ten acres. The task of clearing the heavily timbered land and draining the swamp was heavy work, a deal of which was performed by the students and staff.
About one thousand fruit trees of various kinds were planted, and within three years they began to bear most satisfactorily. Their growth has been excellent.... Vegetables of all sorts thrive here admirably, and maize has given remarkable results. The work altogether has proved most satisfactory.--DF 170d.
As noted earlier, College Hall was dedicated on Thursday, April 13. W. C. White, chairman of the school board, had, on April 7, invited several government officials to visit the school and participate in the dedication service. It was short notice, and the day was rainy, and none of the officials came. However, on Thursday, April 20, a week later, a group of about twenty dignitaries came up Dora Creek from Lake Macquarie by steam launch to visit the school. White's invitation to the opening of College Hall to the Honorable Mr. Cook, Minister for Mines and Agriculture, had been effective after all. This invitation read:
Dear Sir,
In behalf of the managers of the Avondale School for Christian Workers, I have the honor to invite you to visit our place next Thursday, April 13, to open our "College Hall," which is just completed and ready for use, and which we shall dedicate that day to the cause of Christian education.
Believing that you have heard, through Mr. W. S. Campbell something of our efforts to establish, here in the bush, an institution where we may give young people an "all-around" education, as well as a training for Christian work, and trusting that you approve of our idea that agriculture is properly the ABC of physical and manual training, we have dared to hope that you would take time to visit us on this occasion.--13 WCW, p. 80.
The article in the Agricultural Gazette was doubtless also a factor. The group of visitors who came April 20 were curious to learn why a band of dedicated people would leave the city to establish a college in such a retired and insignificant place as Cooranbong. In the group was the brother of the premier of New South Wales. They had come unannounced, but W. C. White was at the school at the time. He hastened off a messenger to borrow his mother's carriages and horses to supplement the school's conveyances so they could take the visitors around the grounds. In the meantime they were invited to have lunch at the school (Letter 74, 1899). Writing of the experience, Ellen White stated:
I am so glad that the main school building is up and furnished.... It looks nice. We treat all who come with deference and respect. We desire to make a good impression.
We have had bankers and men of high repute call upon us to see what is going on here in Cooranbong. This place has been regarded as so insignificant, and the inhabitants so poor and degraded, as to be unworthy of notice. But all are surprised at that which is being done here.--Letter 75, 1899.
In June, W. C. White, writing to his old friend J. N. Loughborough, informed him that "there are over one hundred students now in the school, and we are crowded and cramped in every department. We shall soon consider turning the work of our boys to getting out material for another building."--12 WCW, p. 47.
The Union Conference Session
The third biennial session of the Australasian Union Conference was held at the Avondale school, July 6 to 25, 1899 (Australasian Union Conference Record, May 20, 1899), and really marks the maturing process in Australia. The students found temporary sleeping quarters where they could, and turned over their dormitory rooms to the forty-six delegates and visitors. Schoolwork continued, and the schedule was arranged to conform as far as possible with the work and study program of the students. The session was, in a measure, incorporated into the school program. The report was that the arrangement was satisfactory, although some of the delegates were not enamored with rising at five o'clock in the morning.
One interesting feature of the program was the two-hour period each afternoon at two o'clock when delegates joined the students in manual labor.
The published reports of the three-week-long meeting tell of an unusual group of denominational workers rarely together, taking an active part in the session and activities. Among them were G. A. Irwin, president of the General Conference, and such pioneer workers as Ellen G. White, Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell, Elder and Mrs. E. W. Farnsworth, and Elder and Mrs. A. T. Robinson. All participated actively.
W. C. White and E. R. Palmer gave reports relative to the school, its history, its finances, and its program. The financial report surprised everyone, especially that the school was operating in the black. When the books were closed after the end of the sixth school term [including the Bible school at Melbourne], they could report a gain of £331 (Ibid., December 1, 1899).
Ellen White was the speaker on the afternoon of the last Sabbath of the session. First she read from a manuscript titled "The Avondale School Farm" (reproduced in the July 31, 1899, Union Conference Record), based on a vision given to her some months before, and having a very practical bearing on the development of the school:
I have words of counsel for our brethren regarding the disposition and use of the lands near our school and church. I have been learning of the great Teacher. Many particulars regarding the work at Cooranbong have not been opened before me until recently, and not until now have I felt at liberty to speak of them.... At the beginning of the Sabbath I fell asleep, and some things were clearly presented before me.
Among these things was the hindrance to the work of the school and the disappointment that would follow the selling of any land the school might need. The vision was specific.
All the land near the buildings is to be considered the school farm, where the youth can be educated under well-qualified superintendents.... They are to plant it with ornamental trees and fruit trees, and to cultivate garden produce. The school farm is to be regarded as a lesson book in nature, from which the teachers may draw their object lessons....
The light given to me is that all that section of land from the school orchard to the Maitland road, and extending on both sides of the road from the meetinghouse to the school, should become a farm and a park, beautified with fragrant flowers and ornamental trees. There should be fruit orchards and every kind of produce cultivated that is adapted to this soil, that this place may become an object lesson to those living close by and afar off.
The industrial work, she pointed out, should include "the keeping of accounts, carpenter's work, and everything that is comprehended in farming."
Preparation should also be made for the teaching of blacksmithing, painting, shoemaking, cooking, baking, washing, mending, typewriting, and printing. Every power at our command is to be brought into this training work, that students may go forth equipped for the duties of practical life.
When she finished reading, she laid her manuscript down and continued to speak to the audience on the objectives of the school:
God designs that this place shall be a center, an object lesson. Our school is not to pattern after any school that has been established in America, or after any school that has been established in this country....
From this center we are to send forth missionaries. Here they are to be educated and trained, and sent to the islands of the sea and other countries. The Lord wants us to be preparing for missionary work.--Australasian Union Conference Record, July 28, 1899.
The Avondale school had come of age. It was now a strong training center and soon would be a home base for mission field activities. It was becoming a positive influence in the community; it demonstrated what, with intelligent and diligent efforts, could be accomplished in that backward region. Somehow God's special blessing attended the developments in agricultural pursuits at Cooranbong. Shortly after Ellen White had returned to America, Australia suffered a prolonged and distressing drought. G. A. Irwin, representing the work in Australia at the General Conference session of 1903, told the story of God's special providences.
For the past two years the school has had marked evidences of the protection and prospering hand of our heavenly Father. While the drought was so severe all around that practically nothing was raised, the school estate of fifteen hundred acres was blessed with frequent rains and abundant crops, so that sufficient was raised to supply the school and leave a surplus for sale. During the three months of the last vacation ... about $700 worth of products were sold to those outside.--The General Conference Bulletin, 1903, 143.
Speaking of this a few days later, he declared:
It is really remarkable; there is just as marked a difference between that school estate and the surrounding country as we have reason to believe existed between the Egyptians and the children of Israel in the time of the plagues.--Ibid., 174
The Publishing House
When Seventh-day Adventists began activities in Australia in the winter of 1885, publishing work was begun almost at once. With borrowed type and equipment, the type for the first numbers of The Bible Echo and Signs of the Times was set in the bedroom occupied by one of the workers. The form of set type was taken by a handcart to a nearby printer, where it was run on the press. As soon as they could purchase a press and a small engine, quarters were rented. Four years later, land was bought on Best Street and a building erected to house the emerging Echo Publishing Company and to provide a meeting hall on the second floor. Commercial work was taken in to supply work to justify the sophisticated equipment needed to produce denominational publications. After printing in a commendable manner a pamphlet for the governor of Victoria, the Echo Publishing Company was officially appointed "Publishers to His Excellency Lord Brassey, K.C.B." This gave the house standing and enhanced business. From one person employed in 1885, the work grew, until in 1899 there were eighty-three employees. This gave it the third position among Adventist publishers, following the Review and Herald which employed 275, and the Pacific Press, with 150 workers (Australasian Union Conference Record, July 19, 1899).
With an establishment standing first among the publishing houses operated outside of North America, the Echo Publishing Company was indeed "of age."
Evangelism in Australia and New Zealand
The final objective of all efforts of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is that of preaching the gospel and preparing men and women to meet the Lord. Evangelism, which had moved rather slowly at first in Australia and New Zealand, was vitalized by the extended evangelistic camp meetings introduced in 1893 and 1894. Year by year methods were refined, and in the late 1890s evangelism was forging ahead, yielding rich harvests. Of this type of successful work Ellen White wrote in 1898 to Dr. J. H. Kellogg:
Our camp meetings are the greatest and most efficient mode of witnessing to the truth and making it impressive. The religious exercises of the meetings are a constant confession of the truth. There are also most favorable opportunities in these meetings, which last from two to three weeks, to engage in work for the children. The smaller children are gathered into a large tent, and special instruction adapted to their years is given them.
All these meetings are carried on in an orderly manner, and they have a telling influence. There are always a number of conversions made. But now we see that the effort made after our camp meeting is more effective in holding the people than that which we gain while the meeting is in session. This is gathering up the fragments, that nothing be lost. The afterwork secures from forty to fifty converts, and the experiences of these converted ones have a great influence upon their friends and relatives.
But this is a very meager estimate of the work that has been done by our camp meetings in this country. In every place where a camp meeting has been held, a church has been organized. This is presented to me as one of the best methods we can use to reach all classes.--Letter 140, 1898.
These camp meetings, into which were poured careful planning, money, and the best dedicated talent available, enriched the church in Australasia in converts from all classes, but often from among the experienced and the better educated. Thus were provided some who would enter the business operations and management of the various activities and institutions in a rapidly growing work. Few of these converts were wealthy, but there was furnished a sound backlog of resources that was much needed. Thus evangelism, together with the training of the youth of the church in the Avondale school, very largely supplied the ministerial and related needs of the cause, such as literature evangelists and Bible instructors. Evangelism in Australia had come "of age."
The Medical Missionary Work
The medical missionary thrust in Australia got under way with a humble and slow beginning. First there was the selfless and dedicated work of Miss Sara McEnterfer, Ellen White's traveling companion, nurse, and private secretary who, soon after her arrival in 1896, was pressed into work in the community surrounding the Avondale school as a missionary nurse, supported by Ellen White. In 1897 Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Semmens, nurses trained at Battle Creek, opened a little medical institution in Sydney. In the winter of 1898 Dr. Edgar Caro, of the New Zealand Caro family, having graduated as a physician at the American Medical Missionary College in Battle Creek, joined the forces in Sydney. The name of the institution was changed to the "Medical and Surgical Sanitarium" of Summer Hill (Australasian Union Conference Record, July 15, 1898). The next step was the development of a school for nurses. The Union Conference Record of January 15, 1899, carried the following notice:
Sanitarium Training School for Nurses
The Sanitarium school for nurses is an institution for the training of young men and women to engage in various lines of medical and other philanthropic work under the direction of regularly organized missionary boards of the Australasian Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association. The school is evangelical, but highly scientific.
As to what might be expected in training and financial arrangements, the notice stated:
The Course: The course of instruction covers a period of three years, the terms commencing April 1 and October 1 each year....
Remuneration: During the first year of the course, students receive uniforms and books, besides room, board, and tuition, and are required to work full time--ten hours each day. After the first year's examinations are passed, a small salary, as determined by the Sanitarium medical board, will be paid in addition to room and board, provided the work is done satisfactorily.
Soon Dr. S. C. Rand joined the forces, bringing the medically trained staff to four--two physicians and two graduate nurses. God blessed the work carried by the dedicated personnel laboring with limited facilities in cramped quarters. In response to Ellen White's almost heartbreaking pleas pointing out the dire need of building and equipping a sanitarium in Sydney, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, his brother, W. K. Kellogg, J. N. Loughborough, and others sent some funds with which to make a beginning in the erection of a well-planned medical institution. Just then word was received in Australia of the generous pledges of Capt. Norman at the General Conference session. This gave heart to all the workers and led to a forward-looking action of the Medical Missionary Association on April 27, 1899. Further steps in the development of the medical work can be seen in the annual report of the Sanitarium at Summer Hill, given at the July union conference session and recorded in the July 26 Union Conference Record:
The matter of more suitable accommodation for the Sanitarium work was again very earnestly considered, and it was decided [on April 27] that in view of the encouraging prospect for means, we should proceed at once with preliminary steps. Accordingly, A. G. Daniells, Dr. Caro, and G. W. Morse were appointed a committee on location for a sanitarium and plans for the same.
It was reported that at the end of June there were twenty-one employees in the little Medical and Surgical Sanitarium of Summer Hill.
Firm Plans for Erecting a Sanitarium
In connection with the union conference session held at Cooranbong, a formal meeting was held of the Australasian Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association on Thursday morning, July 20 and recorded in the July 24 Union Conference Record. Fifteen resolutions were brought in for consideration. Three related to a proposed new building, the first of which read:
7. That we earnestly invite a hearty cooperation of our conferences and associations, and friends of our cause in general, in the erection and equipment 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 one hundred patients.
This was followed by two lengthy resolutions relating to finance, the opening sentence reading:
That we undertake to raise the sum of £8,000 for the purpose named in the foregoing resolution.
The resolutions appealed to the constituency for strong support and the exercise of self-denial and "strict economy, that all may have means to offer for this cause." The common sentiment was that they should "look directly to God for help, committing our cause to Him and appealing through Him to the friends of the work."
At this point Ellen White was given an opportunity to speak. Her statements filled more than six columns in the July 21 Union Conference Record. She opened with the words:
My husband and I took an interest in the Sanitarium in Battle Creek from the time it was first started. It was very hard work to get right ideas fixed in the minds of the workers in regard to what the Sanitarium should be. We had to go over the ground again and again, teaching them line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.
After reviewing the initial steps taken in Sydney, she declared: "From the light I have received, I know that if ever there was a country where a sanitarium was needed, it is New South Wales, and I may say also, Victoria." She told of how the hospitals of the world could not suffice and declared:
We should have a sanitarium under our own regulations, that the truth of God on health reform may be given to the world. Those connected with such an institution who are being educated as nurses should be trained to go forth from the institution as solid as a rock upon the principles of health reform and other points of truth.
She assured the delegates that it could be done. "The Lord has instructed me," she said, "that we can have a sanitarium here if everyone will do as I was reading this morning in the eighth and ninth chapters of Second Corinthians." She referred to the dire needs of the believers driven from Jerusalem, and the manner in which means were raised for this relief.
"Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, that beyond their power they were willing of themselves." Some who had no money gave part of their wearing apparel. Some divided the store of food they had, living poorly, that those who were suffering in Jerusalem might be fed. "Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift."
She drew lessons from this experience and recounted God's providences in the beginning already made in Australia. "We need a sanitarium," she urged. "We desire that every soul here shall be interested in this work, because God is interested in it."
This is the work the Lord desires to have done. Then let it be hindered no longer. God help us to take hold of it. No one man is to do the whole work. Let us all help to the best of our ability .... Nothing that we have is our own. All is the Lord's, and we are to do His work. God will put His Spirit upon those who will do something, and do it now.
At this point a vote on the resolutions was called for, and it carried unanimously.
A Surprise Move
Then E. W. Farnsworth stood and said that he did not know whether or not what he was about to propose was in order, but it seemed to him that they could not do better than to make a practical beginning of the matter right there. To start the fund, he would pledge £50. This pledge was quickly followed by others, and a list of the pledges (which was reproduced in the July 31 Union Conference Record) was made. The opening lines read:
L s. d.
E. W. Farnsworth 50 0 0
Mrs. E. G. White 100 0 0
C. B. Hughes 40 0 0
S. N. Haskell and wife 55 0 0
G. B. Starr and wife 10 0 0
F. Martin 10 0 0
The list grew to seventy-one entries and £905, or the equivalent of something more than $4,500.
There was no hint in any of the addresses or comments calling for money from America. Australia was reaching maturity and self-sufficiency, even though it demanded economy and sacrifice.
A few months later Ellen White wrote of the fruitage of sanitarium work in Sydney:
Several wealthy people who have come to our Sanitarium in Sydney have embraced the truth, among them a man who has donated £500 to our Sanitarium. He is an invalid. He and his wife have taken their stand fully.--Letter 11, 1900.
The sanitarium work in Australia was coming of age! The new sanitarium building planned for Sydney opened January 1, 1903, with Dr. D. H. Kress as medical director.
The Health-Food Work
It took quite a struggle to get the health-food work in Australia on its feet. While the delegates and visitors in July, 1899, were spending three weeks at Cooranbong attending the union conference session, they could observe the steps being taken to convert the sawmill structure into an efficient food factory. As Ellen White brought her Sabbath-afternoon address on "The School and Its Work" to a close, she was asked a question regarding the connection of the health-food business and the school. In her answer she indicated that there was a very close connection between the two:
The habits and practices of men have brought the earth into such a condition that some other food than animal food must be substituted for the human family. We do not need flesh food at all. God can give us something else.
When we were talking about this land, it was said, "Nothing can be raised here." "Nevertheless," I said, "the Lord can spread a table in the wilderness." Under His direction food will go a long way. When we place ourselves in right relation to Him, He will help us, and the food we eat in obedience to Him will satisfy us....
The health-food business is to be connected with our school, and we should make provision for it. We are erecting buildings for the care of the sick, and food will be required for the patients. Wherever an interest is awakened, the people are to be taught the principles of health reform. If this line of work is brought in, it will be the entering wedge for the work of presenting truth.
The health-food business should be established here. It should be one of the industries connected with the school. God has instructed me that parents can find work in this industry and send their children to school. But everything that is done should be done with the greatest simplicity. There is to be no extravagance in anything.--UCR, July 28, 1899 (Counsels on Health, 495, 496).
Seventh-day Adventists throughout Australasia were informed through the Union Conference Record of December 1, 1899, that the manufacturing of health foods at Cooranbong was under way. Readers were told that after a long and determined and persevering effort, the Sanitarium Health Food Factory was well fitted up and able to turn out health foods rapidly. The arrangements of the factory were said to be "clean, roomy, and pleasant," and as to the products:
They are now manufacturing granose biscuits, granose flakes, bromose, nuttose, antiseptic [charcoal] tablets, granola, caramel cereal, nut butter, wheatmeal biscuits, gluten biscuits, gluten meal.... White and brown bread, for the school and the immediate neighborhood, are also made at the factory. We are thankful to see this enterprise at last on its feet.
The health-food business in Australia was just coming of age, and the prospects were bright.