In January 1893 longstanding plans for Ellen White to visit New Zealand were coming to fruition. These plans called for visiting the churches and for a camp meeting to be held in Napier in March. A conference session would be held in connection with it. Ellen White, W. C. White, and G. B. Starr and his wife would attend. The tour was expected to take about four months.
Leaving Melbourne on Thursday, January 26, the party arrived in Sydney the next day. Mrs. White met with the church at Parramatta on Sabbath morning, and this introduced a full week of meetings.
Here in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney, was the first church building owned and operated by Seventh-day Adventists in continental Australia. A year previously Robert Hare and David Steed had held evangelistic meetings there and raised up a church of 50 members. The congregation was determined to have a house of worship. Beginning with donations amounting to £420 ($2,000), a good lot and building materials were purchased. Within three weeks' time of the laying of the foundations, the building was erected with donated labor, and Sabbath meetings were being held in it. It was dedicated on Sabbath, December 10. The next day 480 people crowded into the new church at what was called its opening meeting (The Bible Echo, January 15, 1893).
As funds were being raised in September, Ellen White, who had received a gift from friends in California of $45 with which to buy a comfortable chair for use during her illness, appropriated the money to aid in building the Parramatta church. She explained to her friends who had given the money that she wished them to have something invested in the Australian missionary field (Letter 34, 1892).
Sunday night she spoke in the Parramatta town hall. It was well filled also, and she reported:
The people listened with great attention, and the people here, believing the truth, are much pleased. But I do not feel satisfied. I needed physical strength that I could do justice to the great and important themes that we are dealing with. What a work is before us! (Letter 127, 1893).
In addition to speaking in the church on Tuesday and Thursday nights, she visited in the community as well, where she was well received. She was told that the wife of a local minister had declared: "Mrs. White's words are very straight; she has gone deeper than any of us in religious experience. We must study the Word to see if these things be so" (DF 28a, "Experiences in Australia," p. 316).
For the Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Parramatta, Robert Hare, she had words of counsel and instruction that she arranged to read to him and his wife. The testimony was received with profit.
Voyage To New Zealand
At 2:00 Sabbath afternoon, February 4, Ellen White, together with her son William, her secretary, Emily Campbell, and Elder and Mrs. G. B. Starr, boarded the Rotomahanna for Auckland, New Zealand. She described the ship as a "beautiful steamer, and one of the fastest on these waters" (The Review and Herald, May 30, 1893). She had a convenient and pleasant stateroom on the upper deck, and endured the journey well. Arriving at Auckland Wednesday morning, February 8, she and her companions were taken to a comfortable furnished cottage arranged for by the church. The next 12 days were devoted to meetings in the Auckland church. On two evenings she spoke to attentive audiences in a well-filled theater. In all, she spoke eight times while there.
Ellen White Meets The Hare Family
The Hare family was already well known among Adventists "down under" and would be for generations to come. Edward Hare and his wife were among the very first in New Zealand to accept the third angel's message as S. N. Haskell began work in Auckland in late 1885. As soon as he accepted the Sabbath he was eager that his father, Joseph Hare, who resided in Kaeo, should also hear the message. So Haskell made a visit to Kaeo, 160 miles (256 kilometers) north of Auckland.
As a result of that visit many members of that family accepted the third angel's message, including Father Hare. Among the 24 children, 16 of whom were married, several were persons of more than ordinary ability, and many of them had means and extensive influence.
The little chapel at Kaeo was built by the Hare family, who largely composed its membership.
Now, eight years after Haskell's first visit, Ellen White was in New Zealand and was urged to visit Kaeo. Kaeo was a 24-hour journey from Auckland by a coastal boat, which made several stops en route. There was just time to squeeze in a two-week visit to Kaeo before entering into preparations for the camp meeting scheduled to open in Napier on Thursday, March 23.
So on Monday the White party, the same that had come from Australia, boarded the Clansman at Auckland for its weekly trip north.
When they arrived at their destination, Whangaroa Harbor, at 7:00 in the evening, Joseph and Metcalfe Hare were there to meet them. The men had come three miles (five kilometers) from Kaeo in their skiff. Travelers and baggage were transferred to the little boat, and they started on the two-hour trip to Kaeo. The water was smooth, the air was mild, and the new moon gave just enough light to outline the mountains (Ibid., May 30, 1893). Ellen White described the trip in her diary:
Willie sat at the end of the boat at the helm, his back to my back to give support and to guide the boat. Brethren Hare stood up in the boat, each with an oar, and were guided by word and motion of head when the boat should go veering to right and left in the narrow passage, shunning rocks and dangerous places.
The view on this passage must be grand when it can be seen, but it was night and we were deprived of the privilege of viewing the scenery. The water was as smooth as a beautiful lake.... The landing place was close to Joseph Hare's back yard. We stepped, with help, on the embankment and passed through the gate, and a few steps brought us to the back piazza [porch]. We climbed the steps and entered the open door and were welcomed by Sister Hare (Manuscript 77, 1893).
In the morning Father Hare came with his carriage and took them the three miles (five kilometers) to his home. As they traveled, Ellen White became ecstatic by what she saw: fern trees in abundance, mountains "closely linked one to another, rounded or sharp at the top, and precipice like at the sides; then uniting with this was still another and another, peak after peak presenting itself like links uniting in a chain" (Ibid.). Father Hare's home was well located, close to a high, wooded mountain. A passing stream supplied pure water. There was a flourishing orchard of apples, pears, peaches, plums, and quince trees, and beyond, beautiful, fragrant pines.
Sabbath morning Mrs. White spoke in the little meetinghouse the Hare family had built. As she stood before her audience, she recognized faces she had seen in vision, as had happened to her many times. She was well aware of the experiences and attitudes of some present (Ibid.). Sunday afternoon she addressed about 200 of the community folks at the Wesleyan church. George Starr spoke in the same church Sunday evening. Thus began a busy stay at Kaeo.
Some members of the Hare family had not yet confessed Christ. Of the youth she wrote that "there are some in Kaeo whom God has been calling to fit themselves for labor in His vineyard, and we rejoice that several are preparing to go to the Bible school" in Australia (Ibid., May 30, 1893). Because of bad weather and irregular boat schedules, the visitors stayed an extra week in Kaeo. They filled the time with meetings and in earnest visiting from family to family. Near the time for them to leave, Minnie and Susan Hare, ages 20 and 14, respectively, youngest daughters of Father Hare, were baptized.
Thursday morning, March 16, the visiting group caught the steamer for Auckland. Ellen White and the Starrs were taken to Whangaroa Harbor on Wednesday afternoon so that Mrs. White could speak in the town hall that evening. W. C. White and Emily Campbell came with the baggage early Thursday morning, and they were soon on the Clansman en route to Auckland.
At Auckland they changed to the Wairarapa, bound for Napier. Here the first Seventh-day Adventist camp meeting in the Southern Hemisphere was scheduled to open on Thursday, March 23.
First SDA Camp Meeting In The Southern Hemisphere
The little city of Napier was a beautiful place, the resident portion of the town having been built on a series of high hills overlooking the sea. Ellen White,
W. C. White, and Emily were taken to the comfortable home of the Doctors Caro, not far from where preparations were already under way for the camp meeting. They were to be entertained there for the full time. A two-wheeled horse-drawn rig was made available for Ellen White's use in getting to the meetings.
Arrangements had been made for her to speak Sunday evening in the Theater Royal, and she presented her favorite theme, "The Love of God," to an attentive audience. The next three days were devoted to getting ready for the meeting. Two large tents were pitched. Notice had been sent to the churches weeks before, but the response was poor, so plans for a dining tent and a reception tent were dropped. Only a few family tents were pitched. It was expected that the restaurant in town could serve whatever food was needed.
However, by midweek boats and trains brought delegations from the churches, fully doubling the number expected. The camp meeting planners faced a minor crisis.
From the time plans were under way, Ellen White had urged that this first camp meeting must be a sample of what future camp meetings should be. Over and over she declared: "'See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.' As a people," she said, "we have lost much by neglecting order and method." She commented, "Although it takes time and careful thought and labor, and often seems to make our work cost more, in the end we can see that it was a paying business to do everything in the most perfect manner" (Ibid., June 6, 1893). For the people to go uptown for their meals would, she pointed out, "break into our program, waste precious time, and bring in a haphazard state of things that should be avoided" (Ibid.).
The camp was enlarged; more tents were procured, a reception tent was fitted up, and also a dining tent.
The food provided was plain and substantial, but plentiful. Instead of the dozen people first expected, about 30 took their meals in the dining tent.
The first meeting in the big tent was on Tuesday evening, in advance of the opening, and Stephen McCullagh spoke. On the first Sabbath afternoon Ellen White was the speaker. At the close of her address she extended invitations for a response, first from those who had never taken their stand for Christ and then from those "who professed to be the followers of Christ, who had not the evidence of His acceptance." The responses were encouraging. A hard rain had come up, and the big tent leaked in many places, but this did not bother the audience, for the interest in "eternal matters" was too deep to be affected by the surroundings. As the rain continued, George Starr gave precious instruction and exhorted the people. The meeting continued until sundown (Ibid.).
Sunday evening six were baptized. Monday was devoted to business meetings.
The messages presented at the camp were very practical, with Ellen White joining the ministers in their work.
The camp meeting was scheduled to close on Wednesday, April 5, but boat transportation was delayed, and so meetings continued another day. A meeting for literature evangelists followed over the weekend. Mrs. White remained for still another week in Napier; she and associate workers visited families and churches nearby. But much of her time was devoted to writing.
Two or three weeks after the camp meeting was over she wrote of its success to Harmon Lindsay in Battle Creek:
Our camp meeting in Napier was excellent from the commencement to the close. Several decided to observe the Sabbath for the first time, and some who had left the church came back (Letter 79, 1893).
The Winter In New Zealand
With the Napier camp meeting over, Ellen White and her party moved on to Wellington at the southern tip of North Island, New Zealand. Wellington was the headquarters of the New Zealand Conference--if a book depository and the president's residence together could be called a headquarters. M. C. Israel served as president. Three rooms of this building were made available to Mrs. White and Emily Campbell (The Review and Herald, June 13, 1893).
It was planned that Mrs. White would reside there for a month or six weeks, but it turned out to be the four months of the winter.
It was Tuesday, April 18, when they moved in, and she closed her diary entry for that day with the words "Now comes the taxing part of our work--preparing not only the American mail, which closes Thursday, but mail for Melbourne, which leaves every week" (Ibid.).
As there was no church in Wellington, the whole worker group would drive six miles (10 kilometers) to Petone for Sabbath services.
There were many difficulties for the advancement of the work in New Zealand. Canright's books and a consistent opposition of Protestant ministers had a strong influence. Elder Daniells had had good congregations; Elder Israel had worked there for four years, but nothing had been successful in creating an interest. A deep sleep seemed to be upon the people.
Determined to make a break, the workers decided to rent the skating rink, which would seat about 1,000, for evangelistic meetings. Even though the rent seemed high, they would go forward in the name of the Lord and do something. At 3:00 Sunday afternoon, April 30, Ellen White spoke there on temperance to a good audience. She reported deep interest on the part of the hearers. In the evening Starr addressed an audience of about the same size on the inspiration of the Scriptures. An interest was created, and meetings continued for some time in the skating rink on Sabbath, Sunday, and some evenings.
Ever since crossing the Pacific nearly two years earlier Ellen White had been watching for an opportunity to write on Christ's life. Now in the winter months in New Zealand--June, July, and August--when travel would be somewhat curtailed, she determined to push the work forward as her strength and program would allow. She was glad to have found at the Tract Society Depository a quiet and comfortable place to write.
A Mother's Anxiety
During this time letters from James Edson White brought little comfort to his mother. While she was in New Zealand, he was in Chicago in the printing business, and quite involved in debt, which was not unusual for him. In one letter he stated, "I am not at all religiously inclined." There had been times when, with a heart dedicated to God, he had served in the Lord's work--Sabbath school, hymnbook preparation, publishing, et cetera. Now his letter, with these words, nearly crushed her.
Ellen White's response, in a letter that filled 10 double-spaced typewritten pages, described a dream in which was presented to her the case of a young man about to be carried away by the undertow, but was saved by the effort of one who risked his life to save him.
The letter, written in anguish, was attended by the winning and softening influence of the Spirit of God. Edson yielded his hard heart and experienced a reconversion. His immediate response and his experience of the next two or three weeks are not recorded in the files, but on August 10, 1893, he wrote to his mother:
I have surrendered fully and completely, and never enjoyed life before as I am now [enjoying it]. I have for years been under a strain, with so much to accomplish, and it has stood right in my way. Now, I have left it all with my Saviour, and the burden does not bear me down any longer. I have no desire for amusements and pleasures that made up the sum of my enjoyments before, but have an enjoyment in the meetings with the people of God such as I never had before.
As to his future, he declared he wanted to connect with the work of the church in some way. Later in the month he wrote his mother: "I have been thinking of going down into Tennessee to work among the colored people....I shall go into the work somewhere in the spring.... I still hope and trust in God, and am sure He will care for me. I have proved my own way and it is a poor way. I now want God's way, and I know it will be a good way."
Through the next decade Ellen White thrilled to Edson's vivid reports of God's blessings as he pioneered the work among the Blacks in the great Southland of the United States.
Dental Problems
Mrs. White's teeth were causing her a good deal of trouble. Some were abscessing, and she concluded it was time to get rid of them. She had only eight left, and she wrote to Dr. Caro, the dentist in whose home she had stayed in Napier, inquiring whether she could come down to Wellington and have them pulled out. They settled on the date, Wednesday, July 5. At the end of the day she told the story in her diary:
Sister Caro came in the night; is in the house. I met her in the morning at the breakfast table. She said, "Are you sorry to see me?" I answered, "I am pleased to meet Sister Caro, certainly. Not so certain whether I am pleased to meet Mrs. Dr. Caro, dentist."
At ten o'clock I was in the chair, and in a short time eight teeth were drawn. I was glad the job was over. I did not wince or groan.... I had asked the Lord to strengthen me and give me grace to endure the painful process, and I know the Lord heard my prayer.
After the teeth were extracted, Sister Caro shook like an aspen leaf. Her hands were shaking, and she was suffering pain of body. She had felt sick, she said, on the cars during her ten hours' ride. She dreaded to give pain to Sister White.... But she knew she must perform the operation, and went through with it (Manuscript 81, 1893).
Ellen White took nothing to deaden the pain, for she suffered adverse aftereffects of such medication.
Then the patient turned attendant. She led Dr. Caro to a comfortable chair and found something to refresh her. As Mrs. White looked ahead she could see that she would have to give up public work for a while, perhaps for two months, when Dr. Caro would fit her for a new set of teeth. She pushed ahead with her writing.
Determined To Win New Zealand
Of Wellington, and of New Zealand in general, Ellen White cried almost in despair: "God has a people in this place, and how can we reach them?" (Letter 9a, 1893).
Writing to the churches in America, she described the difficulties for success in evangelistic effort. There was no church in Wellington; Adventists met in Elder Israel's house. People were not attracted to meetings in halls. Workers had tried everything possible to get people out. They circulated notices, leaflets, tracts. Workers went from house to house, sowing the seed upon ground that had hitherto proved unfruitful.
But the prejudice seemed like a granite wall. So far, except in a few places, almost every conventional means of reaching the people had failed.
A New Approach In Gisborne
As the little worker group counseled together, they decided to try a new approach to arrest the attention of the public. In letters to her son W. C. White and to her niece Addie Walling, Ellen White described what took place:
We thought we would strike out on a new line. We would have Sunday-afternoon services in an open-air meeting. We did not know how it would come out.... Brother Wilson and Brother Alfred Wade secured the paddock just back of the post office. There was one large willow tree. Under this a platform was made and the organ and stand placed on the platform. Lumber for seats was right in the yard, costing nothing for their use (Letter 140, 1893).
There were seats without backs in abundance, and a dozen taken from the church with backs.... The weather was favorable, and we had an excellent congregation. The mayor and some of the first people in Gisborne were in attendance.
I spoke upon temperance, and this is a living question here at this time. Hundreds were out to hear, and there was perfect order.... Mothers and any number of children were present. You would have supposed that the children had had an opiate, for there was not a whimper from them. My voice reached all over the enclosure (paddock is the name they give it here).
Some of the hearers were very enthusiastic over the matter. The mayor, the policeman, and several others said it was by far the best gospel temperance discourse that they had ever heard. We pronounced it a success and decided that we would have a similar meeting the next Sunday afternoon (Letter 68, 1893).
They did hold just such a meeting the next Sunday afternoon. It, too, was a decided success. Ellen White commented: "One thing we have learned, and that is that we can gather the people in the open air, and there are no sleepy ones. Our meetings were conducted just as orderly as if in a meetinghouse" (Ibid.). A church member declared, "It is altogether the best advertisement of our people they have ever had in Gisborne" (Letter 140, 1893).
Prejudice was broken down, and from that time on the meetings in the church and the Theatre Royal were well attended. At last they had witnessed a breakthrough.
The Wellington Camp Meeting
It was finally decided to hold the New Zealand camp meeting, scheduled for November 23, 1893, at Wellington at the south tip of North Island instead of at Auckland in the extreme north of the island. The president of the General Conference, Elder O. A. Olsen, would be arriving from Africa. And the missionary brigantine Pitcairn would be in port. Also of importance, it was thought this might be the right time to add impetus to the breakthrough in evangelism in this most difficult place.
On Monday, November 20, Ellen White, with Emily, arrived at Wellington at 10:00 at night. W. C. White was on hand to meet the train. They hastened to rented rooms.
New tents, both large and small, had been shipped from Australia and were now being pitched on high dry ground in a beautiful fenced paddock within walking distance of the city of Wellington. It was with bated breath that church members and others watched the process. Wellington was well known for its fierce winds. Not long before this a circus tent had been torn to shreds by the high wind. Church leaders knew well the risks. "Our earnest prayer," wrote Mrs. White, "is that this encampment may have the favor of God. The winds and fountains of waters are in His hands, under His control" (Manuscript 88, 1893).
God did hold His sheltering hand over the encampment. An early report to the Bible Echo indicated this:
Every provision is made, and every care taken, to carry out the arrangements with facility and decorum. The tents are arranged in streets. The large tent has seating accommodation for about six hundred (January 1, 1894).
O. A. Olsen arrived during the opening days of the meeting, and he became the main and much appreciated speaker. Pitcairn was in port, and her officers and crew were a help to the meeting. Dr. M. G. Kellogg, the medical missionary of the ship, was drawn into service and spoke from day to day on health topics and Christian temperance, which were reported to be one of the most telling and interesting features of the meetings (Ibid.).
From the very beginning Ellen White was often on the platform and almost every day addressed the congregation. Sabbath afternoon she spoke, and again on the afternoon of Sunday, her sixty-sixth birthday. She felt great freedom as she took pleasure in "showing our colors on which were inscribed the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Reporting the response, she wrote:
I told them that we were Seventh-day Adventists, and the reason of the name which distinguished us from other denominations. All listened with deepest interest (Letter 75, 1893).
Sunday evening the tent was full when G. T. Wilson was the speaker. Ellen White's disclosure of the identity of the people holding the meetings did not deter a good attendance. In a letter to Edson she told of their concern for the success of the meeting:
We had much fear lest we would have a very slim attendance, but we were happily disappointed. From the first to the last there was a good appearance of congregation of the best class of our own people who fed on the bread of life during the meeting. Evenings there were good-sized congregations of outsiders....
We have had good, large, respectful audiences, and a very large number of people now understand what we do believe.... People listened as if spellbound.... The citizens were impressed with this meeting as nothing else could have transpired to impress them. When the winds blew strong, there would be many looking with wonder to see every tent standing unharmed (Letter 121, 1893).
Ellen White wrote: "The camp meeting is a success.... The Lord is in the encampment" (Letter 75, 1893). "Indeed, the whole meeting was a spiritual feast" (The Bible Echo, January 8, 1894).
Twenty-four persons were baptized as a result of the services.
Dr. Kellogg and G. T. Wilson remained in Wellington for a time to follow up the camp meeting interest. In the meantime the tents were quickly dismantled and shipped to Australia for use in their first camp meeting, scheduled to open in a suburb of Melbourne on January 5.
Within a week of the close of the camp meeting Ellen White had closed up her work and was one of quite a large group, which included W. C. White and O. A. Olsen, on their way back to Australia. *
In leaving New Zealand she left behind a number of friends with whom she had formed close relationships and who would later be known in the denomination. Among them were the Caros in Napier and the Browns in Long Point.
Evangelistic Thrust In Australia
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.
The committee on location found a 10-acre (four-hectare) tract of land, grass-covered and partly shaded by eucalyptus trees (blue gum), in the suburb of Middle Brighton, nine miles (14 kilometers) 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 30 minutes from morning till late at night.
Family tents were being made in three sizes for the camp meeting. Prices and styles of tents that 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, 35 tents were ready for sale or rent.
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.
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 Bible Echo, 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 weeklong workers' meeting would immediately precede the camp meeting, so the pitching of tents began on Tuesday, December 26. Initial plans called for 50 family tents, but these were taken so quickly that orders were given for 25 more.
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' meetings. Even though the nation was passing through 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).
The community in Brighton, a beautiful town, was stirred. 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. Ellen White wrote:
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).
In the afternoons and evenings throughout the week our congregations number about one thousand (Letter 100, 1894).
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).
The visitors made good use of the dining tent. One hundred ninety were served on Sunday, January 14. The cost to the patrons was only sixpence, 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" (Letter 100, 1894).
On Sunday, January 14, Mrs. White wrote to A. T. Jones in Battle Creek:
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 * 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 (13 or 16 kilometers) 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.
One of the attendees at the meetings was Mrs. Press, who was president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and for several years had been a vegetarian. She sought an interview with Ellen White and visited with her in her tent. Mrs. Press requested Mrs. 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 WCTU 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).
Not long after this Capt. and Mrs. Press hosted a private cooking school conducted by Mrs. Starr and Mrs. Tuxford in their home. Helpful guidance in food preparation was given to the Press family in connection with this cooking school (Letter 127, 1894).
Thoroughly pleased with the response the meetings were receiving, Ellen White wrote enthusiastically to A. T. Jones in America:
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 on all sides, this is the best camp meeting we have ever attended" (Letter 86, 1894).
A Union Conference Is Born
Following the camp meeting a business session of the Australian Conference was conducted. Eight meetings were held, beginning on Monday morning, January 8, and running through the week.
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 United 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.
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, 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--nine in all during the next 10 days. Committees on organization, nominations, and resolutions were appointed.
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.
It was a trailblazing meeting, setting up in essence what the church as a whole would adopt within a few years. Olsen was strongly in favor of what was accomplished and worked closely with their church leaders. 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.
Far-Reaching Influence Of The Brighton Camp Meeting
About 100 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 all well attended. Another tent was pitched in Williamstown, across Hobson's Bay from Brighton and 12 miles (19 kilometers) 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).
All in all, the first camp meeting held in Australia was a success and served to establish a pattern of fruitful evangelistic camp meetings.