Avondale College: On Hold

When Ellen White and her companions returned to Granville, it was to a different house. Her first home in Australia had been in Melbourne, where she made her headquarters for six months. When the next term of the Australasian Bible School was scheduled to open on April 4, the time had come when she must close up her work in Melbourne to free for student use the rooms she and her helpers were occupying. Also, the climate of New South Wales, being farther north, gave promise of being more comfortable than that of Melbourne. So in March a house was rented for her in Granville, a Sydney suburb.WV 314.1

The home in Granville, as do many houses in Australia, carried a name: Per Ardua. It was of brick and had 10 rooms, some oddly shaped. It stood on a three-acre (one-hectare) plot with an orchard, a place for a vegetable garden, and a grassy paddock, with some shade from gum trees. There were also shade trees in the front. In a letter to Willie, Ellen White commented favorably on the fireplaces, the broad porches, and the flower garden; she was pleased with the home generally. The building was large enough, with crowding, for her and her son, plus Elder and Mrs. Starr and several of her helpers.WV 314.2

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 a 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.WV 314.3

Per Ardua was at the foot of a hill, had low, rather small windows, and as time passed by Mrs. White became less pleased with it.WV 314.4