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.4BIO 423.4
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.4BIO 423.5
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.4BIO 424.1
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).4BIO 424.2
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:4BIO 424.3
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.4BIO 424.4
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.4BIO 424.5
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....4BIO 424.6
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.4BIO 424.7
The industrial work, she pointed out, should include “the keeping of accounts, carpenter's work, and everything that is comprehended in farming.”4BIO 425.1
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.4BIO 425.2
When she finished reading, she laid her manuscript down and continued to speak to the audience on the objectives of the school:4BIO 425.3
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....4BIO 425.4
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, 1899.4BIO 425.5
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.4BIO 425.6
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, 143.4BIO 425.7
Speaking of this a few days later, he declared:4BIO 426.1
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