Australia by J. E. FULTON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 7, 1912

Australia

By J. E. FULTON

J. E. FULTON

Last Sabbath witnessed the departure of Brother and Sister C. H. Parker for Norfolk Island, en route to the New Hebrides. They will stop two months on Norfolk, to help the mission and people at that place. I am sure their visit there will be greatly appreciated. Brother H. Carr and his wife will follow a month later, and remain on Norfolk with Brother Parker a month. Then the two families will go on together. Norfolk is a training station for the Melanesian Mission (Anglican). As this mission has quite a number of men in training, our workers will get some idea of the people for whom they are to labor from what they see on Norfolk Island.

To-morrow, Brother J. A. Chaney and family leave for New Zealand, and I shall accompany them, to spend a little time with them in looking after the Maori work. Brother Chaney at one time engaged in mission work in West Africa, first for the Christian Alliance before he accepted the truth, and afterward for our mission there. We have recently appointed him to work among the Maories. He is looking forward with much interest to this work.

At our last union council it was voted that the Australasian Union Conference take over the Maori work in New Zealand at the request of the New Zealand Conference, and I wish to spend some time with Brother Chaney in visiting in the most populous of the Maori districts, with the object of finding suitable headquarters for our work. The Maori work has been carried on to some extent for the last fifteen years in New Zealand, but as it has not been systematic, but little has been accomplished. I hope we can get the work established now on a better basis. The Maories are an intelligent race, and I am hopeful that we may win some of them to the message.

The school is about to open again at Avondale. The prospects are that it will be very full this year. Some excellent young people have decided to attend.

Brother P. B. Rudge, who was appointed at our last council to take up work for the aborigines in Queensland, writes us encouraging letters about the start which he has made. I quote from a letter I received from him recently:—

“About a fortnight ago I arranged

with the protector to hold a meeting on Christmas day. So yesterday we went over, about thirty of our people from the Murgon church, ten of whom were children. We had a good day with the natives. First we had a song service, rendering four or five of our good hymns, and then we had the service of the day.

“I told them first why it was necessary for Jesus to come to this world; then gave them a short talk on the first advent, using my chart of the three angels’ messages to illustrate the wonderful appearance of angels. After singing an appropriate hymn, I told them the story of the wise men, making a point of gifts, the best of all being the giving of the heart to Jesus. The singing of ‘They brought their gifts to Jesus,’ and the doxology, brought the meeting to its close. Some were pleased with the effort, seeming to enjoy it very much.

“There were a number of women present, but only a few men. So after the meeting, we all went into the camp and started another song service. In a few minutes the natives began to gather, and by and by there were nearly two hundred. Between the songs I took the opportunity of presenting a few points of truth. On leaving, the aborigines gave us a good send-off, and as our cavalcade left the settlement, we saw them in the distance waving hats and handkerchiefs, quite a new thing in our experience, as we have not seen them so demonstrative before.”

Remember the work in the Australasian field in your prayers.