Educational Work for the Australasian Union Conference
By Frederick Griggs
During the last six weeks I have had the privilege of visiting our schools in the Australasian Union Conference. My first visit was at the Oroua Missionary School, at Longburn, New Zealand, an intermediate school doing about ten grades of work. It is situated very pleasantly in a prosperous district, from which it gets its name. This school has one of the neatest school buildings I have ever seen. The ladies' dormitory is at one end of the building, and the gentlemen's at the other, the kitchen, dining-room, and schoolrooms being in the central part of the building. It is planned in accordance with a number of school buildings which we have in the United States. The dormitories accommodate thirty-five or forty students. This seems to be quite sufficient, as a number of our young people in New Zealand are attending the Australasian Missionary College at Coorranbong. Brother Joseph Mills, the principal of the Oroua Missionary School, and his associate teachers, are succeeding in conducting a school which is a credit to the educational undertakings of the denomination. The school has a good name among our people throughout the two New Zealand Conferences. We hope that as our work grows in New Zealand, the accommodations of the school will be found too limited, and that additions will have to be made to permit of a larger enrolment of students. While in New Zealand I visited two of the church schools. They are conducted after the order of our schools in America. The grading, however, is somewhat different, as in Australasia the school year is longer than in America. I next visited the Australasian Missionary College, which is about seventy-five miles north of Sydney. I had the privilege of being present at the closing exercises, when fifteen students were graduated. This school is located on a farm of about one thousand acres. One hundred and thirty acres have been cleared and are under cultivation. The soil has been brought up to an excellent condition, so that good crops are produced. This region is subject at times to droughts, but an irrigating plant makes possible the irrigation of about twenty acres, thus insuring some of the important crops. The school has about twenty horses and forty or fifty head of cattle, counting the young stock. In connection with the school is a large food factory, employing quite a number of students. There is also a printing plant, which prints not only publications in English, but also in four native languages. Among the other industries are carpentry, painting, and electrical work. There is also a good blacksmith shop, connected with which are turning lathes. Here is made a large portion of the machinery used in the food factory. In fact, it is the aim to provide for all the needs in keeping up the school plant. There are about fifteen or twenty buildings, large and small, on the place. Considerable fruit, such as oranges, peaches, apples, quinces, and grapes, is raised. There is an apiary connected with the school. This school, established in 1894, has graduated one hundred and seventy-one students. Of these almost forty have been laboring at some time in our island fields, or in China, Japan, or other foreign countries. A large proportion of the graduates are engaged directly in gospel work. In addition to these there are scores who have not been graduated from the school, but who have received that instruction which enables them to do gospel work. Steps are being taken to strengthen the work of this school, so that it will more fully meet the demands of the field. This school now occupies a very important place in the work of the Lord, as it is the leading training school of the Asiatic Division, and from it there must go scores of young men and women to these great heathen lands. It is thus connected with the darkest portion of the world. The managers of the school realize the responsibilities which are thus laid upon them. The sturdy class of young men and women in the school also witnesses to the fact that God is here preparing an important contingent of his great army of Christian workers. This last year the school has had the largest enrolment in its history, totaling two hundred and twenty. The prospects for the coming year are very encouraging, in spite of the fact that war conditions exist. It is gratifying indeed to find the work of God prospering in the midst of adverse conditions. The Australian government assumes a very kindly and liberal attitude toward18our work. Our young men are exempt from military drill on the Sabbath and from combatant service. They are being permitted to serve in noncombatant corps. While conscription is enforced, action has been taken by the government exempting students in theological schools from army service. This will greatly help our leaders in preparing young men and women for service in the cause of God. This school, so long known as the Avondale School for Christian Workers, has had great influence in our educational work. Sister White was here at the time of its establishment, and from this place were written those inspiring Testimonies which have so greatly influenced our educational ideals and achievements. The managers of the school are laying broad plans for the future, to lift and strengthen its intellectual standards and to make it in every way a strong school for the training of men and women for a vigorous part in the closing work of God. We are certain that the high ideals which have been upheld in this school in the past will be maintained, and will affect its work and the work of our schools throughout the world.