New South Wales, Australia
By S. M. Cobb
Ten months has nearly passed since we landed in Sydney, New South Wales, and eight months since we took up the work here in this great field; and after six months of tent work, and one camp-meeting having been held, I will send a brief report of our work to the REVIEW. Before noticing our work, however, it might be of interest to the readers of the REVIEW to speak of this country and people. Australia has a vast area of very nearly as many square miles as the United States of America, and has many natural advantages, which fact is not generally understood by our American friends. The great seaports and beautiful harbors are also advantageous to this country. It has several great cities and thousands of smaller ones. The large cities, like Sydney and Melbourne, numbering over half a million each, are great commercial centers. There is no better country for farming and grazing purposes than this. I have been nearly three hundred miles back from the coast, and find that all kinds of grain, fruits, and vegetables are grown in great abundance, also that sheep, cattle, and horses are raised in great numbers. The wheat crop this year averaged about fifty bushels an acre, and other grain accordingly. The country has great resources: coal, iron, copper, tin, gold, silver, and other metals are here in abundance. The people are very kind, and nearly as varied in caste and rank as in America. The native Australian black man, like the American Indian, has become nearly extinct. We commenced work in the field last October. After purchasing two new field tents, one thirty by fifty feet and the other a forty-foot circle, we put three tents in the field, one about one hundred and fifty miles up the north coast from Sydney, and the other two on the western line of railway, one hundred and sixty, and one hundred and ninety miles inland from Sydney. These tents were kept in the field for six months, after which we held our camp-meeting one hundred and fifty miles from Sydney. Each tent made two efforts, and then the camp-meeting was followed up with regular tent work, and each effort has been successful. Since Oct. 1, 1903, to this date, June 6, over one hundred have accepted the truth for this time in New South Wales, and we are still laboring on, praying that others may be gathered in. The Lord has also greatly blessed us in a financial way, as we have paid off over £300 of our indebtedness, and have paid all current expenses. For the last year the country has been blessed with plenty of rain, and the future prospect of the country seems very encouraging. For all these mercies and blessings we thank and praise the Lord. We have had great opposition in our work in this field the past season; but nothing can be done against the truth. It, of course, has triumphed.