p. 19 | Australia

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 19, 1903

Australia

[THE appended article is an extract from a private letter from Elder E. W. Farnsworth, of Australia, which was published in the Southwestern Union Record. Since it tells so much of what has been accomplished at the Avondale Industrial School in Australia, we believe it will be of interest to our readers.—Ed.]

Our school is in a prosperous year now. We have paid off seven thousand five hundred dollars of its indebtedness in the last year. We have about one hundred and thirty students, and they are a good class of pupils. The farm produces about all that the school needs for food, except the one item of flour. We raise all the fruits that you do in Texas, besides oranges and lemons; and we also raise about all the things that grow in the more northern States. We have one acre of tame blackberries, and the students gathered sixty-five bushels from them this year, and then told all the poor neighbors to come and get the rest; how many they carried away we do not know. They raised all the pears, peaches, apples, apricots, quinces, grapes, melons, squashes, pumpkins, sweet and Irish potatoes, corn and oats, that they could use, and some more than they needed. They had ten acres of oats which stood just about as high as my head, and I am not short. I should think it would yield at least eighty bushels to the acre. They will have nearly four hundred bushels of corn, and I suppose that it will be worth about one dollar a bushel. They have taken seven thousand pounds of honey from the one hundred and sixty-four stands of bees. The honey is worth from five to six cents a pound.

There is another thing about which I wish to tell you. You know we have had a terrible drought in many parts of Australia, and during the last two years it has been over nearly all of this continent. Over forty million sheep have perished, and how many thousands of cattle and horses I do not know, but hundreds of thousands of them; even the kangaroos and rabbits have died in unknown numbers. Well, in the midst of all this, our little farm where the school is situated, a little spot about five miles in extent, has been green; and the daily paper at Sydney said it was the only green spot in all New South Wales, which was the truth; and it might have said in Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria. As a result of this great drought the State governments are feeding,

and assisting in one way and another, thousands of people. The great apiarist, who lives not many miles from our school, and has three hundred stands of bees, did not take a pound of honey this year, and he told us that he would have to feed every stand he had to get through the winter, and you can well imagine that there are cattle and sheep all about our farm that are nothing but shadows. This is not only a picture of things about our school this year, but it was nearly as bad last year.

I do not mean that the school is getting rich, but what I do mean is that it is evident that the good hand of God is over us, and we rejoice. There are some things which make it difficult to describe the situation here in a brief letter. One item is this: When the school was located, most of the brethren were not in favor of the place. The soil looked barren and bad, and in comparison with the soil of the Western States of America, it was very poor indeed, and yet the angel of the Lord, who has been giving us counsel these many years, said that this was the place, and that the land would produce well if it was well cultivated; and so, on the strength of the counsel given, the school was located here; and when we put all this history together, it is a cause of great rejoicing to us.

I tell you, there is vitality, and life, and power in that blessed old promise, “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” “And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.” Amos 4:7. I believe that we shall see more and more of these things as we get hold of more faith in God, and do those things that he commands us to do. We have been greatly encouraged by the tokens of God’s care over us in these respects.