Chapter 49—Across the Pacific

In his reports and addresses to the General Conference of 1891, Elder S. N. Haskell made very earnest appeals for laborers to be sent to distant lands that he had recently visited; and he was especially urgent that provision be made for the establishment in Australia of a training school for Christian workers. He was profoundly impressed with the importance of having the young people in each great division of the world, trained in their own land for service as colporteurs, teachers, and preachers. He pleaded that teachers be chosen to open a school in Australasia; and also that Mrs. Ellen G. White and her son, W. C. White, spend some time in that field.LS 331.1

Action was taken by the Mission Board, immediately after the Conference, inviting them to go in the autumn. This would bring them to the new field of labor in Australia's summer. The steamer sailing in October was found to be overcrowded, and the departure from San Francisco was delayed till the sailing of the Alameda, November 12.LS 331.2

Elder and Mrs. Geo. B. Starr, who had been selected to act a part in the proposed Australian school, had gone in advance to the Hawaiian Islands, where they spent seven busy weeks before the arrival of the Alameda. The other members of the party were W. C. White, Mary A. Davis, May Walling, Fannie Bolton, and Emily Campbell.LS 331.3