The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

First Church Organized in Australia

Sunday, April 10, 1886, the first Seventh-day Adventist church in Australia was organized. There were eighteen present who had signed the covenant, and seven others applied for admission by baptism. These were baptized the following Sabbath, and each Sabbath for a number of weeks members were added, until the church numbered fifty-five. Up to May, 1886, the entire number enrolled was ninety. Besides these, there were about thirty-five in other places who were keeping the Sabbath. GSAM 421.3

In the printing office were two good presses and an engine, all paid for and owned by Seventh-day Adventists in that far-distant land—about seven thousand miles from our large office located in Oakland, Cal. GSAM 421.4

During 1886 the message extended to New Zealand. A report from the Australian field states that there were fifty Sabbath-keepers in New Zealand. The amount received from book sales at the office was $700. Besides this the canvassers had sold four hundred copies of Great Controversy in New Zealand, and one thousand copies of Thoughts on Daniel in Australia. GSAM 422.1