Ellen G. White: The Australian Years: 1891-1900 (vol. 4)

Several Locations for the Food Factory Considered

The committee gave very careful consideration to the matter while at Melbourne, taking into its counsel several of the leading brethren of that city, and securing such items of information as would lead to a correct conclusion. Sydney was also visited, and the same investigation made as at Melbourne. Cooranbong was the next place visited, and here the whole matter was gone into very carefully, and the evidences, pro and con, as pertaining to each location under consideration, were impartially canvassed.... 4BIO 361.1

There were a number of points concerning which it seemed to the committee that Cooranbong presented inducements that were superior to any other locality. And so it transpired that when all things were taken into account, and allowed to have their full weight, it seemed conclusive that Cooranbong was the place for the factory, and a decision was made accordingly. 4BIO 361.2

The points enumerated in considerable detail can be summarized: 4BIO 361.3

1. The sawmill plant at Cooranbong, a one-and-a-half-story building of sixty by sixty-two feet, with its power equipment together with two acres of land, was offered by the school for £400. The school had decided to sell the mill, as it had served its primary purpose in the erection of the school plant. 4BIO 361.4

2. There was water transportation available with oceangoing boats carrying twenty to thirty tons able to dock within a few rods of the factory located on the banks of Dora Creek. The railroad station was within three miles. 4BIO 361.5

3. Fuel for power was abundant and about half the cost in Sydney or Melbourne. 4BIO 361.6

4. Not mentioned in this report, but noted elsewhere, was the fact that raw materials were less expensive in New South Wales than in Melbourne. 4BIO 361.7

5. An important point was that student labor, male and female, was right on the premises, as it were, and the factory would offer opportunities for the students to earn. The committee saw the advantages of the school enterprise and the food production enterprise working hand in hand in a natural manner. 4BIO 361.8

The report in the Record pointed out that “in harmony with direct instruction that the Lord has given regarding the interests involved, the food manufacturing business will be carried forward in a way to prove a valuable auxiliary to the school enterprise.” 4BIO 362.1