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

The Medical Missionary Work

The medical missionary thrust in Australia got under way with a humble and slow beginning. First there was the selfless and dedicated work of Miss Sara McEnterfer, Ellen White's traveling companion, nurse, and private secretary who, soon after her arrival in 1896, was pressed into work in the community surrounding the Avondale school as a missionary nurse, supported by Ellen White. In 1897 Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Semmens, nurses trained at Battle Creek, opened a little medical institution in Sydney. In the winter of 1898 Dr. Edgar Caro, of the New Zealand Caro family, having graduated as a physician at the American Medical Missionary College in Battle Creek, joined the forces in Sydney. The name of the institution was changed to the “Medical and Surgical Sanitarium” of Summer Hill (Australasian Union Conference Record, July 15, 1898). The next step was the development of a school for nurses. The Union Conference Record of January 15, 1899, carried the following notice: 4BIO 428.1