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RESOURCES
ONLINE
The AUC Resource Centre
has an Online Store where
you can purchase all the
resources listed in their
catalogue plus a range of
new items, specials and
clearance lines.
Some of the new items
are Spanish DVDs and
CDs by Pastor Stephen
Bohr, Pastor Alejandro
Bullon and Luis Cesar
Caballero as well as DVDs
for children.
resources.adventist.org.au
the search
RECORD REWIND
Cyclone at Mona Mona
An eerie calm hung in the humid air at Mona Mona Aboriginal Mission,
inland from Cairns. About midnight the barometer dropped dramatically. The
wind began gusting. With increasing surges it woke everyone up and alarm
spread. A ferocious cyclone was bearing down on them.
The dormitories were quickly unlocked
and all the youngsters shepherded
to the relative protection offered
under the three European homes, set
off the ground and boarded around.
Missionary families and adult Aboriginals
quickly joined the children, praying
no harm would come. The wind howled
and ripped and slammed all around
them, peaking about 4AM.
Mona Mona mission c.1949.
Guy wires joined to posts in the ground secured the dining room walls but
the entire building was shredded. Eighty Aboriginals were sheltering under
Moreton and Elsie Thorpe’s home when it, too, disintegrated around them.
The Thorpes then crouched behind the hen house until it tore apart, leaving
Moreton to shield his wife and two-week-old infant in the dark driving rain
until dawn.
The morning of February 3, 1920, presented utter devastation. The forest
was leafless, stark sticks pointing skywards. The only buildings left standing,
but damaged, were the girls’ dormitory, one Aboriginal hut, and the homes of
James and Rose Branford and Ludwig and Ruth Borgas. Fences, the sawmill
roof, the boys’ dormitory, dining hall, church and scores of huts for Aboriginal
couples, were reduced to matchwood.
Miraculously, no-one was killed. The rain continued for days, with the
ground becoming a quagmire. Cooking had to be done under the shelter of a
few bits of retrieved corrugated iron. Thirteen of the Muluridji, Djabugay and
Bulway clans surrounding the mission died of exposure despite the efforts of
the Europeans to save them. James Branford, who had led the mission team
from the outset in developing the station for almost seven years, felt gutted.
All his efforts were swept away in one short hour. Only some assistance from
southern church members, who rallied to rebuild the station, revived his spirits.—Milton
Hook is a retired pastor with a passion for Adventist history.
2011-2012
AUSTRALIAN UNION CONFERENCE
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Mystery history
Do you know?
The date the photo was taken
The people in the photo
The church
Send to heritage@avondale.edu.au
Copies of the new catalogue are available on request.
Resource Centre
Australian Union Conference
289 Maroondah Highway
Ringwood VIC 3134
Ph: 03 9871 7592
Em: resources@adventist.org.au