Following the wedding in Sydney, Florence collected the rest of her belongings from Emily’s house and returned to Fairymead to live. Now that she knew that she was staying long-term, she threw herself into Christian work as never before. She and another Christian woman started giving Bible lessons to the children of settlers at the North Bundaberg state school. Soon Florence opened a branch of the Young People’s Scripture Union, with the goal of making God’s Good News known to children and youth and encouraging them to seek God through Bible reading and prayer. The branch Florence established soon became the hub for the organization throughout Queensland. Membership in the Young People’s Scripture Union quickly grew to four thousand, and Florence was responsible for sending out a monthly newsletter to each member.
Florence’s work among the Kanakas was never far from her heart, though it progressed at a more modest pace than the explosive growth of the Young People’s Scripture Union. Eighty South Sea islanders were now turning out for her Sunday Bible class, and forty men came each weeknight for reading and religious instruction.
In April 1886 eight converts from the Bible class were baptized, followed in September by nine more baptisms. As she stood listening to the candidates for baptism give their testimonies, Florence was humbled to hear her name spoken many times. She had never imagined being courageous enough to share her faith with others. But she had overcome her fear, and now she was seeing her efforts rewarded.
Early in 1886 Florence had begun to think about the other plantations in the area. She found out that about three thousand Kanakas were working within thirty miles of Fairymead, with about ten thousand altogether in Queensland. The more Florence thought and prayed, the more convinced she became that each plantation needed its own “missionary” to the Kanakas. But when she told her friends about her plan, they all tried to discourage her. “Planters would not allow such classes,” they said. “And where would you get the money to support these workers, anyway?”
Florence would not give up, and she was very excited when she learned that a Christian worker named Ella Dowling was coming to spend the winter at Fairymead. Ella, a friend of Emily’s, had been sick for the past five years. Even in her weakened state, twenty-two-year-old Ella had organized a mission in Victoria, and Florence hoped that she would help with evangelizing the Kanakas in Queensland.
Florence and Ella liked each other immediately, and they often prayed together about the need for workers to extend the work to the Kanakas. They decided to name their work the Queensland Kanaka Mission. Ella helped Florence write a circular letter laying out the urgent needs of the new organization. The women sent copies of the letter to Christians they knew in Australia and overseas.
A month after sending out the circular letter, Florence received a letter from her sister Emily. Inside the envelope were two neatly folded one-guinea notes. Florence began to read the letter that accompanied them. In it Emily told how she had gone to a meeting to hear George Müller preach. Müller ran a large orphanage in Bristol, England, and he was visiting Australia and New Zealand on a speaking tour. Emily wrote: “After the meeting I introduced myself and showed Mr. Müller your letter. He read it in a slow quiet way, and then he said, ‘I think the Lord wants me to help this work.’ Florence, isn’t that wonderful? He gave me two guineas, and then do you know what he said? ‘Tell your sister to expect great things from God, and she will get them.’”
Tears came to Florence’s eyes as she read the words. She and Ella were indeed believing for great things—another worker, more New Testaments, more paper and pencils.
While George Müller was the first to contribute to the Queensland Kanaka Mission, others quickly followed. Soon there was enough money to support a worker for three months, although there were no workers in sight yet. To make matters worse, Ella’s health had deteriorated still further, and in August 1886 she died. Heartbroken by the loss, Florence did her best to continue to expect great things from God, but it was difficult for her to see how things would work out.
Chapter 6
“Why Don’t You Go?”
On a particularly hot day in January 1887, Florence Young stood at the door of a modest cottage. Her brother Ernest had just rented it, and she was preparing the place for the arrival of Carl Johnston and his wife. The Johnstons were a Swedish couple who had been missionaries in the Congo in Africa. They had received a copy of Florence’s letter and had contacted her to offer their services to the new mission. Florence was delighted. The Johnstons sounded like just the kind of workers she and Ella had prayed for, and she eagerly anticipated their arrival.
With more workers, the plan was for the Kanakas to gather on Sunday in the mission hall, which Ernest had also donated. Carl Johnston would hold a service there for the men. Each weeknight Carl would then ride out to a different plantation to teach and preach to the local Kanakas.
After the Johnstons’ arrival, things got off to a slow start. The Kanakas seemed to find it easier to learn from a woman, and Florence found herself having to spend many evenings encouraging Carl to continue with the work.
Eventually things began to improve. In August seventeen more converts from other plantations were baptized. Then in October another missionary couple, Arthur Eustace and his wife, arrived from Victoria, Australia, to work with Queensland Kanaka Mission. With their arrival, Florence divided up the territory. The Eustaces worked in the Woongarra district to the south while the Johnstons concentrated their efforts on the north side of the nearby Auburn River.
The mission now had five workers and was starting to make an impact, not only on the Kanakas but also on their employers. For the mission to be allowed onto the various plantations, Florence had made a promise that she would never ask the planters for money. So she was surprised when Bill Williamson approached her after Bible class at a neighboring plantation. Bill had been doubtful about letting his Kanaka workers take Bible lessons. Now he looked sheepish.
“When you started this work, Miss Young,” Bill began, “I told you I did not believe you would see any results. But I can’t help seeing them myself. Some of the worst and most troublesome boys on the plantation have been completely changed.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Florence replied. It was not often that a plantation owner offered such praise.
Bill continued. “You said you would not ask for money.”
Florence nodded. “No, and I never will.”
“But it is worth money to me. My boys do better work, and I think we planters ought to contribute to the cost of the mission.”
“Oh, yes,” Florence said, “I think so too, but I promised never to ask for your help.”
“I want to give it anyway. I have decided to give a donation each month on behalf of my boys.” With that, Bill drew some banknotes from his pocket. “This is a start. You can expect more on the first of the month.”
Florence was delighted, not just because the money would help out with the mission’s expenses but because it showed that the Kanaka converts were changed people.
Over time the system of “bringing one friend” developed. Florence and the other Queensland Kanaka Mission workers found that it was very effective to have their converts target one friend at a time to bring to Christ. They urged the convert to pray for their friend and invite him to Bible class until he, too, was converted.
This approach appealed to the Kanakas, even though some of them still found it a challenge. One of these converts was Caleb, a lovable but not very persuasive Christian. Caleb decided to pray for his friend Tara-vega, but no matter what he did, he could not get his friend to come along to the Bible class with him.
Florence encouraged Caleb not to give up. “Well, Caleb,” she told him, “I think very good you pray first time; then you ask him Tara-vega. I think he come.”
The next evening Caleb arrived with Tara-vega beside him. Tara-vega sat quietly through the class, and afterward Caleb brought him to Florence to have his name registered as a student.
“Me buy’im that one along school, Missis,” Caleb said, puffing out his chest.
“You do what?” Florence asked, although she was quite sure of what she had heard.
“Me buy’im along school. Me ask’im all the time come along school; he no want’im; he no like school. So me tell him, ‘Suppose you come along school one month. You come every night, you no stop away one night, me give you sixpence!’”
Caleb looked so proud of his “witnessing scheme” that Florence tried to look serious. Then he added, “He no like’im school. By and by he like’im plenty; he come all the time.”
Tara-vega did come to class every night for a month, at the end of which time he was beginning to read and understand the gospel message. After he collected his sixpence from Caleb, he kept coming and was soon converted.
In April 1888 Florence received a letter that changed her immediate plans. The letter was from a Mrs. Smith of County Limerick, Ireland. Florence’s sister Constance had been engaged to Mrs. Smith’s son Willoughby, but sadly, he had died of pneumonia before the wedding. Constance had gone to stay with Willoughby’s family, but she was not doing well. Mrs. Smith wrote that Constance was so upset that she hardly ate. She asked if someone from the family would come and get her right away and take her back to Australia, where perhaps a change of scenery would help her forget Willoughby.
Florence made arrangements to leave right away. She asked her sister-in-law Ellen to cover the mission work at Fairymead, and within a week she was on her way to Ireland.
When Florence finally arrived in Ireland, Constance was feeling a little stronger and insisted that she did not want to go back to Australia. She felt she belonged in Ireland. She had her heart set on buying a small home in the country, where she planned to invite poor children from Dublin to stay with her for a week or two at a time. Florence understood her younger sister’s desire to do something worthwhile. Instead of insisting that she return to Australia, she helped Constance settle into a home near Bagnalstown, not far from Dublin.
Before returning to Australia, Florence accompanied her cousin William Mackworth Young and his wife to Rawalpindi, India, where her cousin had just been appointed commissioner. She spent three weeks in Rawalpindi before setting out on a tour of India. Her first stop was Peshawar, located on India’s border with Afghanistan. Florence stayed in this isolated city with three English women who were missionaries. In fact, the women were the only three British residents in the place, and Florence was impressed by their courage as they lived in this remote city surrounded by so many ardent Muslims.
From Peshawar, Florence traveled by train across India to Calcutta, stopping at Agra, Delhi, and Benares along the way. From Calcutta she made her way to Darjeeling for a few days of relaxation in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. From there she traveled on to Colombo, Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka), where she had an eleven-day wait for the arrival of the steamer that would carry her to Australia.
Florence arrived back at Fairymead in May 1889, relieved to find that things had gone well in her absence and that the Queensland Kanaka Mission was thriving. While she was away, the Kanakas had been the focus of a government investigation. It turned out that many of the Kanakas had been lured on board ships and taken to the coast of Australia against their will. Others had agreed to come to Australia, but it was doubtful whether they had any understanding of the fact that they would have to endure three years of hard labor upon their arrival. The results of the investigation shocked Florence, who was glad to hear that legislation had been introduced into parliament to end this practice of “blackbirding,” or tricking Kanakas into leaving their home islands. The legislation would stop any further blackbirding, and those Kanakas already in Queensland were advised to complete their three-year work terms and then return home.
