Whatever their church affiliations in Denmark or Germany, these Old World immigrants to Bismarck, as the place was now named, were not only ready to learn from their new land but also welcomed sound Biblical preaching. So they invited an Adventist expounder of the Bible prophecies to take their service in the church one Sunday. David Steed, the preacher from Hobart, gave an unvarnished explanation of some parts of the Bible that made them sit up and take notice. They asked for a repeat visit so that they might learn more, but the Methodist pastor, evidently thinking that they might be led astray, disallowed further use of his pulpit. So the congregation arranged for a public meeting in the school where two further meetings were held. However the pastor and the schoolmaster apparently collaborated in the closing of the school against the Adventist preacher. So August Darko, my maternal grandfather, opened his large home for further meetings.
Most of the district’s population attended these Bible study sessions and followed critically and closely the Adventist Message with its related prophecies. They were Christians and knew Luther’s call of “Saved by faith alone”. But some things had been missed, they discovered, when they learned of other doctrines. The Ten Commandments were reemphasized, including the Fourth one which specified the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. So they decided to go to church on the seventh day. This upset the Methodist pastor, who refused them the use of the church they had built. So they met in Grandfather Darko’s home. He gave the land on the opposite corner of the Main Road from his house. He led the men of the district in cutting the trees and pitsawing the timber and building another church. Here I first went to church as a babe in arms, my father being associate First Elder with Charles Fehlberg. The church still stands there as a historic monument, the first Adventist Church building in Australia. This church was considerably larger than the Methodist church directly up the hill behind it. The latter was always painted an off-red, and its grounds included the district cemetery where most of the early residents, including our relatives and neighbours, are resting. We children used to go to the Methodist church only on special occasions such as an anniversary. The Adventist church on the corner of the Main Road and Church Road was always painted white and seemed to dominate this part of the district. Both churches have kept to their original colours.
