Ministry in Western Australia

[DaveW]

A few people have expressed an interest in my world, here in Western Australia.

I can answer anything you might like to ask about the place, but it would be my hope that most questions would be around things that affect the ministry.

A few basic facts to begin with:

Australia is the only nation on this island - we do not share this land mass with any other nations, although there are a couple of principalities that have separated from Australia, but they are not known by hardly anyone, and are in the middle of nowhere so they don't really affect anyone else, apart from a few tourists.

The Australian mainland is about the same size as the mainland portion of the United States, however, our total population is only around 23 - 24 million.

Our nation is made up of six states and two "territories" which are really just states by another name. They are Victoria (Vic) (SE corner of the country), New South Wales (NSW) (middle east coast), Queensland (QLD) (top half of the east coast), South Australia (SA) (Middle of the south coast), Western Australia (WA) (Western half of the country, top to bottom), Tasmania (Tas) (large island off the bottom of the SE corner), the Northern Territory (NT) (Middle of the top half), and the Australian Capital Territory) (ACT) (a special separate territory inside NSW where our nation's capital city, Canberra, is).

 Now, I have travelled to every state over the years, and lived in most of them, but never have made it to the NT. Yet.

Looking at the map, if you draw a line across the nation at the top of SA you would have the overwhelming majority of the population below that line.

Above that line the weather is hot in winter and hot and sticky in summer, and is subject to cyclones in the coastal areas. 

And that is also where you find crocodiles (Actually more above the word "Queensland for Crocs).

There are no Saltwater Crocs in the southern regions - and by the way, Saltwater Crocodiles are about the only seriously dangerous things that people actually meet in this place, and they are only in the top bit.

We don't have bears, or lions, or any other large predators.

Dingos are medium sized dogs that normally leave people well enough alone.

You can go bushwalking (That's hiking to you) anywhere in the bottom half of this country without worrying about being eaten by something big and mean.

We do have dangerous spiders and snakes, but they would rather run away than cause you any trouble - at least for the most part.

The majority of the population lives within 150km of the coast - if you drew a line inside the coast about as far as Canberra is from the coast, but all the way around the county, most people would live between that line and the water.

 

I live in WA, and it is even more pronounced over here. there are 2 million people in this state - maybe 2.5 now, but only about 500 000 are outside of Perth, the largest city in the state.

The next largest city would probably be Bunbury, about half between Perth and the bottom corner. They have about 150 000 people. I don't think there is another city over 50 000 people. Five other "cities" in this state, each around 50000 people, but not over that size. And none much further North than Perth is. The vast majority of our population is Perth and south of Perth, and mostly in the SW corner.

There is no IFB church in any of them other than Bunbury, and Busselton.

There are about 15 IFB churches in Perth.

There are NO IFB churches, and very few "Gospel preaching churches" north of Perth. Look back at that map. Check the size of the place. That is about 1/3 of the land area of Mainland US without a Gospel preaching church.

There are towns and small cities up there, scattered throughout that area, mostly again along the coast. But the largest city is no more than 10000 people, and the other "big towns" are all in the low thousands range or smaller. And many, many mining towns and aboriginal communities with only a few hundred to less than a 100 people.

But the temps up north can reach over 50°c (120°F) in Summer, and in the winter the daily maximums drop to the mid 30°C. And they get Torrential rain in the Wet, where you can not drive the roads for weeks at a time. And the they get Cyclones - something like a typhoon - or like a single huge tornado that has a 100km center to it.

Living up North is harsh and costly, and the people are scattered, so missionaries really don't go there. I have a huge burden to reach that part of our country, but the Lord has not given me the open door to do so.

 

Now to the people in Australia.

We are a "multicultural lot", meaning that we have people of varied backgrounds.

As a wide generalisation, the country is Anglo-saxon heritage, but many years of immigration has made us a very mixed lot.

The Aboriginal people were oppressed over time, sometimes very badly, sometimes by "society" sometimes by government decree. 

Some of them still hold that grudge, and still cause trouble over the past. I can understand why, but I didn't do it to them: my forebears did it to their forebears. I try to do what I can now, but....

In any case, the Aborigine people need the Lord too.

 

And this is the the thing about Australians: the main religion in this place is "She'll be right mate!"

Aussies are notoriously laid back about things, and this flows across to matters of Eternity as well, where the average Aussie takes the attitude of "When I have to deal with God, I will sort it out then".

Aussies also love their sport. Cricket, Aussie rules Football, and Rugby (over east) are pretty much all we are interested in once we leave work for the day.

Oh, and cars. Our cars are like European cars but with real engines, or like American cars that actually go around corners.

Or rather, they used to be - Both Holden (General Motors) and Ford had killed off our Aussie cars, so now we only have Japanese, Euro, and Yankee cars. (Please don't be offended - Yankee over here means american, no matter what part you are from. It is better than the alternative - "Septics", which comes from the rhyming slang for "Yank", which is "Septic Tank". So if you ever come here and someone calls you a "septic", it is not meant to be offensive. Well it sort of is, but in a loving kind of way..........)

The other thing about Aussies is that we love our privacy. Our back yards have fences that are seven feet tall and made of steel or fibre cement so you can't see through or over them. "This is MY HOME and you are not allowed to even see into it unless I invite you!"

This attitude is especially prominent in doorknocking. I have had American Pastors visit with me and come doorknocking and be amazed that people here will not open doors to you, and if they do, as soon as they see you are "religious" they interrupt you with a "Not interested" and close the door in your face. They are not being rude per se, just protecting their privacy, which you are invading. YOU are the rude one for interrupting their "at home time".

I also have to say, whilst Australia is like America in many ways, there are many ways we are not at all alike.

There are some US missionaries who have come here and tried to "transplant" Bible belt America into this place, and they just struggle constantly. This varies from place to place, generally become more pronounced the further north you go, but you try to get an Aussie man into a suit and tie for anything but a funeral or a wedding and you are up for more than you bargained for.

I mean you basically have to be part of the direct family for the suit to come out at a funeral, and it is only by bridal death threat you get the suit on for a wedding!

Once you get right up North, a button up short sleeve shirt with a collar and "the good shorts" are about as formal as you will get. Oh and the good thongs (that's Flip-flops for you guys - you know the footware?)

 

So I laugh sometimes at some of the discussions I hear and read here as well, because if you tell a guy he has to wear a tie to church, he just won't come. Sometimes he WON'T wear the tie JUST BECAUSE YOU TOLD HIM TO. If you hadn't said anything he probably would have followed your example on his own, but since you said it......

Cultural differences.......

Some American Missionaries get it, some don't....... I don't doubt their hearts by the way, but they just don't get it. They serve year after year faithfully, but they just don't get it. They listen to the hints and suggestions, but they just don't get it.

We are not American - don't try to make us American.....

I will try to add more as I have time and think about it, but until then, if there was anything you wanted to ask about Australia, I will try to answer it if I know it, or make something up that sounds believable and then laugh at you for being gullible....

 

Oh yeah, and I reserve the right to ask the Mods to remove anything posted by anyone that I don't think is relevant.

(And they hold the right to refuse my requests....... )

Edited December 1, 2016 by DaveW

[Pastor Scott Markle]

Brother Dave,

Maybe I should know this by now (especially since I count us to be "forum friends"), so I apologize for my failure in not yet knowing; however -- Are you yourself a pastor of a church?  If not, what is your ministry position?

[Jim_Alaska]

Brother David. What a wonderful exposition of Aussie culture, religious reality and life in general in your corner of the world. Thank you for taking the time to write out these things that we here in the US would have no way of knowing. I can see where American missionaries to Australia would have a hard time of it unless they took the time and advice of resident Aussies.

I especially liked the parts about "no suits and ties". That is the way it was when I lived in Alaska. Dress for church was casual, but clean, modest and non-offensive.

[Alan]

I think all of us want to thank you for your fine exposition of Aussie culture.

Almost all missionaires have to learn the culture that they will be living in and I think that your thoughts that you put to the pen would benefit anybody going to Austrailia as a missionary. Looking forward to anything else you would like to add.

[DaveW]

Pastor Markle, I have been the Pastor at this church for around 7 years, after Pastoring another church for about 8 years, after being the associate at that church for three years - under an American missionary by the way. One of the ones that does "get it".

I really should say that there are many US missionaries here that do "get it" by the way, and we need people to come here as missionaries, because Aussie men are hard to get moving on it.

I wish we had enough men of faith and commitment to not need missionaries to come here but that is simply not the truth.

I know of several towns that have unpastored independent baptist churches,  and I know of many many many towns throughout this nation that have no IB church at all. It is rare to find a town smaller than 30000 people that HAS  an IB church.

The issue with culture here I think is exacerbated by the fact that initial impressions are that we are fairly "American" in many ways, but once you scratch the surface you find under the paint is a different beast.

In totally different cultures it is easier to see that a different approach is required.

[MountainChristian]

This is very interesting, and I've enjoyed reading it.

Brother Dave when you go north do the Aborigines speak English?

 

[DaveW]

57 minutes ago, MountainChristian said:

This is very interesting, and I've enjoyed reading it.

Brother Dave when you go north do the Aborigines speak English?

 

In general yes. It does tend to be a little bit "pigeon" in the far north, but still recognisably English.There are very few Aboriginal people who don't speak English. In fact, the bigger problem is that many of them do not speak their traditional languages, nor do many of them know much about their traditions and heritage. There are many many dialects which can vary greatly from one area to another.

About the only things they are universally taught is that white men treated them badly.

This was true by the way, although at times it was done "with the best of intentions", but it makes you wonder about the thought processes that lead to those conclusions.

For instance, there was a policy of taking the children away from Aboriginal parents because it was thought that they did not know how to raise children properly. Forget that they had been raising children for a few thousand years in their own culture just fine - they didn't teach them to read and write, didn't clothe them in dresses and jeans and shirts, they didn't live in "proper houses". So they took the kids and gave them to white families.

This is referred to now as the "Stolen generation", and looking back it was so wrong, but in the day it apparently made sense.

This kind of past history can make it hard to reach the Aboriginal people with what they see as "White man's religion", especially since many of the children ended up in Catholic "missions" being abused in various ways. That is what they associate "Christianity" with.

I do know of some wonderful saved Aboriginal families who dearly love the Lord and serve Him in local Baptist Churches.

In fact, it is reaching the Aboriginal communities in the far NW that has my view.

The problem is that it is so expensive to live up that way, and these communities are typically only between 50 and 150 people, and they are spread over a huge area. It would not be possible to have a church in each community, but I think the old fashioned circuit ridin' preacher' could reach them.

My thought is to have a camper bus set up to travel between the communities in the dry season (can't travel up there once the rains hit) and stop for a few days at a time at each community, preaching and teaching. That is actually one of the reasons why we got our old landcruiser - it is simple and rugged, and would stand the country. Much of the roadways there are gravel, and with the big trucks travelling them they get badly rutted (we called it corrugations - like small ridges going across the road only a few inches apart and going like that for miles. Shakes the car to pieces if you are not careful. And 4x4 is pretty much essential for travelling up there - not normally, but if you get caught out by a rain and don't have 4x4, chances are that you will get heavily stuck, and no one will come by for days. People die like that.

We can't afford to buy and set up a bus, so the Cruiser and a camper trailer is the initial plan. When we can afford to do it.

Or maybe the Lord would have me and our church to be a sending support for that ministry?

Edited December 2, 2016 by DaveW

[WellWithMySoul]

Our pastor's brother-in-law pastors a church on the east side (Queensland).  I believe it is an IB church, and when they come back to visit here, it's always a blessing to hear him preach.  I believe all 6 of our pastor's brother-in-law and sister's children are Aussie born.  Thank you for sharing about your country; fascinating!

Edited December 4, 2016 by WellWithMySoul

[DaveW]

Something that Aussies get asked a lot is about Kangaroos.

No, they don't generally run down the city streets.

Think of them like funny deer that stand up on their back legs and you get the idea.

Do you see deer strolling down your main streets? if you do, you are likely in a fairly small town, and that is about the only time you will see a Roo in a main street here too.

Some of the little, out of the way towns would see them, but in reality, you won't see one in the city or the burbs. Country drive and you see them. I could take you for a drive from my house and be almost guaranteed to find some roos within half an hour, but I know where they are.

Go to certain national park areas for a BBQ and you are almost mobbed by the Roos looking for a handout.

And whilst Roos are generally nice, they can be seriously dangerous. Long, thick, sharp claws on their hind legs, they balance on their tail and kick out at you with those strong back legs and they can rip your stomach out. Rare, and normally only if you threaten one, but people certainly have been injured.

The average grey or "euro" kangaroo is only around 4 feet tall, but the big Reds can grow to be as tall as a man - I remember one in a national park that we used to see regularly that was an easy 7 feet tall when he bothered to stand up. But they are like deer in that too - mostly they are gentle and cute, but if you threaten them you can find yourself in trouble. They mostly eat grass. And a big group of roos is not a herd or a flock, but it is called a "Mob". Yep, you see a Mob of roos in that bushland over there.

Emus: most Australians have never seen one in the wild. You really have to be a traveller to see them out there. They are funny as though. Strange, tall, big bodied, with long skinny legs and long skinny neck, but they run like the wind. I remember on one trip we had two Emus running along the road with three or four chicks going flat out. I can't remember the speed they were doing (I was a youngster at that time) but I know they were on the move. we must have followed them for a km before they turned off the road. These things will eat anything they get into their beaks.

The chicks have light stripes running horizontally along their bodies, but the adults are just a messy brown sort of colour.

Wombats: again, most people have never seen one in the wild. They are just big lumps of fur covered muscle with short stocky legs. Can grow to be about the size of a medium pig. They look like they would be serious cuddle bunnies, but they have sharp claws and big teeth, and will let you know with certainty that you should not try to pat them...... They eat roots, grubs... pretty much anything they can find underground - they are burrowing animals.

Koalas: they are not Koala bears, and are not bears at all - that is a marketing exercise that got out of hand. They are also not as nice and cuddly as you have been led to believe. In fact, most of them are smelly, bad tempered little things, about the size of a 8 month old baby I guess. These dudes have strong, surprisingly long arms with very sharp claws. They are tree climbers, so the claws are perfect for that, but they will damage you very nicely as well if you try to pick one up. These guys are very fussy eaters, eating only the leaves from one specific kind of Eucalyptus tree. They also rarely drink water, getting their "Water needs" from those leaves - if you know what a gum tree leaf is like you will be amazed at that piece of trivia.

Echidnas: people think of them like a porcupine, but they are actually very different. Their spines are much thicker and stiffer then a Porcupine's quills and in general they are a bit smaller than a full grown Porcupine. They also lay eggs, but then feed the young milk once they hatch. They are of the class "Monotremes" of which there are only two members. Again, most people have never seen one in the wild. They are incredibly shy, and will ball up into a little ball with those spines pointing out in all directions. They eat ants mostly. Sometimes called "spiny anteaters" but they are not related to the class of critters called anteaters.

The other member of the monotreme class is the Platypus (Pronounced plat-a-puss). This is the strangest critter on the face of the whole earth. It has a tail like a beaver, a bill like a duck, webbed feet, poisonous spikes in its back legs, is covered with fur, swims in rivers, digs a burrow in the river banks for a home, lays eggs, then feeds its young with milk. The first one caught and sent back to England for examination was believed to be a hoax, and there are the marks of where they tried to find the stitching joining the different animal parts together. But God joined the parts so well, that they never did find the stitching......... These are one of the most elusive animals in Australia, and most Australians have never seen one outside of a zoo. Many Australians have never seen one inside a zoo either.

There are plenty of other small critters - a number of different marsupials ranging in size from mouse to small dog size, and a good number of lizards and snakes, and many and varied bugs and biteys.

And flies. We have flies. in Summer we have more flies. One of the reasons why we know this is a great place is that a billion flies couldn't possibly be wrong....

 

Dangerous thingies

There is this impression that Australia is full of dangerous things, but in reality this is an incredibly safe place to live.

We do have the most venemous land snake in the world (the inland taipan), but it has only ever been seen by about three people, and as far as I know nobody ahs ever been bitten by one. Apparently we have something like 7 of the most venemous snakes in the world (Depending on which list you look at), and WA has most of them, but apart from tiger snakes, Dugites, and western Brown snakes, I have never even seen the others.

And we do have the infamous red back spider - these things are everywhere, but they hide away and even the few people I have known who have been bitten have not suffered from it - it hurts, but it doesn't normally kill you. 

The real dangerous spider is the Funnel web spider. These are actually aggressive, but they mostly live in NSW so I don't care.... Actually, I have never seen one in all my time over east. But if you do get bitten by one of them you need to get to the hospital.

What else is there that is dangerous over here?

Blue ringed octopus: small occy that lives in shallow rock pools on the coast. They don't normally have the blue rings - they only show when he feels threatened, and then they look like 1cm wide neon rings. Beautiful. But if you get bitten by him you will need help. The poison shuts down your autonomic systems, which means he paralyses your breathing basically. There is no antivenom - the only treatment is CPR until the venom wears off. Cute when calm, beautiful when angry, deadly at all times. But I have only ever two or three, and you really have to either step on him or pick him up to get into trouble. Rock walking with shoes on is the best thing, and they are not common anyway.

The only other really dangerous thing is the Salt water Croc, but as I said earlier, they are only in the North of Australia, and not many people live there. These guys are seriously aggressive though. Not like the American Alligator, which I am led to believe are actually pretty passive as far as people are concerned (Not that you want to try to pat one). But stupid people ignore the signs every year while travelling up north and get eaten by Crocs. You just don't swim in the oceans up north. Or the rivers. 

In reality, the average Aussie never sees anything dangerous up close, and even people like myself who like camping and getting away from it all, don't see dangerous stuff very often.

Oh year, I forgot to mention the Goanna. This is a "monitor lizard", and comes in various forms, but they are fairly long legged, relatively thin lizards. They are fast moving and they scavenge your campsite whenever you leave. Any food stuff you leave within range they will have. These things can get to be over 1 meter in body length, and then they have about that much tail as well. Think small freshwater crocodile size and you have the idea. 6 foot long tip to tip, and at that size about a foot around the tummy. Not dangerous to people UNLESS you try to grab one, then they will scratch you up with their claws. I have never known anyone to be bitten by one.

This is actually a far less dangerous place than the US where you have bears, mountain lions, and Rattlers.

Seriously though folks, you can go bushwalking pretty much anywhere in Australia and not run into anything that wants to eat you or kill you. Except the top end, those crocs....

I thought about putting in pictures of the various critters, but I think if you are that interested you can google the names I have bolded.

None of this has any spiritual implications that I can think of, but it does answer some common questions that Aussies get asked.

[No Nicolaitans]

We had an Emu show up at our house about a year ago! I "think" it was still fairly young...about 4 -5 feet tall. I was surprised at how big its feet were...and those claws/talons on its feet looked like they could do some damage. It was gentle though and wanted to be right with us while we were outside with it. It would actually "crouch" down and sit still while we petted it.

We tried calling around to see if any local people knew of anyone who raised Emus...we found a couple of places, but they assured us they weren't missing any...plus, they weren't really that close to us...about 25 miles away. It stayed on our porch all day and never tried to leave. It would go out in the yard, but it would return back to the porch.

We called anyone we could think of to report the "found Emu", my wife posted it on Facebook with pictures, but we never heard from anyone...

My thoughts then were that someone must have raised it, decided they no longer wanted it, so they just dumped it out somewhere to get rid of it...not sure if that's the case though.  

We had a family friend who said they'd take it...so we "owned" an Emu for one day...and our friend came and picked it up that evening.

I wish the Lord would allow us to move to Australia! We already have Emu experience... : )

[DaveW]

I heard some time ago that there was a population of Emus somewhere in the US that resulted from a farm that went bust and just released them. I can't remember where it was, but maybe this was a "wild" one from that?

And Yep, Emu's can do a bit of damage if they are scared.

Interesting fact about Emus: their knees are backwards, so when they kick at you it looks really strange.

Another interesting fact about Emus: A lot of products come from Emus: Emu oil is used to make various cosmetics, candles, soaps, rubbing oils, and other stuff that I can't remember; Emu meat is quite nice (but not commonly eaten); Emu leather is beautiful and soft; Emu feathers are also really soft, but I don't know what they use them for.

There is actually an old Aussie "insult" that goes "I hope all your chooks grow into Emus and kick your dunny door down". (Note: Chooks are chickens, and a Dunny is an old outside toilet. I apologise if that offends the sensibilities of some. It is today used as a lighthearted "insult" to a friend and meant in a lighthearted way.)

This is not considered in any way offensive in Australia today.

Kangaroo is also really nice to eat, and it is more readily available in the shops than Emu, but my wife and kids won't eat it. Not cheap either.

We are one of the only countries on earth that eat their national animal and bird symbols - both the Emu and the Kangaroo are on the Australian coat of arms, and also on many restaurant menus....

And apparently neither of them can walk backwards, which means Australia can only advance, never retreat.

Or maybe we are just too dumb to give up on a fight!

[No Nicolaitans]

I did notice how odd it looked when the emu would crouch down...or is it lie down? Anyway, I thought it looked odd and interesting that its legs bent backwards.

Thanks for all of this information Dave...it's been a treat to read!

[DaveW]

Something else that is interesting about this place.

The whole country is surrounded with vast expanses of water, and this natural barrier keeps a lot of diseases out.

There is a mite that affect honey bees for instance, and we don't have it here. You can't bring honey into Australia with you on the plane - you will be asked to bin it at the gate - because we don't want any chance of it affecting our bees.

We don't have Rabies, so your dog will be put into quarantine for months until it is cleared of that (and a few other things I don't know the details of).

There are actually a lot of things that you can not bring with you to Australia because of quarantine laws, and it is even more strict for coming to WA.

There is a huge bit of desert running down the middle of the country, so there are some things that are in the other states, that the desert keeps out of WA.

When you drive from "over east" to WA you get stopped at the border and you are asked to open your car so they can check for any fruit, veges, honey, and a few other things.

If you don't want to be checked you only choice is to go back, but since you have just come across 1000km of road since the last place larger than a fuel stop, you just let them check. I know to some of you that would seem like an invasion of privacy, but I for one don't want those horrible bugs and diseases here, so I am happy to follow the rules.

 

 

[Ukulelemike]

Visited Perth twice while in the Navy-beautiful place! Had the blessing of being married to an Aussie at the time, whose family just happened to live there, so they met me at the ship when we pulled in and took me home and took care of me the entire time I was there-never had to as much as spend a dime, except for one day when they had some things to do so I took off on my own. Jumped on the train and just travelled through some smaller towns to get out of the tourist areas, ended up at the Royal Show, a kind of county fair, and fooled around there a while. Then visited a small town that could have been anywhere in America, except for driving on the other side of the road, where I bought some souvenirs for my daughters and wife, (stuffed echidnas for the girls and opal earrings for the wife, spent about 10% of what I would have in Perth).  

The only Emus I have seen were here in Herlong, CA-a family in our church raised them and ostriches.

[DaveW]

7 hours ago, Ukulelemike said:

Visited Perth twice while in the Navy-beautiful place! Had the blessing of being married to an Aussie at the time, whose family just happened to live there, so they met me at the ship when we pulled in and took me home and took care of me the entire time I was there-never had to as much as spend a dime, except for one day when they had some things to do so I took off on my own. Jumped on the train and just travelled through some smaller towns to get out of the tourist areas, ended up at the Royal Show, a kind of county fair, and fooled around there a while. Then visited a small town that could have been anywhere in America, except for driving on the other side of the road, where I bought some souvenirs for my daughters and wife, (stuffed echidnas for the girls and opal earrings for the wife, spent about 10% of what I would have in Perth).  

The only Emus I have seen were here in Herlong, CA-a family in our church raised them and ostriches.

Cool! Where did you visit, if you can remember?

The ships come into Fremantle harbour, unless they are too big, which one or two Carriers are.

I went on a few tours of US ships in port, once on a private tour of the Enterprise with a couple of officers who came to our church. That was cool, because we got to under the ropes into places that others were not allowed to.