Area Conference Schedule Slated

Approximately 50,000 members of the Church in Australia and the Pacific are expected to attend the area general conference scheduled for that part of the globe this February and March.

The conference, consisting of forty-six sessions and cultural events, will be under the direction of President Spencer W. Kimball, who will be accompanied by President N. Eldon Tanner and eight other General Authorities.

Crossing back and forth eighteen times between time zones in the 24,000 mile trip, President Kimball and the Brethren will meet with the Saints at Church College of Western Samoa, Apia, Western Samoa, February 16–18; Church College of New Zealand, Temple View, near Hamilton, February 20–22; Civic Cultural Hall, Suva, Fiji, February 23; the Church’s Liahona High School, Nuku’ alofa, Tonga, February 24–25; Festival Hall, Melbourne, and Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, in simultaneous conferences February 27–29; Festival Hall, Brisbane, Australia, February 29–March 1; and in a local sports activity center, Papeete, Tahiti, March 1–2.

Initially, a conference session was scheduled for February 27 in Perth, Australia, but in a letter to the Saints in Perth, the First Presidency said that, owing to a change in airline schedules, it would be impossible for the Brethren to hold a session in Perth and still meet their other commitments. Realizing that the Saints in Perth would be disappointed at not being able to attend a conference session in their own area, the First Presidency welcomed them to attend any of the other sessions in Australia. Meanwhile, studies were under way at press time to determine the feasibility of transmitting other Australian conference sessions to the Saints in Perth.

In another change in plans, the conference session in Sydney, Australia, originally scheduled for that city’s Town Hall, will now be held in the ultra-modern opera house.