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Signs Publishing Company is a
Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
publishing house in Warburton,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.


History

Three Adventist preachers, Stephen Haskell, John Corliss and Mendel Israel, a printer, Henry Scott, and an experienced door-to-door literature salesperson, William Arnold, travelled from
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
to
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
on 6 June 1885. The Signs Publishing Company first began as the Echo Publishing Company, in
North Fitzroy Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cites of City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek ...
, a suburb of
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. By 1889, the Echo Publishing Company employed 83 people and was the third largest Seventh-day Adventist publishing house in the world. The management were committed to the printing and distribution of Seventh-day Adventist literature but were also commercially successful — so successful, in fact, that they soon became the unofficial government printers for Victoria. The church decided this was moving in the wrong direction, so decided on a move to Warburton in 1906, where the operation could return to its religious roots. However the move deprived the company of the considerable income created by the outsourced work, thus funding for religious material was at a premium. Cheap hydro-electricity and abundant land for both factory premises and staff housing were the predominant reasons for the choice of location, and in fact the "Wonwondah" property that was bought had been owned by the husband of a local Adventist. The Signs Publishing Company was formed and remained on the original premises until 1934, when the
Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower s ...
flooded the valley and ruined a large part of the machinery and building. A new, brick factory was built on higher ground in 1935 for £23,000. Over the years the building has gone through a number of extensions, the last major extension in 1979 cost $625,000 — adding . The Signs building along with the Sanitarium building next door are now heritage listed. The Signs Publishing Company currently employs around 50 staff in a variety of print/publishing/import-export positions. In July 2006, Signs was amalgamated with the Adventist Media Centre and
South Pacific Division The United States Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific Division (SPD) is an United States Army, Army organization providing civil works and military water resource services/infrastructure. It also supports economically viable and environmenta ...
into a single body. From 2010, ''Signs'' and ''Record'' magazines will be published from the church's headquarters in
Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb in the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...
,
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
(a northern
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
suburb), yet still printed and distributed from Warburton. While the modern plant is far removed from the early publishing operation, the philosophy of the company remains the same — to produce and distribute Christian literature for the South Pacific region.


Publications

The company publishes three major magazines: * '' Signs of the Times'', an easy-reading magazine in a format similar to ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
''. It is the flagship publication of Signs Publishing Company, and is for distribution in the South Pacific. It has a circulation of 45,000 * '' Record'' is a weekly news magazine aimed at churchmembers, issued freely to churches. Circulation of 26,000 * ''Edge'' is targeted at young adults, and published bimonthly. It was founded in 1997 with Brenton Stacey as editor. Kellie Hancock was the editor for nearly 4 years, and commented, "''The Edges archival value for youth ministry is unprecedented. Nothing else provides the coverage of events and supportive resources on a broad range of issues for Adventist youth and those who minister to them." In 2009, Adele Nash was the present and longest-serving editor. It was originally produced by Signs Publishing Company, but from 2010 is to be produced by the Australian Union Conference."The future of ''Edge''". ''Edge'' 78:5 (28 November 2009), p9; as inserted in ''Record'' 114:46 (28 November 2009)


See also

*
List of Seventh-day Adventist periodicals This is a list of periodicals published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church or by its church members. They include both official and unofficial publications relating to Seventh-day Adventism. Magazines which are only available on the internet are ...
* Seventh-day Adventist Church


References


External links


Signs Publishing Company
Official website
Adventists in Warburton: Signs Publishing Company

''Signs of the Times'' publication
{{Authority control Christian publishing companies Religious tract publishing companies Seventh-day Adventist media Book publishing companies of Australia Magazine publishing companies of Australia Seventh-day Adventist organizations