King’s Park & Botanical garden

Overlooking the city of Perth and the Swan River, King’s Park and Botanical Garden is Perth’s number one tourist attraction and a focal point of any visit to the state of Western Australia. It is set on a huge 400 hectares (just under 1000 acres) of land, of which two-thirds is pristine native bush.

Imagine the Nyoongar (Aboriginal) people gathered on the hill Kaarta Gar-up (Mount Eliza on which King’s Park is located) overlooking the water … watching … curious … as boats of the early European explorers and settlers arrived, starting in 1829. The Swan River Colony grew slowly until the gold rushes in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie in the 1890’s. From the park’s beginning in 1895 until 1901 it was known as Perth Park. Then in 1901 the name was changed to King’s Park when King Edward VII rose to the throne at the death of Queen Victoria.

King’s Park was created as a showplace for all the unique flora native to Western Australia. This was a huge undertaking to establish one location for all the varieties to be shown in separate gardens along the walkways, appearing as they would in their natural habitat. For instance, the huge Boab Tree was moved to the park in 2008. The still-living tree only looks dead, because it looses its leaves during the dry season. It lives to a great age, storing large amounts of water.

Another tree which fascinated us, as missionaries in the Australia Perth Mission, was the Tuart Tree. The original Mission Office was located on Tuart Hill, in the suburb of Tuart Hill, both named after the tuart tree.

It is impossible to capture in a brief description, all the unique and fascinating trees and wildflowers. One of our favorites was the state flower of Western Australia, the Red and Green Kangaroo Paw.

A few other favorites were the Bacon & Egg Plant,

the Princess Gum Tree with its honky nuts,

the Gualop Bell,

the Peppermint Tree,

the Everlasting Daisy,

and others, too numerous to count. One which really fascinated us, though, was the Balga Tree which resembles a bad hair day and when in bloom has one tall “turkey tail” sticking up. It has a hollow center, and is said to grow only one centimeter each year.

We really enjoyed the bridge under the towering gum trees. It gave us a beautiful view from above.

Once again our tour guide was Helen Cope from Doubleview Ward. This time we were joined by all the Office Senior Missionaries. Pictured left to right are Elder and Sister Nielsen; Helen Cope; Sister and Elder Crawford from Escalante, Utah; Sister Matuauto, an American Samoan from SLC; and Sister Kruger, from near Birmingham, England.

Another feature of the park that we enjoyed was the water fountain.

The King’s Park Festival occurs each September, with its spectacular display of over 3000 different plant species gathered from across the State, from the South-west region up into the Kimberley. The mass displays of wildflowers in bloom is expected to last for three months or more.


The highlight of the day was a Wildflowers Wonderland Theatre Show entitled “The Adorable Florables. Live actors, performing as various wildflowers, performed a hilarious comedy, which included numerous “plays on words.” Mom even had her picture taken with the actor portraying the state flower, the Red and Green Kangaroo Paw. The show was a “hoot” according to dad. A perfect ending to “another grand adventure Down Under.”

Farewell to President Maurer

President and Sister Maurer were released from their mission on 30 June 2010. A huge farewell in their honor was held at the Dianella Stake Center on Saturday night, the 26th. The cultural hall was filled to overflowing, with many who wished to bid farewell to the Maurer family. First, an assigned potluck dinner for the hundreds gathered was provided, with each balancing their feast on their laps. As soon as all were fed, the festivities began with a Polynesian theme. Their great love for the Maurer family was felt with the evident preparations made for the evening. 

It was an impressive three hour celebration, with many hugs and tears. They were sad to see their Australia born Mission President and family leave for their home in Brisbane, Australia.


The following Wednesday, 30 June 2010, all the missionaries, except those requiring airline flights to get to Perth, gathered to say their goodbyes to the Maurers. A chili lunch was provided by the office staff (meaning Sister Nielsen also had to prepare a huge pot of Krista’s chili recipe). It was quickly consumed by the hungry missionaries.

A huge cake was prepared by Elder Anderson in the shape of the Australia Perth Mission with flags representing its multicultural make-up. (When walking through the local malls, you might think you are at an international airport. There are many, many nations represented.) President Maurer became very emotional when the cake was presented to him and his wife.

Another memento presented to the Maurers was a mosaic of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. The mosaic was made up of photographs of each of the missionaries who served under President Maurer’s three year leadership.

Prior to President and Sister Maurer’s departure, the Mission Office Staff (Elder and Sister Crawford, Elder and Sister Nielsen, Sister Matuauto and Sister Kruger) gathered for a group photo one last time.

The following day, the mantel of authority passed to President Paul L. Cahoon, assisted by his wife Tanya.

They are from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where President Cahoon had been a bishop, and by profession is a dentist. They are the parents of four children.

“GO TO JAIL – DO NOT PASS GO – DO NOT COLLECT $200”

On Saturday, August 21, 2010, we had a Grand Adventure, when we journeyed to Fremantle with Helen Cope from church at the Doubleview Ward. Helen, our tour guide, had invited us about 2 months prior to spend a Saturday with her at the Prison.


Fremantle is the seaport for Perth. Sir Charles Fremantle landed there in 1829, claiming the west coast of Australia for Great Britain. The early colony experienced initial difficulties taming the unfamiliar bush and sent back to Great Britain for slave labor to help build up the outpost. Convicts were sent to Western Australia from 1850 to 1868 to assist with development.

The Fremantle Prison was built in the 1850’s by convict labor and decommissioned in 1991. Yet it had been condemned 80 years before its final closure. It was first used as a convict establishment to bed down the convicts after laboring all day constructing buildings in the surrounding area. After the discovery of gold in the 1890’s, local crime escalated and the facility became a prison for 24 hour a day incarceration.

The entrance to Fremantle Prison was wide enough for horse-drawn wagons to transport convicts into the prison, but was too narrow to allow for fire equipment inside the prison to fight fires during the riot of 1988.

Fremantle Prison was to be built on a rocky hilltop. Convicts used pick axes to form limestone blocks to build the prison structure. The 30 foot crown of the hill was leveled to obtain enough blocks for the construction. Note the 30 foot ridge in the background.

A view of cell blocks A and B from the courtyard, which was used as a vegetable garden in the early years.

John, the “jailor”, describing life in the cellblock.

The cells were less than 6 feet long and about 4 feet wide. This photo shows the typical “hammock-style bed” and slop buckets (“honey pots”). They had no running water or electricity.

A typical courtyard for a cellblock for 160 people when let out of their cells for exercise. Not much space to even move around.

The gallows chamber, where 46 men and one woman were hanged for willful murder. The last was a serial killer hung on 26 October 1964.

Prisoners were allowed to visit the chapel 15 minutes daily to help in their rehabilitation. When paint was needed for the murals, sending to Great Britain would require 12 months for the roundtrip. Instead the convict assigned to paint the Ten Commandments sought assistance from the local Aborigines for making paint. The original paint job still remains untouched after 140 years.

We finally received a “GET OUT OF JAIL” card and were released from prison. “Freedom at last!”

We completed the day with a visit to Cicerello’s for their famous fish and chips. We pause for a picture with Helen in front of the restaurant.

Day to day details

I am over Referrals, which means logging into the computer, the names and addresses of those interested in learning more about our Church. It is my responsibility to assign them to the appropriate missionaries (2) in that area, and provide them the address and phone information. I then check back on a regular basis on the progress, updating the computer with that information. I also coordinate the medical needs of the missionaries. By the way, those missionaries are young men, ages 19 - 25, and young women, ages 21 – about 25. They come from all over the world, with a high percentage from other areas of Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the Pacific, but also quite a few from the United States. The young men serve for 2 years, while the young women serve for 18 months. We also have about 5 or 6 senior missionary couples, along with 2 single senior women (senior meaning past retirement).

Just one interesting story of a young lady missionary from Mongolia. She had difficulty getting her visa, which took 12 months! So she worked as a missionary in her home country of Mongolia for 9 months before coming here. She has a beautiful voice and has entertained us a number of times with acapella renditions of our hymns in her native language. Absolutely beautiful!

DeVon is over the finances for the Mission, and is responsible to see that all the bills get paid. This consists of the rent and related expenses for over 40 apartments (or flats as they are called here), as well as all the other costs associated with running the affairs of the Mission throughout all of Western Australia (comparable to nearly all of the western part of the United States).

We also attend many meetings scattered throughout the Perth area. By the way, Perth and its associated suburbs have a population of around 2 million people. So far we have never driven far enough to go beyond the reaches of this huge city. We are at the mission office from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday. Saturday is our Preparation Day, or the day when we do all our chores, clean the apartment, go shopping (because all the stores close at 5:00 every night but Thursday), and any extras we want to cram in. On Sunday we attend Church meetings and do some studying from the scriptures, and have some personal time.

Sites Around Perth

We want to share with you some of the scenic sites around Perth .
The Mission President has assigned us to attend the Doubleview Ward for church activities. After attending several times, we discovered why they call it Doubleview. As we left the Sunday meetings, walking toward the parking lot, we looked out toward the southeast and saw this amazing view of downtown Perth.

Later a member of the ward explained why it is called Doubleview. If you turn around to the west, you have the second view…the Indian Ocean . We haven’t yet found just the right view for this picture.

Several weeks later, we drove up the coast, viewing the beaches. We had heard about Hillarys, a large boat harbor with shopping and food courts. We made several stops along the coast highway, enjoying the view and the beautiful “winter” weather.

At one stop, we noticed a large rock formation that looked like a shipwreck.

Last Friday afternoon we attended zone conference in Thornlie (about 30 minutes south of Perth ). DeVon has always wanted to drive at high speeds and he was even able to legally travel up to 100 (kilometers per hr). On the way back Judi talked DeVon into getting off the freeway (outside his comfort zone) and see the nightlife in Perth, which is only open late on Friday nights. DeVon kept taking the wrong exit (three times) causing us to double back, right along the Swan River . The view was so beautiful that Judi took a picture right out the car window.

We have gotten into the habit of taking a picnic lunch to enjoy on Sundays following church. We try to choose various locations to enjoy while having our lunch. Jackadder Lake has become a favorite and is very close to the Doubleview Chapel. Many of their lakes have walking trails around them. Jackadder also has 6 or 8 activity areas along their trail where they have installed colorful exercise equipment which is used by young and old alike. 

Last Sunday we discovered another lake, which is actually a reclaimed swamp area. Herdsman Lake is quite large and famous for its “black swans” which are one of the symbols of Western Australia . Today, Sunday, we did catch a quick glimpse of some black swans while driving, but not where we could stop and get a picture. Winter has truly hit here, which means we have had lots and lots and lots of rain for the last three days, and colder temperatures.

We will try to get some pictures of the black swans in future visits (and sunny weather) at the lake.

We love the unique malls here in the suburbs of Perth . This mall is entirely underground, with parking tents being the only portion visible above ground. We found this candy shop and had to share this taste of their British heritage with you.

We are really enjoying our work here, and as you can see, we are truly taking advantage of every opportunity to see the sites. We try to include our sightseeing attempts during our assigned travels, to keep our mileage (as well as the cost of gas!) down. Hopefully, sharing our adventures makes you feel closer to us. We think of each of you often and include you in our prayers. Love to all, Elder and Sister Nielsen, Judi and DeVon, or just Mom and Dad.