25 ALBURY

In October 1910, they moved to the new land of opportunity, Australia. Unable to decide on Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide, they chose Albury, New South Wales, on the north shore of the Murray River, opposite Wodonga, Victoria.

The two Australian states had differing railway gauges, a ‘broad gauge’ in Victoria and a standard gauge in NSW. This required transferring all passengers and goods from one carriage width to another. So, St Croix seized upon the opportunity to purchase an existing hotel for passengers wishing to take a day off between transferring and getting a good night's sleep and a quality meal. He also bought land for a newer hotel, a vineyard and winery, and two apple orchards for making cider.

In good weather with a clear track, Evelyn could be in Melbourne in about four hours and roughly double that to reach Sydney. She was more than pleased with the location of their new life in Albury. They maintained a large home near the central business district just off Kiewa Street. However, they spent most of their time on an estate near Splitter’s Creek.

It had been years since Evelyn’s Devi sense detected other Devi in proximity to herself. The feeling was always more substantial when other Devi women were nearby. Whenever she felt the presence of another, it always caught her off guard for a moment, and she was touched by both fear and delight.

In the winter of 1913, a trio of well-dressed and well-informed travellers arrived at their modern hotel. When Jonathan took Evelyn to Abigail O’Leary’s home in Wicklow, he introduced himself with a coded message. There was one to alert Jonathan of any Devi guests as well. When they signed in, they had asked the manager to “Please inform the hotel’s owner that friends of his mother, Collette St Croix, had arrived.”

At that time, more than 200 telephones were established in the twin cities of Albury and Wodonga. Evelyn was in the Kiewa home then, took the call, and dispatched a driver to fetch the trio and bring them to the house.

“Greeting, I am Evelyn St Croix, and welcome to my home. I have sent a message to my husband Jonathan about your arrival. He should be here within the half-hour.”

A tall gentleman put out his hand, “I am Robert Allen Stewart. This is my wife Rose and our travelling associate Lucy Boudreau.”

Evelyn entertained them with light conversation and talked about the house. While waiting for her husband, she offered them wine and a light snack.

Once Jonathan arrived and introductions were again made, they all retired to the parlour to discuss the matters of the world.

The guests informed their hosts that everything was good in England and that George V seemed a competent monarch based on his first three years. Germany was awash with joy over Kaiser Wilhelm II's Silver Jubilee.

France was still the contentious child of Europe. For all the joy in Germany, the French countered it with much anti-German sentiment. However, the Authentic was doing quite well in Paris and adapting new Devi relocation standards, making more funding and options available. 

Lucy Boudreau raised her hand as if asking permission to speak. “I had met with the Authentic just a few months ago, and she said she had been following your progress out here in the far reaches of the world. She asked me to convey her appreciation of your donations to the cause and your exemplary successes in the gold field affairs.”

With that, Jonathan and Evelyn noticed the mood and tone in the room change. Lucy was not the travelling companion of the Stewarts, but they were accompanying her.

She continued, providing that they were correct in that assumption. “The Authentic had sent me here to manage the affairs of the Devi in this region. We expect some of our people to migrate here over the next decade, and we must establish an infrastructure to accommodate the Devi. The advantage to all of this is the land size of Australia, the distance to New Zealand and north to the islands of the Philippines. Moving from city to city a thousand miles away will not present much of an issue of meeting people from a lifetime or two ago. We can quickly establish birth and death records and transfer money as overseas investments in this new and dynamic land.

The two of you did pretty well in Christchurch, showing the Authentic that we can live in smaller towns and stay out of the public eye.”

Evelyn asked Lucy, “Why do you think there will be an influx of Devi down here?”

“Have you not heard about the dissension against the Czar in Russia? Populist causes and rebellion seem likely there in a few years.

In the Ottoman Empire, there were two wars in the Balkans. The Turks left peace talks in London and aligned themselves more with Germany and the Austrians. So, England, France, and Russia are talking about a three-sided pact.”

Jonathan replied, “We have not heard much of these rumours other than idle talk in the clubs, but I am sure there is much talk about it in the cities. We are now practicing in keeping to ourselves more and avoiding the limelight.”

Rose Stewart told Jonathan, “Speaking of the limelight, you are aware that your former associate in the theatre, Mr Stoker, passed away last year.”

“Yes, I saw a notice in the Sydney Mail. They had quite a story about him. I enjoyed his book, The Undead, Dracula.”

“The Authentic also enjoyed the story and was amused at your connection to it.”

“We all serve as we can.”

Over the next week, the three new Devi poured over documents they had brought from Sydney. An extensive collection of town maps, rail maps, records from the census of 1911, ship timetables and land value assessments of coast towns from Cairns in the north all down the east coast to Melbourne. They were looking for business opportunities. Either to purchase existing businesses or look for cities that needed a new business, from feedlots to livery and hardware to doctors and lawyers. The more assets they had, the easier it would be to shuffle ownership between Devi every ten to fifteen years.  

They mentioned that they were not the only ‘surveyors’ in the country and that there were three other teams. One was on a ship travelling to the outports of Darwin, Broome, Onslow and Perth. Another investigated the Port Philip area of Melbourne and Geelong along the southern coast past Portland to Adelaide. The third team had the most unenviable task of studying the continent's interior for ranching and mining opportunities. 

This third group was not as concerned with establishing businesses with cover stories as it was with creating areas to invest money and, more importantly, creating areas far away from prying eyes and social interaction, where Devi could be at ease and be themselves and perhaps even hold out the hope of raising some Devi children far away from any emotional turmoil.

This had been Devi hope in America, but due to the rapid expansion of the United States population, there were almost no truly isolated areas in North America. Isolated sheep stations that were a four-day ride from their nearest neighbour would afford the type of isolation that they sought.

Within two years, more than 200 Devi were in Australia, and it seemed to Evelyn that every one of them passed through Albury. Because of Jonathan’s skills in the printing industry, which he had demonstrated fifty years earlier in Philadelphia, Lucy Boudreau commissioned him to print up all required documentation for all new arrivals.

During those two years, war came to Europe, and England called upon all the Dominions of the Empire to contribute to the war effort. In the Albury Wodonga area, this meant an element of a home guard unit to assist in transferring war materials from one gauge of train carriages to the other. For his contribution to the effort, St Croix provided lodging to house these men in one of his hotels.

Lucy Boudreau had been correct in her prediction that war would be coming to Europe, that the Ottomans and the English would be at war, and that Russia and Germany would also be at odds.

The war was global in scope, spreading to colonies in Asia and Africa. German New Guinea and German Samoa fell to British forces without a fight. The largest battle in the Pacific rim was the Siege of Tsingtao, or the German port of Qingdao, which lasted seventy-one days, from August 27 to November 7, 1914. This battle removed all warships hostile to the English side from the Pacific Ocean and allowed for safe transit for all shipping. 

The war had started with the assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, Serbia. Still, actual war between the empires of Europe did not formally commence until the first week of August. A week later, the Panama Canal was opened.

The war dragged on for four years, and afterwards, not many substance changes were evident on the world maps. Germany had lost its overseas possessions and some land to France. The Hungarian Empire was fragmented into smaller nations, and the Ottoman Empire almost disappeared, remaining only in Turkey. The French and the British carved up the rest of their territory.

Boudreau was also correct in her prediction of a populist revolt in Czarist Russia. The monarchy had been overthrown, the royal family executed, and a new form of a collective people’s government called Communism was ruling Russia.

After almost fifteen years in Albury and working with the Australian Collette, Lucy Boudreau, to establish and settle many Devi in Australia, they received a message from the Authentic in Paris that she would like to meet with them and that they could stay in Paris for the next few years.  

Rather than taking the usual route from Australia to Europe on the Orient Steam Navigation Company lines via the Suez Canal, they chose the Commonwealth & Dominion line that sailed from New Zealand to Europe via the Panama Canal. It would take a week longer due to the travel to New Zealand and the wait for a departing ship, but it would be worth the effort to see what was being called the newest wonder and marvel of the new world, the New Colossus and most remarkable work of mankind. The ship was primarily a cargo ship with some passenger staterooms, so they chose this line as a diversion.