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eldest child and only girl in a family of three. She attended Manly West Public School and North Sydney Girls
High School where she completed her secondary education. In this period, she took music lessons and learned to
play the piano. She became a proficient pianist and organist.
As a 13 year old Beulah decided to become a Christian. When she was in her early 20s, she was called to
be a missionary. Later she recounted that she had seen an article on a tiny island called Milingimbi where the
children did not have a teacher. ‘It was a strong call of God,’ she said. The experience was to influence her entire
life. In 1949, she was admitted to the George Brown Missionary Training College of the Methodist Church at
Haberfield in Sydney for one year. This was followed by a further year of linguistic studies under the direction of
Dr Cadell of the University of Sydney. In a class of 100 Beulah was awarded the top marks.
Having been appointed as a missionary teacher to the North Australia District of the Methodist Overseas
Missions in December 1950, she flew to Darwin and then travelled by sea to Milingimbi in Arnhem Land.
She remained in this post for a period of 27 years with a furlough after each three-year period. She was five feet
six inches tall and fair-haired and especially gifted with an ear for sounds, be they vocal or instrumental.
She was determined to learn the language and on her first day at Milingimbi, while the lugger was being unloaded,
she started writing down the words that were to be her tools. As Maisie McKenzie records, ‘Her notebook and
pencil became almost part of her... She wrote down what people said and then learned it by heart. In her spare time
and when walking to school she practised, talking to herself. She then bought a tape recorder and dictated stories
and experiences’. Her musical talents were quickly acknowledged and she was given the job of church organist
and youth choir leader. When she left Milingimbi one of the students, Warmbirrirr, continued the direction of the
choir. Even though her job was teaching, she was also required to help out in the dispensary and with craftwork.
The Gupapuyngu language has a wide variety of sounds. For instance, the letter ‘n’ has six different varieties
instead of the one letter the Europeans know. But Beulah was able to hear those different nuances. She was
therefore asked to translate some of the Scriptures into Gupapuyngu. Although it was then against government
policy, the Methodist Overseas Missions believed it was better for children to be taught in the vernacular.
She translated numerous hymns and her first major translation was the gospel according to Mark. She was, as the
Reverend Arch Grant has noted, ‘greatly appreciated for this valuable work’. Beulah recognised that the local
language had contrasting stops, both voiced and voiceless. That is something unheard of in any other Aboriginal
language. To prove her point Beulah had to take informants to the Australian National University at Canberra and
it was proved with sensitive instruments that her analysis was correct. That also demonstrates Beulah’s keen sense
of hearing as well as her desire to be perfect in her work.
Because of her understanding of the white man’s world as well as the most complicated tribal laws regarding
marriage and family, she became a resource person for tribal leaders such as Djawah as well as the confidante of
young girls who had been promised to certain older men. Her intimate knowledge of the Yolngu Rom (‘Yolngu’ is
Gupapuyngu for ‘our people’ and ‘Rom’ means ‘law’) also stood her in good stead when her missionary colleagues
shared their administration and communication problems with her. Teaching in the English language was often
not suitable in Arnhem Land and Beulah taught mainly in the Gupapuyngu language. She particularly stressed the
importance of teaching adults before the children were so instructed. After further training at the Summer Institute
of Linguistics, she began to develop a phonetic alphabet and from 1958 worked full-time in language work.
In order to help new European staff learn the Aboriginal language, Beulah Lowe conducted courses for
them. The short conversational course was recorded on cassettes so that staff members could teach themselves.
Ella Shepherdson, who herself lived for 50 years in Arnhem Land has recorded the benefit. ‘In 1973 bilingual
education was introduced officially in selected schools throughout the Northern Territory. Because the mission had
pioneered language study it was relatively easy to launch effective bilingual education programmes in northeastern
Arnhem land’.
In 1961, Beulah completed her orthography of the Gupapuyngu language, the first written work on an Arnhem
Land language. Joyce Ross (later Joyce Sharman) requested a copy as she was a keen student at the missionary
training college and wanted to learn the language. Beulah freely shared her work and Joyce would telephone
Beulah to check on pronunciation. It was fortunate that Milingimbi had a telephone at the Mission office, the only
one in Arnhem Land.
The mission authorities in Darwin and Sydney did not appreciate that the Gumatj language of Yirrkala and
Galiwinku was quite different from Milingimbi Gupapuyngu but Beulah made sure that whatever was given to the
Gumatj speaking population was acceptable to them. That made it necessary for her to visit the Yolngu though it
was sometimes difficult for her to gain permission to travel so far away from her base. Joyce was later to spend
26 years at Yirrkala where she had local Aboriginal assistants who were always available whenever needed to
check up on language matters. Beulah, although popular with all the staff, always found it hard to find someone
committed to helping with the translation work, or with story writing for the school. This often delayed her work
and caused her great frustration and at times the lack of helpful linguistically inclined Aborigines made her work
all but impossible but as her room mate, Sister Jess Smith, wrote, ‘her patience and gentleness with the Yolngu
was untiring’.
Beulah always kept herself in the background and never drew attention to herself. She was offered Membership
of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services as a teacher, linguist and musician but she refused it,
commenting, ‘No, I am not worthy of such a great honour’. Several of her colleagues, when interviewed years later,
confirmed that one could not help feeling attracted to her because of her quiet charm and competent dedication,
her Christian faith and consequent unselfish service. No wonder a number of young men proposed marriage, but
none was accepted. She had found her family in the Yolngu and in all who shared her calling to serve her Lord in
a practical way.