 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
MARGARET ROWLING
1897—1981
Margaret Rowling, a devoted handmaiden Of Bahá’u’lláh whose service to the Faith extended over more than forty years, was one of three who joined the Faith in Sydney, Australia, in 1938 when there were only fifteen members in the community. Margaret held a job in the Public Service of New South Wales which for some years kept her in Sydney where she took an active part in local Bahá’í affairs.
In 1953 she attended the Intercontinental Conference in India and there determined to respond to the call for pioneers to the Pacific areas. After returning to Australia she worked enthusiastically 0n the committee concerned with obtaining information about the islands of the Pacific and when she retired from her employment in 1954 at the age of fifty—five she left for Noumea as a pioneer.
A detailed listing of Margaret’s itinerary over the years of her faithful and loving service in the Pacific area would require extensive research. In the period between 1956 and 1975 she was almost constantly in motion, her travels taking her to Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Noumea and the Cook Islands. In 1957 she was appointed a member of the Auxiliary Board for Protection and in 1963 was elected to the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific.
It was on her return to Australia from the 1953 conference in India that Margaret began her study of the French language as a preparation for her pioneeting work in the Pacific. Her long service in the French-speaking islands was invaluable; she made many friends and was highly thought of. For several years, while serving as secretary of the New Caledonian Assembly, she was the only member who could speak both English and French. One ever-recurring problem during her time in the Pacific was the need to move constantly
Margaret Rowling
because a visa for a French area was granted for six months only.
In 1967, after attending the convention in Noumea, she came to Sydney in October for the Intercontinental Conference. In 1971 she visited Suva and other Fijian Bahá’í communities, attending the Oceanic Conference in May of that year. In the 19705 Margaret spent much of her time in Sydney, for her health was failing and she had to undergo operations on her eyes; however, she visited Fiji again in September 1974 and March 1975.
Following her retirement Margaret was free to give her full attention and time to the service of Bahá’u’lláh and for nearly twenty years she travelled as a Bahá’í teacher. Her work was concentrated mainly in Fiji. New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. In terms of Pacific Island travel she was unrivalled. She was eloquent, direct in her manner, persevering and self—effacing. Her mode of life, involving constant travel, was frugal and there was great simplicity in the requirements of her daily life. Her unassuming attitude towards life, combined with her other qualities, gave
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
her a dignity which attracted many seeking souls to the Faith.
During her years of failing health in Sydney Margaret often spoke of her wish to return to her beloved island friends. Shortly before her passing on 28 April 1981 the Sydney friends received a telephone enquiry from Noumea: a New Caledonian believer was anxiously enquiring about the well-being of his Bahá’í teacher, Margaret, whom he wished to see once again. Learning that she was very ill, he came at once to Sydney and was deeply touched that despite her weakness and loss of memory she recognized him and spoke his name.
In a memorial service held in her honour at the Mother Temple of the Antipodes on 22 August 1981 Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were read whose reality Margaret Rowling had exemplified: May they arise to serve Thee and dedicate themselves to the Kingdom of Thy divinity . . . and spreadfar and wide Thy signs
. . may they spread wide the pinions of unity and by their aid soar upward to the Kingdom of Thy singleness to become servants whom the Supreme Concourse will applaud, whose praises the dwellers in Thine all-glorious realm will utter . . .1
(Based on a memoir by MERLE and JAMES HEGGIE)
