Margaret Ruth Morgan
Born: Melbourne
Died: Perth 21st December 2010
Margaret Ruth Morgan
For Margaret, birth was a defining moment – she was going to spend her life with Aboriginal people and in Christian service. Although she had been born in Melbourne , she was soon living at the recently established Mt Margaret Mission near Laverton, where she received loving care from her parents, Rod and Mysie Schenk. She was looked after by Wongutha aunts, uncles and playmates and was soon joined by two sisters, Esther (1926) and Elizabeth (1927) , and a brother, Roderick (1932) .
Margaret, Elizabeth and Esther with one of the Wongutha aunties at Mt Margaret Mission.
Margaret’s mother, Mysie, had grown up in a well-to-do suburb in Melbourne but adapted the gentility of her upbringing - serviettes and tablecloths, reading and literature, arts and crafts - to the dusty and ramshackle conditions of the newly established mission. Margaret and her sisters grew up speaking Wongutha and had plenty of Aboriginal friends who joined her in games, on bushwalks and out to picnics. Mt Margaret has been described as the “most successful mission in Australia” - where Wongutha people received good education, participated in social events, clubs, tennis and sporting events such as New Years’ Sports Day and were encouraged by Christian teaching. Some of Margaret’s Wongutha friends went on to be included on the Queen’s honours list like Sadie Canning, the first Aboriginal hospital matron and May O’Brien, the first Aboriginal Superintendent of Education in Western Australia.
Margaret Morgan as kindergarten teacher at Mt Margaret circa 1950
Mt Margaret missionaries also protested against the draconian state government Aboriginal policies of forced removal of children from their parents, expulsion from schools, unfair and unjust legal treatment, lack of wages, no voting rights and arbitrary arrest and removal. Mt Margaret became a safe haven for many Aboriginal people and grew to the size of a small town with its own school and hospital and industries that included goat herding, goldmining, craft and service provision. Margaret, like the rest of her family became passionate in her advocacy for Aboriginal rights and conditions – all four children became missionaries to the Wongutha people like their parents. Margaret’s book A Drop in a Bucket detailed this fascinating story and has become a touchstone history for the Wongutha people. The Wongutha people who could not be here mourn her passing and extend their support to her family.
May O’Brien, Mt Margaret
It was very sad to hear that a wonderful Mt Margaret Missionary had been called home. I thank God that I was brought up at Mt Margaret – they gave us a really good education that gave us a good start in life. They also introduced us to Jesus and he has kept me strong all these years. Margaret was an excellent kindergarten teacher and there are many ex-students and friends from Mt Margaret who still remember the blessing that she was to us. One thing for sure and that is we will see her in heaven.
Ron Harrington-Smith, Mt Margaret
No words can express the love and high esteem we have for Margaret and her family – the Schenks. Margaret taught me in kindergarten and has been a bright star in my life. I can remember her playing the squeezebox out at the Brewery Hill camp service with Reggie Johnson and Bert Thomas and, teaching arts and crafts to the women. She wrote the well-known book “A Drop in a Bucket” that tells the story of our people, reminds us of the good times we had at the mission and the Godly heritage that has been entrusted to us. There were also times to treasure when June and I visited Margaret and Keith in Hamilton Hill – they always had time for us, made us feel welcomed and encouraged us with kind words. Thinking of Margaret passing brings tears to my eyes - I’d have loved to have been there with you to pay my respects to a lady of great faith and excellent character – a star for me and my people.
The book A Drop in a Bucket showing the touring Mt Margaret Minstrels. There were three members of the band that were honoured with an MBE – Sadie Canning (lower right corner), May O’Brien and Ben Mason (top right hand corner).
Margaret and her sisters were sent far away from their beloved home to Melbourne to undertake high schooling at East Camberwell Girls’ School. A kind music teacher, Miss Thompson, offered free piano lessons to the girls and when they returned to Mt Margaret, they had a new skill to share with their friends – music! They had a great time singing and playing instruments together and eventually began “Minstrel Trips” that toured Perth and the south-west as well as longer trips to the Eastern States where they were received by governors and town mayors in grand receptions before their evening performances. Right through her life, Margaret shared her love for music – encouraging the playing of instruments, singing and harmony as well as performance. Anyone who heard her play the piano can remember the verve, zest and musicality - who can forget her wonderful renditions of songs like “There’s a Land that it Fairer than Day”?
Ruth Harris, Perth Christian Centre
Margaret’s gifts of music, storytelling, and literacy ability were a blessing to many. But there was a special gift which Robin Laughlin (nee Harris) will always remember – when she was giving her testimony before being baptised as a girl of 15, out from the congregation beamed a face full of the joy of the Lord. Robin has carried this picture of Margaret in her heart ever since. This joy of the Lord always shone through Margaret’s musical ability, storytelling, writing and rapport with young people. She lived for the glory of God.
Margaret was also a well known speaker who toured as a Christian Women’s Conventions International (CWCI) speaker sharing her messages in a unique story-telling style – much like her Wongutha friends – that combined biblical truths and practicality into yarns that spoke to the heart.
Margaret playing the piano c.1983
Peter Milnes, Nephew
When I was about 12 years old, having operations to restore my hearing and living with the Morgans, Aunty Margaret somehow found enough from her meagre finances to pay for six ukulele lessons from Mr Tozer – a professional musician. She encouraged singing and music-making in the Missionary Children’s Home even though musical tastes in the 1960s were diverging! She encouraged us to form a little band called “The Challengers” and we all gained performance confidence by accepting invitations to sing. I still love music and I can thank Aunty Margaret (as well as my mother Esther) for their loving encouragement. Aunty Margaret kept inspiring others right through her life - my children, Tim and Sarah, were both grateful to Great Aunty Margaret teaching them techniques of piano accompaniment.
“The Challenged” still singing at Margaret’s 70th birthday!
(L-R Murray Faulkner, Paul Morgan, Val Saggers & Peter Milnes)
To train as a missionary Margaret went to Melbourne Bible Institute in 1947-8. It wasn’t long before Margaret caught the eye of an ex-serviceman fellow student, Keith Morgan.
Keith and Margaret’s Wedding Day
After her marriage to Keith in 1950, they returned to Mt Margaret where Keith was involved with administrative duties as well as teaching “sloyd” (manual arts) and Margaret taught kindergarten. In the meantime, Paul was born on 11 May 1951, Bruce on 1 September 1953 and Ruth on 8 November 1956. When the Schenks (senior) retired in 1953, Keith became the Mission Superintendent until they were approached by the UAM to lead the mission in Derby in 1956. Margaret did not want to leave her beloved homeland until she read “Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.” (Deuteronomy 2:3) and so began Margaret’s role as “second mum” to so many - six years looking after approximately 60 children at the Amy Bethel home in Derby (1956-1962) – in particular Stanley Nungala and Donald and Victor Patrick – and another seven years looking after other missionary’s high school teenagers in Perth (1965 – 1971) - Murray Faulkner, Joel, John and Paul Smoker, Val, Rosie and Merrilyn Young, Joy Blythe, Norma and Judy Murray and Peter Milnes, Heather Saggers in Albany in 1972 and grandchildren in Perth.
Some of the Missionary Children’s Home boys (looking a bit older - but not as old as they are now!)
(L-R Murray Faulkner, Paul Morgan, Peter Milnes, John Smoker & Joel Smoker)
For people from so far away, Margaret and Keith tried to make these places feel like home as well as fun – volley ball, “scalextric cars”, table tennis, photography as well as lots of music. Often left alone when Keith’s job took him elsewhere, Margaret provided the hard work, love and care that went above and beyond the call of duty. Margaret’s 70th birthday was a celebration of her kindness and care for so many who organised the event.
Val Saggers (nee Young), Missionary Children’s Home
Mrs Morgan, as we all called her, was a very inclusive person and was welcoming of any who came into her home. It was “There’s the kitchen Dearies. Help yourself to anything, I’ve got some work to do”. She never smothered anyone but gave us independence to come and go. There was always a spare bed for those from afar and a cuppa. Their home was a hub and a welcoming base between the Goldfields, the Kimberleys and wherever else. All of our friends were welcome there and some found the social environment most entertaining as well as extraordinary compared to their “normal” ordered home. For us ten teenagers (total over the 7 or 8 years) plus her own three children, life was never boring. How Margaret ever walked that tight-rope of keeping us all in order was unfathomable. As well as being a mother to her own three kids, she had to run the household which included meals, shopping within a tight budget, keeping us suitably clothed, liaising with the High School, filling in with typing and accounting for Keith in his role as the State Secretary of the United Aborigines Mission, teaching Sunday School, playing and organising the weekly church music, keeping us all to study timetables as well as piano practice. Looking back we all agree we could not have done what she did at that age.
Grace Sobejko, niece
Aunty Margaret was a wonderful help to me. I remember the twinkle in her eyes as she took care of me. When I was a teenager she listened to me, told me the difficult things that needed to be said but was encouraging and helpful. Aunty Margaret was a good friend who was willing to receive my help – I helped her going around doing research in the Goldfields (My word she was well-organised!) I loved Aunty Margaret very much and I am going to miss having her around.
Keith had always been interested in radio – something that dated back to the “Mission Hour” that was sponsored by Mt Margaret Mission on 6KG back in the 1950s – and joined the Perth Christian Centre which sponsored a program on 6IX and had a vision of starting a Christian radio station. After leaving the UAM in 1971, Keith got a job with 6VA in Albany to learn the skills of radio and eventually became Assistant Manager.
The time was ripe for the initiation of Sonshine Radio after test broadcasts in 1981 and 1982 in collaboration with Rod Harris. Keith Morgan became the first full-time employee of Good News Broadcasters in 1983, and in 1984 a third test broadcast was run and Barry Grosser joined the station in 1985 as Program Director. The licence for Good News Broadcasters was finally granted in 1987, premises were purchased after a fundraising drive raised $750,000, Sonshine FM went to air in January 1988 and commenced broadcasting 24 hours a day in 1991. Margaret wrote Sonshine FM 98.5: the first 10 years (1988-1998) to chronicle this fascinating story. Well after retiring from full-time work at Sonshine, Keith and Margaret continued to provide active love, time and support to the Sonshine personnel.
Barry Grosser, Sonshine Radio
Margaret was a key person in the early days of 98.5 Sonshine FM. Not only did she work in the office alongside Keith helping prepare documentation for the license planning proposal but also for the license hearing in February 1986. She actually developed and suffered from RSI as a result of the mountains of typing!
Involvement in the off-air CareLine was a focus for her once the station was on air. Margaret also served with Keith on the Board and was always involved in the half and full days of prayer. Her book ‘98.5 Sonshine FM the First 10 years’ was an incredibly accurate account of the people and events of the station prior to coming to air on Australia Day 1988 and the following 10 years. It was written in such a way that threaded all the events together and continually led back to the fact that only God could have brought such a work together.
On a personal level, her faithfulness and solid faith in the face of adverse circumstances made Margaret stand out for me. She was an absolute inspiration and it always brought me great joy making her laugh ... even if I did have to go back and explain it until she got it! I’m extremely blessed to have known this wonderful lady!
The Board and staff of 98.5 Sonshine FM
“Margaret Morgan, together with her husband Keith, was instrumental in establishing the foundation for what 98.5 Sonshine FM is today. Margaret served as a volunteer clerk before the broadcast licence was granted, the first CareLine Co-ordinator and also as a board member for eleven years. Margaret’s invaluable contribution has enabled 98.5 Sonshine FM to impact thousands of lives for which the staff and listeners will be forever grateful.”
In spite of this lifetime of service and sacrifice, Margaret and Keith’s lives were scarred by tragedy and pain. After Keith moved to Albany in 1971, Margaret stayed on in Perth for a further 6 months to see out the school year at the Missionary Children’s Home. In 1972, they set up home in a lovely house overlooking Albany and with a regular income for the first time in their married lives. Only a little over a year later, 19 year-old Bruce was killed while riding a motor bike for the Post Office in January 1973. To help with the grief and loss, they bought a farmlet just out of Albany that they named “Brucie’s farm” which gave them a lot of solace but it was a wound that continued to hurt.
Bruce and Paul Morgan c.1971
Paul’s and Ruth’s failed marriages and baseless allegations resulted in loss of their house and loss of contact with their daughter and grandchildren. In spite of the intense pain, Margaret was able to draw comfort from her faith in Christ, grow as a person and continue to show love and concern for others. People who went to their house in Hamilton Hill came away “blessed” and happy. Paul and Chrissy took on the role of major carers for Margaret and Keith and provided the necessary support in their latter years. Even coming over to Queensland at an advanced age did not dim Margaret’s enjoyment of life.
Genevieve Milnes, friend and family member
Margaret Morgan was a dedicated and businesslike professional who showed me how to attain great things with a humble heart. In her later years she encouraged me to speak up with courage. She believed in me. There was not one occasion on seeing Margaret that she did not affirm me as a Clinical Psychologist, encourage me to continue broadcasting and inspire me to greater things. Several times I journeyed across to Fremantle (usually from Murdoch University) to spend time and prayer with Margaret and Keith when they were going through very difficult times. I consider Margaret to be a role model, someone who persevered through suffering, who fought against wrong, who achieved amazing literary feats and yet always had time to share her heart with me. Thank you Margaret for your indomitable and God-honouring life.
Margaret was widely respected and greatly loved as a “second mother”, passionate in her support for the underprivileged, encouraging to those who needed a helping hand, fervent in her Christian faith, enthusiastic for life and an inspiration to others. Margaret will be missed.
Keith and Margaret at her 70th birthday
God be with you till we meet again;
By his counsels guide, uphold you,
With his sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.
Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus' feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.
Text: Jeremiah E. Rankin, 1828-1904
Music: William G. Tomer, 1833-1896
Music: William G. Tomer, 1833-1896
Booklet compiled by Peter Milnes
