In January 1957, some 400 years after Bartholomew Diaz discovered the ‘Cape of Storms’, and later the Huguenots settled in South Africa, Magdalena Gracie (nee Van der Westhuizen) immigrated to Australia; “Madge” as she was known by friends, came to Bali by ship from Western Australia for her first holiday, since arriving from South Africa. From being the Queen of Greece’s milliner, she knocked back plea’s to be Aage Thaarup’s head milliner, (he was milliner to the Queen of England) for the sake of not disrupting her children’s education. This was to be her first holiday in 8 years.
She fell in love with the people and their placid ways. They were mildly assertive but not aggressive. ‘Celebration was a tonic for the future as well as the bearers of the past’.
She said “you will never see an ugly person in Bali, once you see a Balinese in ceremonial costume”; words that are very true to many who have seen ritual processions to a temple, (of which there are countless numbers dotted all over the place) as these people live for their religion. Radiance exudes from the heart that shows an inner quality that is seldom seen anywhere in the world. There are exceptions but not many.
In those days Kuta was almost a shanty town, recently discovered by foreign surfing enthusiasts. There was no centralized road system such as the Ngurah Rai Bypass and the main link between Sanur and Kuta was a narrow single lane road named ‘Jalan Danau Poso’ that weaved its way in and out amongst the paddy fields. Cars use to have to pull over to the side to allow others to pass. The mode of transport was mainly taxi, bemo or horse driven cart, if one happened to be in front of you it was time to pull down the shutters and follow suit. Bali also had its ‘maniana’. Telephones were few and far between.
Religious custom insisted no dwelling could be higher than the tallest coconut palm. These were the days of the founding president, Bung Soekarno, who himself chose Bali as a favourite holiday destination. His mother was Balinese from Buleleng in the north of Bali, close to Singaraja, the former Dutch colonial capital in the north. His photographic mind was much in the order of his friend President Kennedy. Soekarno could speak nine languages. Magdalena’s ancestry went back to the De Beers of diamond fame in South Africa and this interested him much. Their conversation terminated with a genuine hand shake and the exchange of the words “tot siens” goodbye. She said Soekarno was a very charming person and was saddened to hear of his demise ten years later by a military dictator.
Magdalena lived with the imprint of Bali, fixed firmly in her mind. She had met Soekarno in Bogor, Java and learnt much from him about the enchanting Bali. Soekarno had earlier survived a failed military coup from the Celebes. Her wish was that in her twilight years opportunity would allow her to live in this atmosphere of tranquility and peace. And she did for the last ten years of her precious life.
In memory of a wonderful humanitarian and mother, the Magdalena Van der Westhuizen Foundation, chose to follow her words… “ better to give than to take and to listen rather than talk”… to establish the Foundation, (focusing on International Bible Study in Merauke, Southern Papua) in perpetuity to benefit the poor and underprivileged people in the community. Blood brothers to the Pacific Melanesians of Australia, just a boomerang’s throw across the Arafura Sea. She knew about the plight of the Papuan people from a young Papuan member of the Legian Protestant Church who picked mangoes for her. His story unfolded as she listened, intently to the history of his people.
On her insistence because she was in a wheelchair, her son later visited ‘Ignatius’ and his family and understood what he was talking about. What he saw was a revelation of a unique culture dating back more than 40,000 years. To follow were more trips. From the Bushmen of the Kalahari to the Aboriginal of Australia to the indigenous people of Papua he had followed a pattern of seeing some of the most primitive of all peoples on this planet. The interest grew when he saw pockets of the Christian faith battling against the odds but going forward in bringing outside help to improve conditions of education and health. North of the cordillera of mountains, most were protestant’s of Lutheran origin introduced by German missionaries. South was a predominance of Catholics although there has been a tendency to switch to their own charismatic interpretation of the Catholic faith.
Magdalena was a great lover of the arts, from Rembrandt to bark paintings and saw the aboriginal arts of Australia progress so successfully under promotion of the Garma Festival in the Northern Territory, an annual international event held by tribes spanning the north, from east to west ‘Garma’ had its roots as the brainchild of Professor Fred Myers, an Australian who became a resident professor at New York University. “This was a road that she said Indonesia and in particular Papua”, should take to broaden the spectrum of artistic talent of its diverse cultures; the roots were already in place with the Asmat tribe in Papua’s south.
