William Murray RULE

RULE, William Murray (1921-1997), missionary, linguist, cofounder of Youth For Christ in Newcastle.

William Murray Rule (b. Greenwich, North Sydney, NSW, 16 February 1921- died Newcastle, NSW, 12 January 1997), the eldest child in a family of 4, 2 boys (Murray and Doug) and 2 girls (Joan and Peggy). It was a Christian family belonging to a Brethren Assembly known as the Glanton meeting. His father, John William Rule, an accountant had named him William Murray after his paternal grand father, as was the tradition in the Rule clan of the Scottish border country. His mother, Rosa, however, announced he would be known as Murray.

From earliest childhood he showed a love for nature and for trains. He and his grandson Kris used to have challenge matches naming stations in turn. His father was bankrupted during the Depression, and went interstate for some years until he could recover financially. This left Murray at 11 years of age with unusual responsibility: his aunt reported that his mother relied on him heavily. Around this time at the little Brethren Sunday School he gradually put his trust in Jesus as his saviour; he often sang a chorus from those days, "All my sins are laid on Jesus, I will serve and follow him."

A good student, he went on to the selective North Sydney Boys High, and won a Scholarship out of the Intermediate Certificate into the Public Service. After a short time he was transferred into the NSW Tourist Bureau in Martin Place, remaining in tourism until he resigned to train for PNG. When World War II broke out he joined the 5th Division of the A.I.F, enlisting on 26 June 1942. After a time in Queensland went on to PNG, Dobodura, Lae, Finschafen, and finally over to the Halmaheras at Morotai. He was there with HQ, 1 Australian Corps, when the war ended, being discharged on 16 Jan 1946 with the rank of Warrant Officer, Class 2.

As a youth he was a shy person, but once in the army, he learned to give and enjoy mateship and found some good Christian friends, especially in Morotai. After the war he rejoined the NSW Public Service, and was transferred to Newcastle to manage the NSW government Tourist Bureau, first at City Hall and later at David Jones (then Scotts). He later said, "I stood on Scott St and thought, I only know one person in this whole city and he's a very old man." Hearing of a combined churches Hyman Appelman campaign about to be held, Murray attended the organisation meeting and was appointed campaign treasurer. "They didn't know me from a bar of soap. I could've been a crook about to abscond with the funds." In this connection he formed life long friendships, from amongst which (with Ray Meade, Roy Glover, Roger O'Donnell, and Ray Moore) the friends organised the first branch of ‘Youth for Christ’ in Australia. Their aims were to bring young Christians of all denominations together for one Saturday night a month and to help other young people to come to know the Lord. They met first in Tyrrell Hall and then in the Methodist Mission Hall in King St (now the Mission Theatre). The five fellows had early morning prayer meetings every Saturday morning. Their meetings grew to ‘pack out’ the mission hall, seeing hundreds of conversions among the youth.

Ray Moore was wont to say to his sister, Joan (away teaching at the Wagga Teachers College), "There's this fellow called Murray Rule and boy does he get things done. You ought to meet him." Joan finally met him on the back verandah one Saturday morning having just returned from the beach in an old T-shirt and her brother's old fishing shorts. Murray walked through the back gate, looked at this girl and realised, ‘that's the girl God has for me to marry’. He discontinued his existing relationship that night. Murray and Joan were married on 12 August 1950 in Park Street Methodist Church, Mereweather, where Joan was a member. They both had felt led to missionary linguistic work in New Guinea, and had trained at the S.I.L .. They applied to and were accepted by the Unevangelised Fields Mission (now the Asia Pacific Christian Mission) and – as there was no other way in or out -- arrived at Lake Kutubu by flying boat on 2 May 1951. It was the beginning of a lifetime of language learning and teaching. Both subsequently obtained Masters degrees in linguistics. Murray's thesis, a comparison of the Foi, Huli and Erave languages of the Southern Highlands of PNG was accepted and published as a monograph in Oceania. In their work among the Foi and elsewhere, Murray was a brilliant grammarian while Joan took responsibility for phonetics and alphabet construction. Though linguists, the missionary context required them to turn their hand to everything. A church emerged, Murray built and ran a bible-school, kept a launch going, kept an airstrip open, and counselled innumerable people.

While at Lake Kutubu the couple had three children: Margaret, Stefanie and Richard. The mission station would remain a place of fond memories, of jungle treks, picnics on the lake and serious family games of scrabble under the tilly lamp. On many occasions they found themselves huddling under the small roof of the old launch or under a small thatched-roofed hut in the jungle for relief from a torrential downpour. The children went off to boarding school from the age of 8 but would return home for the school holidays. They finally stopped making the regular trips back to P.N.G. after they completed secondary schooling in Australia. The three children would give them 8 grandchildren.

In the 1960s, Murray and Joan were appointed missions language consultants, a position which took them throughout the Western Province, the Southern Highlands, and to Irian Jaya, working on some thirty six different languages. Murray was was fluent in five different languages, according to Foe people speaking Foe as Foe man! The New Testament in the Foi language was finally released in September 1978: the first edition sold out quickly, followed by a second edition and third printings.

In 1979, with the church functioning well, they were transferred to the Dauli Teachers College where Murray spent four years as chaplain, Christian Education lecturer and (because he spoke Huli fluently), administrator for Huli kitchen staff, bringing order, solvency and harmony into what had been a very unsettled situation. When he retired, and left Dauli, the entire student body walked out of lectures, formed a huge semi-circle and wept loudly.

After a memorable trip to Israel, the Rules returned to PNG where they spent an additional eight years in urban ministry in Mendi. The Mendi jail was transformed by conversions among prisoners and wardens. Returning to Newcastle in 1991, the Rules attended St Phillips Anglican Church Waratah for morning service and Merewether Uniting Church for evening service (where Murray was an elder). Murray was active in personal work and visiting, and in supporting the cause in PNG. He returned every year for four or five weeks to visit the Foi villages, encourage the church and teach at the CLTC at Banz. In 1992 the Chevron Oil Company, commissioned him to write a book, The culture and language of the Foi, published in 1993.

While at CLTC in Banz, the lymphoma flared up again. He finished his lectures, the final week of which was a series for the pastors of all the surrounding churches. He was in a lot of pain however and came home in a wheel chair and straight to hospital where he remained, except for two days, when he was allowed home.

His energy, evangelistic zeal, enthusiasm, love for the Lord and love for people was manifest to all. His heroes were Daniel of the Old Testament of the Bible and John Wesley of eighteenth century England. He admired them for their totally uncompromising faith in God, their commitment to the Christian cause, their devotion to prayer and Bible study and their amazing courage in the face of extreme opposition.

Murray died just before 10 o'clock on Sunday evening.

Sources:

Richard Rule, Eulogy, http://www.outbackpatrol.com.au/eulogy.htm, accessed 24.11.2010

Australian War Memorial Records

Joan Rule, Beyond the limestone barrier, South Tamworth, N.S.W. : DSAMC Education, 2001.