Elizabeth Galloway Bell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Galloway Bell | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | Elizabeth Watson 16 September 1911 |
| Died | 16 March 2007 (aged 95) Richmond, Victoria |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Buddhism |
Elizabeth Galloway Bell OAM (10 September 1911 – 16 March 2007) (née Watson) was an Australian buddhist and president of the Buddhist Society of Victoria for twenty years. She also served as chair of the Buddhism Federation of Australia, and editor of the journal Metta. She helped organize the first visit of the Dalai Lama to Australia, and was a delegate to the World Conference on Religions for Peace, held in Melbourne in 1984. She received the medal of the Order of Australia in 1999 for her contributions to Buddhism in Australia.
Elizabeth Watson was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 16 September 1911.[1] Her parents, William and Christina Watson,[2] had emigrated to Australia from Scotland in 1907. Her father was a ship's master. Bell was their eldest daughter. A son, Thomas, was born two years later.[3] She attended Coburg High School, and worked in a flower shop.
Bell married Graeme Bell, a jazz musician, in 1946. Graeme Bell was one of the early pioneers of jazz in Australia. At the time of their marriage, Graeme had his own band, the Dixieland Jazz Band, which was growing in popularity.[4] In 1947, they were invited to play at the World Youth Festival in Czechoslovakia; they stayed oversees for a year and toured in Europe.[5] Bell joined her husband while his band was touring. In 1950, while again traveling overseas, Bell gave birth to their only child, Christina, in England.[3] Bell and Graeme later divorced.[2] Graeme moved to Sydney, and remarried. Bell stayed in Victoria, and raised their daughter there.[3]
Among her other interests, Bell wrote poetry, and her poem "Ern Malley's Sister" was published in Quadrant magazine in 2006.[6]
Bell died on 16 March 2007, in Richmond, Victoria, at age 95.[1]
