Dedication to the ‘hidden people’

By Deb Fox  |  Wycliffe Today Spring 2024 Edition  |

Des and Jenny Oatridge, c1980.

Wycliffe Australia celebrates the lives of Des and Jenny Oatridge who both recently passed on to glory. Their legacy lives on after a lifetime dedicated to the Binumarien people, a remote people group in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). 

Des, a plumber from New Zealand and Jenny, a midwife from Brisbane, met at Bible College (Melbourne Bible Institute, now Melbourne School of Theology) in 1953. They attended the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) School where Des’s phenomenal talent for phonetics was recognised and his relationship with Jenny grew. 

Des travelled to PNG in 1956 where his plumbing skills helped establish the centre at Ukarumpa. Des and Jenny were married in Brisbane in 1957 and moved to PNG in 1958. For the next 26 years, they made their home among the Binumarien people. 

Des’s skills as a plumber and handyman and Jenny’s background as a nurse and midwife had an immediate impact on improving the health and the quality of life in the community. Yet what they were most excited about was helping the Binumarien people understand God’s Word in their own language.

The Binumarien New Testament was completed in 1984. This was possible because of the years the Oatridges invested in language learning, developing a writing system for the language, translating the New Testament and promoting literacy across all age groups, starting with the elders. 

The Oatridge family outside their home in Papua New Guinea.

Before the Oatridges arrived, years of fighting, violence and disease had decimated the Binumarien population from 3000 to just 111 people. Yet the arrival of the New Testament brought healing and forgiveness, and the Binumarien population has now grown to more than 1000. The family of one of Des’s original language consultants, Tuluo, continues to work on the Old Testament translation. 

Barry Borneman, speaking at Des’s service, reflected on ‘Uncle Des’. Despite struggling with school, Des became a master teacher. His uncanny talent for phonetics and mimicking sounds was a huge help when constructing the alphabet and dictionary to record the Binumarien language, especially when he realised that Binumarien was a tonal language.

The Oatridge extended family meeting the Binumarien people.

Barry went on to share:

The Oatridges purposely chose the smallest language group because they wanted to show that the ‘weak and insignificant’ still mattered to God. It was not so much what Des and Jenny did that caught my attention, but how they did it that left an indelible mark. The Oatridges brought the Binumariens from being a pre-literate community to a literate one. Now there are new generations going to university! 

During Des’s service, a video message was played from the Binumarien village where the Oatridges had lived. An elder, FauFau, said through tears how grateful he was that God sent them to him and his people. 

Des went to be with the Lord at the age of 95 on 24 June, followed just 16 days later by his dear wife Jenny on 10 July (aged 94). The services to honour their lives were held by Bethel Funerals at Reedy Creek Baptist Church and Allembe Gardens (Gold Coast), with friends and colleagues joining their family in person and online. Our thoughts and prayers are with Des and Jenny’s children Ruth, Rosemary, Doug, Rob and Jean and their families. 

Donations can be made to the Binumarien Old Testament Translation fund. 

Binumarien Old Testament Translation – PNG – Wycliffe Australia