 He attended Gorae state primary school but left after attaining his Qualifying Certificate to help his parents on the farm.He soon began making botanical surveys of the Portland area, as well as engaging in other natural history activities such as the study of Australian native bees, surveys of bone deposits in caves and the examination of beach-washed seabirds.In the 1940s he discovered a new triggerplant species, "Stylidium beaugleholei", and set up a herbarium which grew to eventually contain over 23,000 specimens.