Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

Eugenie Estelle Nolan was born in 1919 in Stawell, Victoria.1 
She married Laurence Henry Phillips, son of Laurence Lee Phillips and Ruby Barnes, on 14 March 1944 in Melbourne, Victoria.2 

Family

Laurence Henry Phillips b. 22 Dec 1915, d. 21 Jan 2007
Children
ChartsO'Loughlin, Michael, descendant chart
Phillips, James, descendant chart

Story

Dry Cleaner
Apart from his five years of military service, Laurie was a dry cleaner all his working life.

He began as a dry cleaner in Swan Hill, and continued there for several years after the war. In the early 1950s, he was manager of Gouge Dry Cleaning in Shepparton, before continuing later in the decade in Warrnambool.

While in Shepparton, Laurie and Gene drank at the Hotel Australia run by his Uncle Tom and cousins.3,4,5,6,7
 
Marriage and Family
Eugenie Estelle Nolan and Laurence Henry Phillips were married at 111 Collins St in Melbourne on 14 March 1944. They had two children.

Laurie and Gene (Eugenie) were married at a Regimental Aid post. When Laurie had the first of several bouts of malaria while serving in the tropics, he was evacuated to the Australian General Hospital in Heidelberg. While he was in Melbourne, he and Gene decided it would be a good time for them to get married. They hastily organised a church and hired a wedding dress and flowers. Gene travelled down by train from Swan Hill with her mother and sister, and Laurie's brother Allan. But it didn't go according to plan.8,2,9,10
 
Love Did Find a Way
Pte AL [sic: LH] Phillips and Mrs Phillips photographed at Heidelberg Hospital after their marriage at a Regimental Aid Post on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning Pte Phillips, on leave from New guinea, collapsed in the city with a sudden attack of malaria. He reached a Regimental Aid Post with a temperature of 104. Told he must go to the hospital, Pte Phillips protested that he was getting married that afternoon - and then things started to happen. The bride, Miss Eugeanie Estelle Nolan, of Swan Hill, informed the officiating minister (the Rev W Ramshaw) of the sudden development. Collecting the best man and relatives who had begun to arrive at Christ Church, Hawthorn, Mr Ramshaw rushed them by taxi to the city but could not find the Regimental Aid Post. It was not until 7 pm that the tangle was sorted out and the ceremony performed. Then the bridegroom was whisked to hospital.9
Pte Laurence Henry Phillips and Mrs Eugenie Estelle Phillips, Heidelberg Hospital, Mar 1944
Image: Herald
There Was He, Waiting At The R.A.P.
Pte, LH Phillips - on leave from New Guinea - collapsed with a sudden attack of malaria in the City yesterday morning, and staggered to an Army Regimental Aid post with a temperature of 104.

"It's hospital for you, my lad," said the sister-in-charge.

"Oh, no, you can't do that," Pte Phillips protested, "I'm getting married this afternoon."

And then things started to move!

The bride, Miss Eugeanl [sic] Estelle Nolan, of Swan Hill, informed the officiating minister (the Rev WE Ramshaw) of the change of plans. He collected the best man, also a soldier, relatives and friends who had begun to arrive at Christ Church, Hawthorn, and bundled them into a taxi.

But then fate took a hand. Somehow the address of the Regimental Aid post was confused and instead of going to the Union Bank Building at the top end of Collins Street the party went to the National Bank Building.

And there it remained for two hours. Scouting parties were sent out and innumerable inquiries made, but the Regimental Aid post could not be located. Neither could the bride and groom.

Reluctantly Mr Ramshaw gave up and returned to his Hawthorn vicarage to find that a certain Regimental Aid post had been ringing frantically. He called back, a car was rushed out, and at 7 pm he found the bride and groom waiting anxiously.

There was no time to round up Ihe best man and other members of the bridal party.

So, with the groom supported in bed by the sister-in-charge of the post, with tlie bride on the left at the head of the bed, and as congregation a few relatives who had been fortunate enough to find the right address, the ceremony was performed.

Immediately the marriage was over the bridegroom was carried from the room, placed in an ambulance and whisked off to Heidelberg Hospital.

When at last Mr Ramshaw got home for the second time the phone rang. It was the best man.

"Have you found them yet?" he asked.

"Found them," said Mr Ramshaw, "why, I've just married them!"10
 
In later years, when things weren't going his way, Laurie joked that he wasn't really married because he was delirious and didn't say 'I do' at the ceremony. [Kaye Hunter]8
 

Citations

  1. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, 'Eugene Estelle' Nolan entry, birth registration no. 30991, 1919.
  2. [S573] Laurence Henry Phillips and Eugeanie Estelle Nolan, marriage registration no. 2539, 14 March 1944.
  3. [S193] Trevor L Phillips, personal communication, 24 September 2004.
  4. [S335] 'Phillips Laurence Henry', B883 Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers 1939-1947, control symbol VX41253, service record, 1940-1945.
  5. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, 1954, division of Murray, subdivision of Shepparton.
  6. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, 1963, division of Wannon, subdivision of Warrnambool.
  7. [S383] Kaye Hunter, personal communication, 15 June 2013.
  8. [S383] Kaye Hunter, personal communication, 18 December 2014.
  9. [S467] 'Love did find a way', Herald, 1855-1990, newspaper, FB Franklyn & Co, 16 March 1944, p. 3, viewed 2 May 2020, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245326626
  10. [S467] 'There was he, waiting at the RAP', Herald, 1855-1990, newspaper, FB Franklyn & Co, 15 March 1944, p. 3, viewed 2 May 2020, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245329952
  11. [S193] Trevor L Phillips, personal communication.