Jim Phillips
Image: Roylyn Phillips
FatherJohn Phillips b. 25 Jul 1863, d. 6 Aug 1925
MotherEllen O'Loughlin b. 26 Mar 1869, d. 24 Jun 1951
Pedigree

Birth, Death, Marriage

James Phillips was born on 26 November 1904 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria.1,2 
He married Cerise de Pagny, daughter of Harold de Pagny and Mary Jane Hutchinson, on 26 March 1932 in Shepparton, Victoria.3,4,5 
He married Jean Amy Birkin, daughter of John Birkin and Mary Louisa Alberta Strong, on 5 August 1958 in St Kilda, Victoria.6,7,8 
He died on 11 August 1985 in Essendon, Victoria, at age 80.9,10 

Family 1

Cerise de Pagny b. 1902, d. 22 Nov 1954
Child

Family 2

Jean Amy Birkin b. 1900, d. 1968
ChartsO'Loughlin, Michael, descendant chart
Phillips, James, descendant chart

Story

Jim was a railway man for all his working life. He met his first wife Reece (Cerise) and second wife Bonnie (Jean) at the Bacchus Marsh railway station. Jim and Reece had one daughter. He was stationed at several places around Victoria before spending most of his working life at Warragul.
 
James was born in Bacchus Marsh on 26 November 1904. He was the seventh child of Ellen and John. He was known as Jim.2,1
 
When Jim was born, his father worked for the railways in Bacchus Marsh, and they lived in likely a railway house in Turner St.

All the children attended St Bernard's school or St Joseph's Convent school.11
 
In 1890 four sisters of the order of St Joseph's, arrived from Sydney to act as educators. A house was purchased for them to use as a convent and high class ladies' school. In time, a detached schoolhouse was erected at the site and it was then that the students were relocated for the last time to our current site in Gisborne Rd - St Bernard's School.

Our beautiful convent was erected in 1900 with classes being held in the downstairs area and the upper floor being used as convent and boarding school. The attached chapel was built in 1905.

St Bernard's was the first Catholic school to be run by the Sisters of St Joseph, founded by Saint Mary MacKillop. Mary would often visit the convent on her journeys between Sydney and Melbourne and past students fondly remembered her handing out boiled lollies to the children.12
 
In 1908, the family moved into the gatehouse on Vallence Rd.13,14
Railway gatehouse (Phillips family home), Vallence Rd, Bacchus Marsh
Image: Bacchus Marsh & District Historical Society
The gatehouse was next to the railway line on the north-east corner of the Vallence Rd crossing (this crossing was removed in 2004). It was a small four-roomed house, and the older boys slept in a tent in the back yard.

The children would play with any children nearby or who were known through school or St Bernard's church. There was a strong connection with all the Vallence families with a number living nearby including Nell, Eddie, Amy and Harry, who were just over the railway line. Lifelong friendships were known between the Phillips children and Vallences. And Mary married Bill Vallence.

The wide age range of the children, nineteen years to the day between the eldest and youngest, created an interesting household. Larry was working as a hairdresser before Eileen was born. He married when Eileen was just three, and made her Auntie Eileen at age four, before she started school.

During and following the First World War, the children gradually started leaving home.

Larry was first to leave the gatehouse, around 1914. About five years later he was followed by Tess and Tom. Last to leave home from the gatehouse was Mary in 1923.15,16,17
 
Sunnyside
When their father died in 1925, the children still at the gatehouse, Jack, Joe, Jim, Annie, Danny and Eilie, moved with their mother to a recently completed house on Vallence Rd. This house was on the north-facing side of a hill and they named it 'Sunnyside'. In later years, nephews and nieces all referred to it as 'the house on the hill'. It was a twin weatherboard house with a covering between the two sections.

It is possible Jack and Joe stayed in the gatehouse for a couple of years after the others left, as Jack is shown as still at the gatehouse in 1926 and 1927, and Joe was still in Bacchus Marsh.18,17,19,20,21,22,23,24
 
Jim Phillips
Image: Rene Barnes
Marriage and Family
Cerise de Pagny and James Phillips were married at St Brendan's church in Shepparton on 26 March 1932. They had one child.

Jim's brother Tom was best man.5,3,4
 
Molly Gaffy, Jim, Reece (Cerise de Pagney) & Tom Phillips, Mar 1932
Image: Laurie & Lorraine Phillips
Image: Shepparton Advertiser
Jim met Reece at the refreshment rooms in the Bacchus Marsh railway station where she worked.20
 
Railway Man Like His Father
Like his father, Jim was a railway man for all of his working life. But where his father worked on the tracks, Jim worked on the trains.9,25
 
Jim joined the railways on 4 April 1927 with departmental no. 32464, and in January 1929 was on a salary of 14s 9d (about $1.48). He was a 'vanman' (guard), which he remained for the rest of his working life.2
 
It is believed he was first stationed at Woomelang about 20 km east of Hopetoun on the Mildura line.

In 1931, he was living in Station St, Korumburra, about 100 km south-east of Melbourne. At the time of his 1932 marriage, he was living in Lang Lang, about 75 km south-east of Melbourne.26,27,28,4
 
Not long after Jim and Reece married, Jim was stationed at Murchison. He was there for a couple of years and they lived in Station St, Murchison.29,30,31,32
 
I stayed with them [Jim and Reece] in Murchison for a day or two when Jim was stationed there. I remember pushing Beverley in a pram up the street to get a few things for them. Bev's age will tell you what year that was. Jim would let me ride in the guards van with him and all the goods, crates of chooks, cats, dogs, birds, anything the rail used to carry those days which was nearly anything. Wouldn't happen today, those were the days. [Laurie Phillips]33
 
In September 1936, Ellen stayed with Jim and Reece in Murchison. Danny was in Una hospital in Shepparton at the time, and he planned to return to Bacchus Marsh with his mother for a holiday.30,34
 
Jim was then stationed for a couple of years at Seymour (they lived in Anzac Ave, Seymour) and Ultima before moving to Warragul where he remained for most of his working life.29,35
 
Joe would sometimes head to Bacchus Marsh to see Jim and the family but not buy a train ticket. If he got caught, he'd say he was Jim's brother and everything was all right. [Laurie Phillips]36
 
It has been said that Jim was the only one of the six Phillips boys who was not an SP bookmaker.9,25
 
One day at Bacchus Marsh, Jim tried on Jack's coat. When he put his hand in the pocket he pulled out a wad of notes that you couldn't even get your hand around. [Bev Scott]9
Jim & Jack Phillips
Image: Roylyn Phillips
In 1949, Jim, Reece and daughter Bev were living at the railway station in Warragul. By 1954, they were in Alford St.37,38
 
Perhaps encouraged by his access to cheap rail travel, Jim often returned to the Marsh. Several days every holiday, he would go to Bacchus Marsh and with Mary would cut the huge Cypres Pine hedge at the Millbank St house. Jim and Mary both lost partners very early and were quite close.29
 
Jim and Bonnie
Jean Higgins and James Phillips were married at Sacred Heart church in St Kilda on 5 August 1958. Jean was a widow with three adult children and Jim was a widower with one adult child.

Jim and Bonnie met at the refreshment rooms in the Bacchus Marsh railway station where she worked. This is the same way Jim met his first wife.6,7,8
 
Jim and Bonnie lived in Dorothy Ave, Glenhuntly from at least 1963 to 1968. In the electoral rolls for this period, Jim gives his occupation as railway employee.39,40,41
 
Bonnie died in Melbourne East in 1968.42
 
Jim and Frank were car enthusiasts and sometimes went to the Bathurst car races together. Frank was also a mororbike racing enthusiast and had raced motorbikes when he was young. He went to the Bathurst car races every year.43
 
Jim and Frank were petrol heads. Each year they'd round up the local parish priest who was also a petrol head, and head to Bathurst for the car races. On Sunday, the priest would say mass for the Paddys. [Laurie Phillips]36
 
Three siblings: Tess O'Loughlin (Phillips), Eileen Redden (Phillips) and Jim Phillips. The occasion is unknown, perhaps simply coinciding with one of Eileen's visits to Victoria from Western Australia.
Tess O'Loughlin (Phillips), Eileen Redden (Phillips) & Jim Phillips
Image: Eileen Redden
James Phillips died in Essendon on 11 August 1985, aged 80.44,9
 

Citations

  1. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, 'Jas' Phillips entry, birth registration no. 22798, 1904.
  2. [S244] Victoria Government Gazette, 1836-1997, 'Phillips, James' entry, 8 July 1929, p. 2129.
  3. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, 'Jas' Phillips and 'Cerise de Pagny' entry, marriage registration no. 1166, 1932.
  4. [S600] James Phillips and Cerise de Pagny, marriage registration no. 1166, 26 March 1932.
  5. [S201] 'Phillips-De Pagny', Shepparton Advertiser, 1914-1953, newspaper, Thomas Pettit and William Callender, 31 March 1932, p. 3, viewed 30 June 2020, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174048790
  6. [S37] Margaret Deveney, personal communication, 11 March and 14 April 1996.
  7. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, James Phillips and Jean Higgins entry, marriage registration no. 13668, 1958.
  8. [S602] James Phillips and Jean Higgins, marriage registration no. 13668, 5 August 1958.
  9. [S61] Beverley Scott, personal communication, 12 July 1996.
  10. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, James Phillips, death registration no. 20697, 1985.
  11. [S318] Bacchus Marsh & District Historical Society, personal communication, 3 November 2013.
  12. [S2] 'History', St Bernard's Parish Primary School, online, St Bernard's Parish Primary School, Bacchus Marsh, August 2021, viewed 12 September 2021.
  13. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Corio, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1908.
  14. [S1] Ellen has two electoral roll entries for 1908, one as homeduties in Bacchus Marsh and one as gatewoman in Maddingley, so we have assumed this is the year she started work as a gatewoman.
  15. [S318] Bacchus Marsh & District Historical Society, personal communication, 8 November 2013.
  16. [S38] Lynette Dow, personal communication, 18 December 1996.
  17. [S331] Joan McClure, personal communication, 11 December 2013.
  18. [S32] Laurie Phillips, personal communication, December 2013.
  19. [S44] Roylyn Phillips, personal communication, 13 March 1996.
  20. [S37] Margaret Deveney, personal communication, 11 March 1996.
  21. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Ballaarat, Victorian division of Bulla, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1926.
  22. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Ballaarat, Victorian division of Grant, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1927.
  23. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Ballaarat, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1926.
  24. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Ballaarat, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1927.
  25. [S32] Laurie Phillips, personal communication, 20 July 1996.
  26. [S1] The Victorian electoral roll for 1927 shows only one James Phillips with a railway occupation and he lived at Woomelang.
  27. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Wimmera, subdivision of Hopetoun, 1927.
  28. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Gippsland, subdivision of Korumburra, 1931.
  29. [S61] Beverley Scott, personal communication, 14 July 1996.
  30. [S201] 'The Social Round: Social notes', Shepparton Advertiser, 1914-1953, newspaper, Thomas Pettit and William Callender, 14 September 1935, p. 7, viewed 25 June 2020, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175420415
  31. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Echuca, Victorian division of Waranga, subdivision of Rushworth, 1936.
  32. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Bendigo, Victorian division of Waranga, subdivision of Rushworth, 1937.
  33. [S281] 'Phillips Family', Facebook, webpage, Facebook Inc, group created 25 June 2011, comment by Laurie Phillips in response to 11 January 2012 post by Irene Barnes.
  34. [S201] 'Personal', Shepparton Advertiser, 1914-1953, newspaper, Thomas Pettit and William Callender, 14 September 1935, p. 4, viewed 25 June 2020, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175420457/…
  35. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Deakin, Victorian division of Upper Goulburn, subdivision of Seymour,1943.
  36. [S32] Laurie Phillips, personal communication, 10 August 2020.
  37. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, Commonwealth division of Trafalgar, Victorian division of McMillan, subdivision of Warragul, 1949.
  38. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of McMillan, subdivision of Warragul, 1954.
  39. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Henty, subdivision of Glenhuntly, 1963.
  40. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Henty, subdivision of Glenhuntly, 1967.
  41. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Henty, subdivision of Glenhuntly, 1968.
  42. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Jean Amy Phillips entry, death registration no. 26365, 1968.
  43. [S615] Carmel Lawrence, personal communication, 14 August 2020.
  44. [S250] Death Index Victoria 1921-1985: Index to deaths in Victoria, CD-ROM, Macbeth Genealogical Services, 1998, death registration no. 20697.