Tess O'Loughlin (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

Teresa Ellen Phillips was born on 27 August 1895 in Lillimur, Victoria.1,2 
She married Thomas Joseph O'Loughlin on 12 February 1919 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria.3 
She died on 7 May 1982 in Fawkner, Victoria, at age 86.2,4 

Family

Thomas Joseph O'Loughlin b. 19 Jan 1894, d. 6 Jun 1957
Children
ChartsO'Loughlin, Michael, descendant chart
Phillips, James, descendant chart

Story

Tess was born in Lillimur in Western Victoria. She grew up in Bacchus Marsh, where she married Tom O'Loughlin. Tess and Tom raised a family of four girls in the Essendon area. She was a well-loved member of the extended Phillips family, who was always willing to step in and help. She left fourteen grandchildren and several great grandchildren.
 
Teresa Ellen Phillips was born in Lillimur in western Victoria on 27 August 1895. She was the third child of Ellen and John. The family uses Theresa and Teresa interchangeably, but she was known as Tess.1,2
 
When Tess was born, her father worked for the railways around Nhill, and they likely lived in a railway house in Lillimur.

At age two, she moved with the family to likely another railway house in Bacchus Marsh. All the children attended St Bernard's school or St Joseph's Convent school.5,6
 
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.7
 
Teresa Phillips awarded 3rd place.8
Bacchus Marsh agricultural show, 28 October 1908
In 1908, the family moved into the gatehouse on Vallence Rd.9,10
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 1923.11,12,13
 
Following school, Tess worked as a seamstress. By 1919 she was living in Parwan Rd. Tess also worked as a waitress; perhaps this is how she met Tom O'Loughlin.2,14
 
Marriage and Family
Teresa Ellen Phillips and Thomas Joseph O'Loughlin were married at St Bernard's church in Bacchus Marsh on 12 February 1919. They had four children.

Witnesses to the marriage were Augustino Ryan and Tess's sister Mary.

At the time of the marriage, Tess was living in Parwan Rd, having moved out of the family's gatehouse home. On the marriage regsitration Tom gave his current and usual address as Wallan, though a newspaper marriage notice said he was living in Abbotsford Rd, North Melbourne where he had been living two years earlier.3,14,15,16
 
Tess initially lived with Tom at Wallan East, but soon after, the newlyweds set up home in Glen St, Essendon. Tom & Tess remained for the rest of their lives in the surrounding areas, including Ascot Vale (Mirams St), Essendon (The Parade) and Newmarket (Ormand St). In 1934 and 1936, Tess is shown as residing with Tom's mother Cecilia in Walter St, Ascot Vale. In 1937, Tom and Tess were both back at Ormand St in Newmarket. Their final residence was Henry St, initially Newmarket, later Kensington.3,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32
 
Contact with Extended Family
Tess idolised her mother, but didn't think much of her father. She remained in close contact with her extended Phillips family and helped out when needed.33
 
When her brother Tom was about to marry Sis McDonald from Nyah, the engaged couple stayed with Tess in Essendon. It was Tess who helped with Sis convert to Catholicism, and the couple married in the local St Monica's church.34,35
 
Tess could not make scones: Once when Tom Phillips was visiting Tess he said 'Let's have a game of cricket'. When told they didn't have a ball, he said 'That's ok, we can use one of Tess's scones'. [Marge Deveney]36
 
One time when Tess was expecting, Eileen stayed with her sister for a few weeks for company. The teenager attended the local St Monica's school while in Essendon.37
 
Sis came to Melbourne for her lung operation, recuperating at Tess's place in Essendon. Unfortunately for Sis, the old tin bath had just had a coat of white paint, so when she got out, sensitive parts of her were also coated white. She noted that having a lung removed was nothing compared to having paint removed from her backside. [Marge Deveney]38
 
Ellen Phillips with her three oldest daughters, Annie, Mary and Tess.
Back: Annie, Mary & Tess (Phillips); front: Ellen Phillips (O'Loughlin)
Image: Roylyn Phillips
Four generations: Dot McInerny (O'Loughlin), Pam McInerny, Ellen Phillips (O'Loughlin) & Tess O'Loughlin (Phillips), circa 1949.
Four generations: Dot McInerny (O'Loughlin), Pam McInerny, Ellen Phillips (O'Loughlin) & Tess O'Loughlin (Phillips) c. 1949
Image: Roylyn Phillips
All four Phillips sisters were together in Preston in 1951.
Mary Vallence, Tess O'Loughlin, Annie Simmons & Eileen Redden (all Phillips), Pat Simmons' wedding, Preston, 1951
Image: Eileen Redden
When Mary was visiting her sister Tess in Kensington in 1972, she had a stroke and collapsed. She was taken to the Repatriation hospital in Heidelberg where she recovered from the stroke, but later died of pneumonia.36
Mary Vallence (Phillips) & Tess O'Loughlin (Phillips)
Image: Roylyn Phillips
Beryl became a grandmother with the birth of baby Kristin.
Four generations: Beryl Mulvenna (O'Loughlin), Tess O'Loughlin (Phillips), baby Kristin Lawson, Denise Lawson (Mulvenna)
Image: Eileen Redden
Later Years
Tess was visiting her daughter Marge just before she died. Some days before she was due to go home, she said that she was 'going home today'. They tried to correct her, but didn't make an impression. Tess went upstairs to her room and dropped dead - she meant going 'home' (to be with her mother).33
 
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
Teresa Ellen O'Loughlin died at the home of her daughter Marge in Fawkner, Melbourne on 7 May 1982, aged 86.

At the time of her death, Tess had fourteen grandchildren and several great grandchildren.4,2,33
 

Citations

  1. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Teresa Ellen Phillips entry, birth registration no. 30692, 1895.
  2. [S579] O'Loughlin-Phillips family tree, 6 September 1996.
  3. [S351] Thomas Joseph O'Loughlin and Teresa Ellen Phillips, marriage registration no. 669, 12 February 1919.
  4. [S270] Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, registry and index, Teresa Ellen OLoughlin entry, death registration no. 10101, 1982.
  5. [S318] Bacchus Marsh & District Historical Society, personal communication, 3 November 2013.
  6. [S38] Lynette Dow, personal communication, 23 December 1996.
  7. [S2] 'History', St Bernard's Parish Primary School, online, St Bernard's Parish Primary School, Bacchus Marsh, August 2021, viewed 12 September 2021.
  8. [S276] Bacchus Marsh Express, 1857-1983, newspaper, Christopher Crisp & George Land, 'Bacchus Marsh Show', 31 October 1908, p. 3, viewed 5 November 2013. <http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/90170972
  9. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Corio, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1908.
  10. [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.
  11. [S318] Bacchus Marsh & District Historical Society, personal communication, 8 November 2013.
  12. [S38] Lynette Dow, personal communication, 18 December 1996.
  13. [S331] Joan McClure, personal communication, 11 December 2013.
  14. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Corio, subdivision of Bacchus Marsh, 1919.
  15. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of North Melbourne, 1917.
  16. [S220] 'Marriages: O'Loughlin-Phillips', The Argus, 1848-1957, newspaper, Argus Office, 22 March 1919, p. 13, viewed 2 June 2020, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1449049
  17. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Corio, subdivision of Wallan Wallan, 1919.
  18. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Essendon, 1921.
  19. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Essendon, 1922.
  20. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Ascot Vale, 1924.
  21. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Ascot Vale, 1925.
  22. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Ascot Vale, 1928.
  23. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1931.
  24. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Ascot Vale, 1934.
  25. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Maribyrnong, subdivision of Ascot Vale, 1936.
  26. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1937.
  27. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1949.
  28. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1954.
  29. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1963.
  30. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1972.
  31. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1977.
  32. [S392] Australia, Electoral Rolls 1903-1980, online, division of Melbourne, subdivision of Newmarket, 1980.
  33. [S38] Lynette Dow, personal communication, 14 March 1996.
  34. [S108] Pauline Wilson, personal communication, 30 December 1996.
  35. [S11] Thomas James Phillips and Irene Gladys McDonald, marriage registration no. 7536, 9 September 1922.
  36. [S37] Margaret Deveney, personal communication, 11 March 1996.
  37. [S31] Eileen Redden, personal communication, 10 March 1996.
  38. [S37] Margaret Deveney, personal communication, 14 April 1996.