Richard Joseph Phillips

   Cause of his death was Liver cancer.

   Another name for Richard was Dick.

  General Notes:

By Dick (Richard Arthur) Phillips, his son.

Our father was christened Richard, but was called Dick all his life. He began his boxing career early in life by fighting a bully who was employed at the convent and defeating him. He joined the Phoenix tennis club when he was 13, and enjoyed playing against other clubs in the district. He played 5/8 for the Gosford rugby team, and was awarded a gold fob for his watch chain in 1919 for meritorious play. He developed into a fine boxer and fought at the Sydney Stadium on several occasions. It was there that he defeated Ray Weekes in the second round of a welterweight contest. His father kept a scrapbook of his fights and let me read it. Unfortunately, it has been lost. I remember that Dad was referred to as "the swarthy lad from Gosford".

Nellie (our mother) made him retire from the ring before they were married. It appears that she was the only one who could make him do anything; his father wanted him to become a compositor on the local paper, but he arranged his own apprenticeship with a local boot maker. My grandfather told me that he was ordered to sweep the floor on his first day and he replied that he was there to learn to make shoes, not to sweep floors. They must have reached a compromise, as he finished his apprenticeship and purchased a business from Frank Kilkenny in Mann Street. Dick and Nellie left Gosford after a quarrel with her family over their engagement and were married in St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. They lived in Petersham for two years and then moved to Lawson.

When they arrived in Lawson to inspect the business he intended to buy, Dick took one look at the town from the railway station and said they should return to Sydney on the next train! They had a fairly long wait, and Nellie persuaded him to stay and try it out. After Joan and Betty were born, Dick persuaded Nellie to make up with her family. I spent a lot of time with Dad in the shop, and often saw him refuse payment for small jobs. It was wonderful to watch him make a pair of shoes from start to finish. The local postmaster took a pair of his shoes into a Sydney firm to have the heels repaired, and was asked where he'd had them made. He said, "A country cobbler". The owner of the business said that the cobbler could have a job in his business any time he liked.

Dick played tennis with the Lawson club and won some silver cups in competitions. He was also asked to join the golf club when it was formed, but said no, that golf was a game for "toffs". He was always a strong labour man, and did not think much of "toffs". He was finally persuaded to join and proved to be a good golfer, winning the first monthly medal competition he entered. He used to play rounders, cricket and skipping with us; he'd learnt to skip when training as a boxer and was wonderful to watch. He only lifted his feet a couple of inches off the ground, doing backwards, forwards and cross-hand. He must have been devastated when Mum died but he always looked after us with Joan's help. I remember him heating up house bricks in the oven to warm our beds on winter nights. Business was not good during the depression, and the final blow came when the manager of a Church of England children's home arranged for him to do all the repairs to the home. This went of for months but the bills were never paid. Fred Sindle from Katoomba came to see him and offered him a job managing a new shop in Katoomba. Joan arranged a transfer to the Katoomba telephone exchange and we moved there about 1941.

Dick developed stomach trouble towards the end of 1945. He was diagnosed as having ulcers and was operated on at Gloucester House, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital about April 1946. It was discovered that he had liver cancer, and he died on 20th November 1946 after a long and painful illness. He was buried the following day in the Roman Catholic section of Wentworth Falls cemetery. He was a wonderful father and dearly loved by us all.

Physical Description: Height 6'0" (183cm); Eyes, dark brown; Hair, black.

  Some facts about his life:

• Religion: baptised Roman Catholic.

• Education: Primary school, then the Convent School at Gosford.

• Occupation: Bootmaker.

Richard married Ellen Ruth Braithwaite, daughter of Robert Charles Braithwaite and Catherine Power, on 29 Oct 1921 in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, New South Wales.¹ (Ellen Ruth Braithwaite was born on 11 Aug 1898 in East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia ⁵, christened on 23 Aug 1898 in St Joseph's, East Maitland, New South Wales, died on 15 Mar 1933 in Cambewarra Hospital, Leura, New South Wales ⁶ and was buried on 17 Mar 1933 in R C Section, Wentworth Falls Cemetery, New South Wales ⁴.) The cause of her death was Toxaemia and heart failure during childbirth.