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Phillips and his sisters were greatly influenced by their mother and her parents and they were regular attendees
at the Methodist Church in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond during visits there.
Shortly after the turn of the century, Jeannie moved herself and her three children permanently to Melbourne.
Young Jessie kept in contact with her father and his family while Nancy rejected him. Young Roy Phillips
would have been too young to be greatly influenced by his father. The major part of his education was gained in
Melbourne.
Phillips began writing stories and poems at an early age, and contributed to the Bulletin magazine on a regular
basis. He was not earning much, and when he met the girl he wanted to marry, he felt he needed to do something
about it. Since his sister, Jessie, was then living in the Northern Territory and often wrote praising its potential,
Phillips decided to go north to try his luck.
Phillips arrived in Darwin early in 1915 and visited his sister, who was then living at Brock’s Creek mine with
her husband, Val Litchfield. Soon afterward, he found work as a teacher at a small government school on Thomas
and Robert’s farm near Woolianna on the Daly River. There were 11 children of school age but often only eight
attended, and these were scattered over four or five classes. Phillips had to teach them all at once, a hard task but
he loved it, and the children loved him. He learned to love the Territory and its people in the short time that he was
there.
When word of the Great War reached the Daly River Phillips decided to join up and fight for his country.
He packed his belongings and rode a horse into Darwin. With many other men on the same mission, he had to
journey to Melbourne by ship before he could enlist. He joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Melbourne,
24 January 1916. He was 23 years and four months old.
On 4 April 1916, he embarked on HMAS Euripides with the Seventeenth Reinforcements, Sixth Australian
Infantry Battalion. Phillips served in the Middle East and France with the Second Australian Training Battalion and
the Fourth Australian Pioneer Battalion. He was wounded in action at Pozieres on 30 July 1916 and returned home
to Australia on 12 May 1917. He was discharged on 23 June the same year, having reached the rank of Sergeant.
Returning to civilian life while his mates were still fighting did not suit Phillips and the girl who had promised
to wait for him had married someone else. He was shattered. He also missed the comradeship at the front so he
re-enlisted, this time in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force at Brisbane on 19 November 1917,
but did not go overseas again. He was issued with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
After the end of the war, Phillips moved to Bedford Park, Adelaide. He still suffered from the stomach wound
that eventually sent him to an early grave. He was firstly employed as an accountant but later worked as a journalist
for one of the city newspapers. He continued to write articles for the Bulletin magazine under the pen name
‘Ishmael’, and wrote many poems about his war experiences. Many of his poems told of his increasing pain, and
his wish to reach eternal peace where he would be free from pain at last.
He finally became an inmate of the Bedford Park Sanatorium and died there, of pulmonary tuberculosis, on
16 April 1922 aged twenty-nine years. He is buried in the AIF cemetery, West Terrace, Adelaide.
After Phillips’s death, his hand-written book of poems was sent to his sister Jessie in Darwin. She preserved
them carefully, and dedicated a literary award to Phillips that was awarded annually at the Darwin Public School.
None of his verses have been published.
Unpublished family documents in author’s possession.
JANET DICKINSON, Vol 1.PIKE, ALAN WILLIAM (1945– ), Army officer and first Officer Commanding the 7th Independent Rifle Company
(7IRC), was born on 1 June 1945 and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 10 December 1966. He was an
Infantry Corps officer who had gained his early experience as a platoon commander with the 1st Battalion, Pacific
Islands Regiment (1966–1969). Pike then served at the Papua New Guinea Training Depot (1969), at the Infantry
Centre at Singleton, New South Wales in 1970, and as a staff officer on the Headquarters of the Sixth Task Force.
He then saw service in South Vietnam with Headquarters First Australian Logistic Support Group from July 1970,
serving as a Liaison Officer with the United States Army at Headquarters Saigon Support Command. Returning to
Australia in 1971, he was a company second in charge (2IC) with the 8th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, an
Instructor at the Papua New Guinea Joint Staff College from 1972 to 1975 and then a Staff Officer at headquarters,
11 Task Force from 1975 to 1977.
Cyclone Tracy destroyed the assets of Darwin’s two Army Reserve units, so they were temporarily de-activated
while plans for a new surveillance unit were analysed. Three years later, the 7th Independent Rifle Company
was raised and commanded by Pike from 30 June 1977 to 9 January 1981. He arrived in Darwin in June 1977,
and by October had his complete Regular Army staff present in Darwin, including Warrant Officer Second Class
(WO2) Bill Fisher as Company Sergeant Major (CSM). They completed their preliminary organisational work
quickly enough to enable the first intake of 35 recruits to attend a 16-day recruit course in October; the unit was
to have a ceiling of 200 personnel. The company was initially organised with Company Headquarters, two rifle
platoons and other elements including a Pioneer Section based in Darwin. A rifle platoon was established in Alice
Springs in May 1978, and a fourth rifle platoon was raised at Nhulunbuy in April 1979. By July 1979, the total
posted strength was 166, with an effective strength of 141, including a Regular Army cadre of one officer and five
non-commissioned officers.
The Company was a Field Force Command unit, although with the Commander 7th Military District (7MD)
(Northern Territory) his local representative, and it is a tribute to Alan Pike that he was able to effectively raise
and command his unit despite the often conflicting requirements brought about by an unclear command status.