PHILLIPS, Richard
| Service Number: | 2515 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 February 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 13th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Thames, New Zealand, August 1883 |
| Home Town: | Sydney, City of Sydney, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Memorials: | Sydney Technical High School WW1 Roll Of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Feb 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2515, 13th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Aug 1915: | Involvement Private, 2515, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Aug 1915: | Embarked Private, 2515, 13th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Devlin
Richard Phillips
As you look up at the Honour Board and read through the names of soldiers who served, you may come across the name Richard Phillips and I’d like to tell you about his story, a story involving our whole school community. As well as teachers and students from Sydney Tech taking part in the Great War, our school was also involved in a community project to provide housing for returned soldiers. As soldiers returned from war from 1916 and onwards, the Government provided money and access to land at Frenchs Forest as part of what was known as the Soldier Settlement Scheme. This was a combined State and Federal Government effort to recognise the importance of providing both homes and a source of income for returning soldiers through farming the land.
Sydney Technical High School was one of only six schools who were approved to clear land for returning soldiers and was the only school that had both the vision and resolve to sustain their efforts and build an entire home for which they were recognised in the Herald Newspaper. The boys named the house “Techneia” and our students filled the house with essentials and gifts for the soldier who was to occupy it. The returned soldier was Richard Phillips and his family. Phillips and his family were greatly appreciative of the efforts of Sydney Tech and they were adopted by the school, his name permanently in the school
records and his service remembered on our refurbished Honour Board. Philips was born in New Zealand and moved to Sydney with his wife and two sons before World War One. He enlisted for war, in the suburb of Liverpool in Sydney, into the 13th Infantry and 4th Brigade. Mr Phillips participated in the Gallipoli campaigns where he received a large shrapnel wound to his leg.
Richard Phillips ‘our soldier’ and his family fascinated me because it demonstrated that even in Sydney Tech’s infancy our school showed so much camaraderie - what we today would call Tech Pride. The Tech students of 1916 and 1917 worked tirelessly in helping and supporting a family that was going through something most could not imagine. They did this in practical ways that was and is a testament to what our school stands for – care and respect for others and our community, fairness and social justice, and the pursuit of excellence.
I think the words of a student who participated in building Richard Phillips and his family a home, sum it up best: “We are not assisting these soldiers, we are repaying the debt we owe them...”
Huy Nguyen
Year 9 Elective History
Click images to start slideshow.