This is the first in a series of articles written by Nicole Jenkins, on behalf of the Deniliquin & District Historical Society. Each will cover stories from our town’s history and its people.
Philip James Bayliss jnr was born on March 5, 1883 in Wanganella.
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He was the fourth child of 12, born to Philip James Bayliss and Matilda Mary Symons.
Philip snr was born in England and was a sailor in the British Royal Navy.
He jumped ship, making his way up to Wanganella from Port Phillip, and worked as a sheep overseer at ‘Boabula’.
When working in the navy and stationed at Plymouth, he spotted a young woman who took the Plymouth Ferry daily from Cawsand, Cornwall to her job as a milliner.
Once Philip settled at ‘Boabula’, he sent for Matilda. It took her six months to arrive in Australia, after the ship was becalmed in the Bay of Biscay.
Within days of her arrival, they married at Williamstown, Victoria and the newly married couple took the long trip up to Wanganalla.
Philip jnr was 16 when, on October 1, 1899, he enlisted as a trooper in the 2nd NSW Mounted Rifles contingent to fight in the Boer War.
Three months later, his older brother George signed up.
On March 15, 1901 he departed Sydney on the SS Maplemore and arrived at Klerksdorp, South Africa on June 13.
He wrote to his father from Klerksdorp on August 24, which was published in the Deniliquin Independent on October 11. A further detailed letter was published in the Independent that December.
That October 11 report said Phil was slightly wounded near Elands River on September 24.
On November 29, the Independent did a follow up article from a letter Phil’s father received from Colonel Lassetter:
“My Dear Mr Bayliss,
I am writing to tell you that your son, Private Phil Bayliss, has almost recovered from his wound, which fortunately was very alight. He returns to duty on Wednesday.
He was wounded at the top of a hill after charging across a plain with his troop, and was under fire the whole time.
The Boers never hit anyone until they got to the top of the hill.
He is a fine soldier and has given me great satisfaction.
I have just seen him, and he is very cheery and glad to be out of hospital.
Yours sincerely, HB Lassetter.“
Phil arrived back in Australia on June 4, 1902, to Sydney, and returned to Deniliquin with his brother George on June 10.
Phil married Evelyn Harriet Lllewellyn on August 12, 1908 in Deniliquin.
Phil’s sister Matilda married Evelyn’s brother William five years later.
Phil and Evelyn had two children that survived infancy - Philip Arthur Bayliss on March 11, 1909 and Leighton William Lllewellyn Bayliss on July 22, 1913. Both were born in Deniliquin.
Phil was a drover around the time his children were born, and then became a stock dealer in 1914 before enlisting for World War I in February 1915.
He was trained at Broadmeadows Camp until the July, and was made a 2nd Lieutenant.
He was then transferred to the Seymour Training Camp and was appointed Captain on August 21, 1915.
He embarked on the ‘Themistocles’ from Syndey on January 29, 1916 with the 4th Lighthorse Regiment. He would have been an adept horse rider with his droving background.
Phil was promoted to Lieutenant on March 18, 1916 and transferred to the 1st Australian Division Cyclist Corps on March 20.
His brother Tom was also in this battalion.
The cyclist battalions were used a despatch riders, conducting renaissance and patrolling.
Other tasks included laying cabling communications, unloading stores and burial of the dead.
Although the cyclist battalions were not used as fighting units, they were regularly exposed to the dangers of artillery fire and attacks from hostile aircraft.
The 1st Cyclist Battalion lost 13 men in the war and was disbanded on April 30, 1919.
Philip snr and Matilda had three boys at the war, and Matilda’s letters to the army showed her angst.
Matilda died at their property ‘Krookery’, which was off Dahwhilly Lane, on November 7, 1918.
Family members believed her life was shortened with the stress of her boys at war.
A letter was sent to the army, asking for information on her boys, three months before her death.
Phil seemed to be a very effective military man, but this unfortunately did not seem to replicate in his personal life.
He returned safely to Australia on December 13, 1919, later than his brothers and many other soldiers, as he chose to live in England for 12 months after the war ended.
By this stage, his wife Evelyn had moved from Deniliquin to South Yarra, and their boys were six and 10 years old.
By January 2, 1920, he had left Evelyn and went to Sydney.
Phil was discharged from the military on February 26, 1920.
Within weeks, he left Syndey for Papua New Guinea, where he obtained a position with Burns, Phillip & Co on a plantation at Rabaul.
He used Inverell NSW as his forwarding address, and may have returned there for a few months as he was listed as sailing from Sydney on October 6, 1920 on the ‘Mesina’, bound for Rabaul via the Soloman Islands.
He again came back to Sydney on April 18, 1922 from Faisi, on the Soloman Islands, and listed his occupation as a planter.
At this stage, he had been managing the Soroaken and Choiseul rubber plantations on the Soloman Islands.
In May 1923, he sailed to Papaua New Guinea on the ‘Berea’ to work on the Morobe goldfields and joined the staff of Carpenter & Co - plantation owners.
By April 16, 1924, Phil had again sailed from Sydney on the ‘Marsina’ and returned to the Soloman Islands.
In that June, Evelyn divorced Phil on the grounds of desertion.
The same month, Phil was noted in a Queensland paper as visiting the Mulgrave Sugar Mills in Gordonvale, Queensland with his brother Tom, who was by now a successful goldminer in Papua New Guinea.
Interestingly, it says that Mr and Mrs PJ Bayliss were visiting. There has been no evidence found that he married again, so who this woman is remains a mystery.
By July 3, 1926, Phil is listed as leaving Sydney again, via Brisbane and the Soloman Islands to Rabaul, on the ‘Marsina’.
Phil died on July 10, 1933 of blackwater fever - a parasitic disease that is a rare and dangerous complication from malaria, and which has a 30 per cent fatality rate.
He died at the Ranilo Estate at Rabaul, which was a rubber plantation. He received a Masonic funeral.
Evleyn went onto to remarry eight years after her divorce.
Phil and Evelyn’s firstborn, Philip Arthur, was a linesman, a mechanic, a jail warder, and then a fireman. He lived in Melbourne and had three children - the only descendants of Phil Bayliss.
Their second son Leighton, known as Lee, worked as a commercial artist and was newly married when he enlisted in WWII.
He was in the 2nd/7th Infantry Battalion as a Sergeant, and was reported missing in action in Crete, Greece on September 20, 1941. He was later declared deceased. He was 28 years old.
• If you are interested in finding out more about Phil Bayliss’ life, including his first-hand accounts of the Boer War, access Nicole Jenkins’ podcast series, ‘Family History Mysteries’. Military Man is Episode 8.