Thelma Cecilia Phillips

Thelma Cecilia Phillips

Female 1915 - 2003  (~ 88 years)

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  • Name Thelma Cecilia Phillips  [1, 2
    Birth 24 May 1915  Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Female 
    Burial 3 Dec 2003  Millicent Cemetery, South Australia, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    • Thelma is buried with her Husband Arthur William Tucker in Plot No. 513, Millicent Lawn Cemetery, Millicent, South Australia. [2]

    Millicent Cemetery, Burial Register, Transcription, Thelma Cecilia Tucker (n. Phillips)
    Millicent Cemetery, Burial Register, Transcription, Thelma Cecilia Tucker (n. Phillips)
    Thelma Cecilia Tucker (n. Phillips) was buried at Millicent Cemetery 03 December 2003 with her husband Arthur William Tucker in Plot No. 513 Millicent Lawn Cemetery.
    Person ID I3852  Tucker Family Tree | The descendants of James Tucker
    Last Modified 11 Mar 2022 

    Father Cecil Phillips 
    Mother Jessie Zionzee 
    Family ID F1164  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Arthur William Tucker,   b. 20 Jun 1908, Croydon, South Australia, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 20 May 1990, Millicent, South Australia, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years) 
    Marriage 24 Oct 1953  Church of Christ, Prospect, South Australia, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. G.W. Tucker
    +2. J.K. Tucker
    Family ID F1163  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 8 Jul 2022 

  • Notes 
    • Thelma was the second child of six. When the fifth child was born her mother suffered a mental breakdown and their father decided the eldest four children would be better cared for if they were made wards of the state. Thelma's earliest recollection is of being taken suddenly from a loving home and being put into an institution with seemingly hundreds of other children. It was all so strange and upsetting for her. She was only 5.5 years old. It was known that they were only to be boarded out to foster parents who were prepared to take the four of them. Because of this they remained in the home for many month. Eventually a childless couple took them. This was a big improvement. There was no more queuing up to enter the huge dining room and of waiting to be rushed through the bath like sheep going through the dip and no more being reprimanded for talking after lights out.
      Their foster parents were kind to them except that on Saturday mornings they were all given a good dose of castor oil. The didn't like that. But they enjoyed the stick-jaw-type toffee that their foster mother made and called "taffy". Thelma cannot remember being hungry there but the four of them often enjoyed eating handful of dry bran and pollard for the chooks from the bins stacked in the garden sheds. They also relished nasturtium leaves and freshly picked unwashed raw mushrooms. Thelma started school at 7 while with these folk. Later in the yar there was great excitement when they were reunited with their parents.
      At 10, just before the sixth child was born, Thelma and her elder sister Leila were sent to their grandparents on their father's side. Leila remained there for 9 months and Thelma for two years. She was very homesick after her sister left and resented her grandmother keeping her there against her will. She did not appreciate the strict discipline nor the training her grandmother gave her in how to run a home. Her grandmother took great pains to teach her all she knew. One would almost think she could foresee the future as when Thelma left school at 14 the depression was on, Jobs were scarce. Thelma was thankful to find domestic work and was employed as a housekeeper. She was never out of work until she married 24 years later.
      Thelma loved change and was soon known as the family "rolling stone". She worked in four states in varied occupations; as housekeeper to Dr Thering, Housemaid/receptionist to Dr Stayner, Housekeeper to the Consul General for Czechoslovakia, Dr Knevton and his wife, Waitress and housemaid at the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba, New South Wales; Waitress at the Commercial Travellers' Club in Melbourne Victoria; and also worked in the Munitions' Factory in Footscray during the war. She worked in Mark Foy's Shirt Factory, Simpson's Tin Factory and Phillips Electrical Industries. She did egg testing and apricot packing, was a Housekeeper to Mr Haslatt and his wife of Knox boys' College, worked at the Naval Lodge in Jervis Bay, New South Wales and Acton House in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Finally she was a shop assistant in Orroroo, Karoonda and Tailem Bend (where she met Arthur).
      The were married in Adelaide and two years later when the lease expired on the property Arthur was working at Coomandook, they moved to Claywells. Their son Geoff was w.5 years old when they took Jenny from Welfare. She was 5.5 months old and they adopted her when she was 2. By this time Arthur was crippled with Arthritis in the hip, Thelma enjoyed 33 years at "Woodlands". the days were long and sometimes the work was hard but she fount it very rewarding. When Arthur was 70, they left the farm in Geoff's hands and did some travelling around Australia and abroad. They saw New Zealand, America, Europe and China. Thelma has never participated in sport since leaving school. Her hobbies are gardening, solving crossword puzzles and being in the company of her grandchildren. She considers herself fortunate in having such caring children who are hard-working and law-abiding citizens. She is thankful for all the good things that have come her way. (The Tucker Family in Australia, 1992)

  • Sources 
    1. [S1] Cynthis Henley-Smith, The Tucker Family in Australia, (Gillingham Printers Pty Ltd Adelaide, South Australia), 1992, 249 (Reliability: 3).

    2. [S647] Wattle Range Council, Millicednt, South Australia, Australia, Millicent Cemetery, Millicent, South Australia, Australia, (Wattle Range Council, Millicent, South Australia, Australia), 3 Dec 2003, Permit No. 1208 Grant No. 568 (Reliability: 3).
      See Attached burial register transcription for Thelma Cecilia Tucker Permit Number 1208, Grant number 568./


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