Jack Phillips

John Edwin “Jack” Phillips was an early miner at Lightning Ridge. Jack was born in Colac Otway Shire, Victoria, in 1870. 

Phillips came to Lightning Ridge around 1908, previously residing at Broken Hill, New South Wales.

Phillips was one of the discoverers of The Flame Queen, one of the most striking and recognisable of the “named stones” to have been found in the early years of The Ridge. The other miners who found The Flame Queen were Walter Bradley and “Irish” Joe Hegarty.

Jack Phillips passed away on 26 August 1960 at the age of 89 at Lightning Ridge and is buried in an unmarked grave at Walgett Cemetery.

• Jack Phillips @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 78, 124; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 19, 38; The Opal Book, Frank Leechman, 1961, p. 223; The Book of Opals, W. C. Eyles, 1964, pp. 94-95.