Joseph Letcher Phillips
1849 — 5 May 1910
Joseph Letcher Phillips (10‑8‑12)
Joseph Phillips was born in St Agnes Cornwall in 1849. He was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He migrated to Australia In 1904 with his teenage children. He conducted the Blackstone and Ipswich Cambrian Choir in 1904/05 leading this choir to victory in the 1905 Austral Festival in Toowoomba and also conducted the Brisbane Philharmonic Society's inaugural concert when they performed Faust in the Exhibition Concert Hall (the old Museum building on Gregory Terrace) in Brisbane.
In 1908 Joseph Phillips was appointed conductor of the Brisbane Austral Choir which later amalgamated with the Brisbane Music Union to become the Queensland State and Municipal Choir, now the Queensland Choir.
Joseph died on 5 May 1910 in South Brisbane. The Blackstone & Ipswich Cambrian Choir and the Brisbane Austral Choir combined in a choral concert to raise funds for a memorial over Joseph Phillips grave, with the remaining funds raised by public subscription. On 11 August 1912 the graceful draped shaft of brown Helidon freestone, resting on a base in which was carved a lyre was unveiled.