AustLit

Mrs Alfred Phillips was an actor, dramatist and composer. After marrying the 'low comedian' Alfred Phillips in 1842, she launched a career on the London stage and began writing plays including The Master Passion (1852). In 1853 she scored a hit with her goldrush themed drama, Life In Australia; a year later Phillips and her infant son Hans (who would also become an actor and singer) emigrated to Victoria, joining her husband who had emigrated a year earlier. Phillips continued to act on the Melbourne stage, and wrote plays and songs. In 1867, she adapted Henry Leslie's play, The Mariner's Compass (1865) for performance on the Melbourne stage.