By Gerard Benjamin
In late 1942, Phillip Ross, aged 12, along with his mother and his younger sister, visited Brisbane and lodged for a week at the three-level (“layer cake”) block of flats that still stands at 517-521 Brunswick St (corner of Harcourt St), and which was known at the time as “Wuthering Heights”.
Looking back over 80 years, the cast of characters for Phillip is still vivid. Occupying the ‘penthouse’ was Mrs Iris Vicars, a talented pianist often on radio, and her son John (about Phillip’s age). Also there were Mr Petrie, a young AIF fellow they called “New Guinea” who was due to return to the war zone, and an American Lieut-Colonel who had a US Army car and driver at his disposal. He gave his name as Murphy, but the New York accent meant that it came out as ‘Moiphy’—and that’s how all at the flats spoke his name.
With card-playing, yarns, jokes, and the odd drink, “everyone had a whale of a time,” recalls Phillip. He already knew Eric Petrie, a businessman, since his companion Edna was one of the lad’s mother’s best friends. Of course, the name Petrie goes back to pioneering days. One of Eric’s forebears was Tom Petrie whose famous “Reminiscences” (1904) offer a remarkable snapshot of the indigenous people of early Brisbane.
Looming largest was Moiphy. “Do you like chewing gum?” he asked the lad. “What about Coca-Cola?” Accordingly, Moiphy’s driver delivered them to the PX store on the corner of Creek and Adelaide Streets (a mini-supermarket for US servicemen) where they were loaded up with American chocolates and cakes for everyone at Wuthering Heights.
“You’re pretty keen on aeroplanes?” observed Moiphy—this to a lad who had subscriptions to two aircraft magazines! As a result there followed a drive to Amberley RAAF Base where Moiphy’s car was waved through the checkpoint. “Everyone seemed to know who this bloke was,” reflected Phillip. Out on the grassy expanse were enough P-38s and P-40s to delight any mad-keen, junior aviation enthusiast.
One day Moiphy’s driver pulled up outside Lennon’s Hotel in George St. “Moiphy and I went in,” said Phillip. “He said he had to see ‘the Chief’. The foyer was enormous. It seemed as if there were hundreds of people there.” Moiphy directed Phillip to “wait there”, while he went to speak to the Chief. Next he motioned Phillip forward.
“Moiphy says, ‘General, I’d like you to meet Phillip Ross’. I was tall for my age, but this man seemed to be 10 feet tall. He was immaculately dressed. MacArthur looked down at me for one moment, nodded, and said, ‘Humph’.”
Phillip reported that his mother was absolutely aghast, and said he was lucky he wasn’t arrested. It was years later that Phillip chanced to discover the names of the two mystery characters at Wuthering Heights. ‘New Guinea’ was the scion of a prosperous family and later owned a large business. Moiphy was Lt-Col Sidney L. Huff (1893-1962), long-time aide to ‘the Chief’. In 1951, he wrote, “My Fifteen Years with General MacArthur”. Phillip’s sister spotted a copy at an airport bookshop and brought it home for him.
“I marvelled that I’d known this man simply as ‘Moiphy’—but then again, in wartime, one did not ask questions. I enjoyed his book—and, no, the author did not mention me!”
