Philip Jones spent his childhood in Kerang, Victoria, before moving to Melbourne to continue his education at Trinity Grammar. He travelled with his family to England for a short period in the early 1950s where he worked for a time at Q Theatre. On his return to Australia in 1953, Jones worked for Frank Thring's Arrow Theatre company and also worked on radio dramas.
Jones was introduced to John and Sunday Reed (qq.v.) and the community that gathered at Heide by his long-term partner, Barrett (Barrie) Reid (q.v.). Together with Reid, Jones was left a life tenancy to Heide, but the end of relationship with Reid led to Jones's expulsion from the property.
Jones's obituary of his former partner launched his career as an obituarist. His obituaries were regularly published in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, and they also appeared in the Times and the Guardian in London.
In 2004 Jones published his autobiography Art & Life. He had also hoped to write the definitive book on Heide and its milieu, but that project was not completed.
Major source: Neil Clerehan, 'Last Word on the Last Intimate Link with Heide', Age, 29 August 2006.
