Ryan Philp began his detective work in the Mount Isa Library’s History Room, where he met the ladies of the former Mount Isa Historical Group, the custodians of the historical papers and memorabilia of the city.

His mission was to track down as much information as he could on Robert Skelly was buried with a military gravestone at the local cemetery.

This was no mean feat for a tech savvy adult, let alone a St Joseph’s primary school student whose teacher had only given him a photograph of the grave as the first clue.

Ryan explained his task to the ladies (Ailsa Bray, Desley Comerford, Lois Wellington and Kath Collins) and he learned the library held the burial records for the cemetery. 

With information from these records, the next step was for him to visit the cemetery and find the location of the grave.

Ryan displayed reconnaissance skills by identifying the layout of the cemetery amid the hills and the shapes and sizes of gravestones in his photograph.

Although his nerves were tested by moving among the graves, his resilience in completing his mission was accomplished with a respectful nod when he found Skelly’s grave identical to the one in the photograph.

With the information gleaned from the gravestone, Ryan learned that Skelly was a member of the AIF (Second Australian Imperil Forces) and died in Mount Isa on September 26, 1964. Ryan continued his research on-line and diligently following steps on the Australian War Memorial website, he deducted Pte. Skelly was born in Kinallen, Northern Ireland on November 17, 1920 and enlisted on May 20, 1941 in Yuleba, Queensland. 

When the war in the Pacific Ocean broke out, Pte. Skelly was sent to New Guinea to fight the Japanese. The war brought enemy bombs to Australian soil for the first time, and soon the war seemed very close and very real.

Robert Skelly was honourably discharged from his service to his country on March 19, 1946, holding the rank of Corporal. 

Ryan’s detective investigations into Corp. Skelly’s life in Mount Isa were not as fruitful but he did learn that Robert Skelly had married and had a young family when he died.

And while the mystery behind the photograph of a grave stone in Mount Isa Cemetery may have been solved, the experience of learning how to use the resources of a library and navigate the internet are skills that will hold Ryan Philp in good stead through his school years.

It has also instilled an interest in learning more about Anzac Day and with this knowledge, Ryan will continue the plea of fallen soldiers, not to forget past sacrifices – Lest We Forget!