Born in the Nagambie Bush Nursing Home in April 1931, Eileen was the eighth of nine children born to Jack and Christina Phelan.
Eileen and her three brothers and five sisters lived with their parents on their 40-hectare property at Goulburn Weir.
Jack worked for the railways and also provided for his family by shooting rabbits, catching fish and crayfish as well as having cows, chooks, turkeys, and some vegetables and fruit trees; the Phelans were self-sufficient.
“Our family never went without food and I remember my mother was a full-time mum who kept the family home buzzing, with no electricity and an old wood stove,” Eileen said.
“We children went to school at the little one-room Goulburn Weir State School that had a little porch and a school bell.
“About 13-15 students attended the school back then. I remember saluting the flag on a Monday and singing “God save the King.”
When Eileen was ten the family moved to Nagambie. She finished her education at St Joseph’s Catholic school and left at 14. She went to work at the Cave’s Café, then at a factory that made raincoats and waterproof equipment.
In 1948 she met a young man at a dance, Jim McDonald. He had served in the latter part of the second world war in the Royal Australian Air Force. He used to come up to Nagambie to help his father on their farm property.
Eileen and Jim found they had similar interests; the same church and they joined in the same local social groups, went dancing and enjoyed other activities together. They dated for a few years then married at St Malachy’s Catholic Church on May 9, 1953 and remained married until Jim’s death in 1987.
Eileen’s sister, Bev Phelan and Mary McDonald were her bridesmaids. Len Tobin was Jim’s Best Man and Bill Phelan his groomsman. Their wedding reception was held in the old St Joseph’s hall and they honeymooned at Lakes Entrance.
Jim and Eileen moved to a farm in Woodend where they lived for 17 years before moving back to Nagambie in 1965 to ‘temporarily’ to look after Jim’s father, Jack, when he became ill.
Two years after moving back to Nagambie, Pop Jack McDonald passed away. By this time, the McDonald children were well settled into their Nagambie school and community, so the family decided to stay. They moved into Jim’s father’s house in High Street in 1967 and farmed their property at Locksley-Longwood Rd.
Over the years, the couple had seven children. The first born in Nagambie, then three in Kyneton Hospital and another three in Nagambie.Their children went to St Joseph’s Primary school, then on to secondary education in Bendigo, Shepparton and Seymour.
Sadly, Jim died in April 1987 after a fight with cancer. Eileen prayed to the Mother of Our Lord to help Jim get through the pain. She promised Our Lady that she would go to Fatima, Lourdes, Spain and Croatia and promote the vision of Our Lady if her prayer was answered. It was and she went to those places and still extols the wonder of it all to this day.
Eileen was on school and church committees and served for 34 years as a volunteer at St Vincent de Paul Op Shop in Seymour, and for 22 years at the Nagambie Mechanics Institute Op Shop.
All of Eileen and Jim’s children married and there are now 15 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Until her eyesight deteriorated a few years ago, Eileen continued to drive, play cards, enjoy linedancing and socialising with her many family and friends.
“I thank God every day for the good life I have had. I feel very blessed. My family says I have always followed the three Fs. Family, friends and faith; and they are right,” Eileen said.
