RIP: Philip John Wilson OBE 1948-2024

Bali Update Editorial Team

2 months ago

Balidiscovery.com has received the sad news of the death of Philip John Wilson OBE – a resident of Bali since 2002, who died on Thursday, 07 November 2024, at age 76.

More commonly known by family and friends as “Phil,” Wilson was born on 03 October 1948 in Burnley, Lancashire, United Kingdom, to John and Elsie Wilson, most recently of Cliviger, Lancashire.

Before moving to Bali in 2002, Phil Wilson filled widely varied and interesting international assignments that reflected his strong engineering background and innately adventurous spirit. Educated in engineering studies at Oxford Polytechnic, Wilson was a Chartered Engineer by examination (1975) and an Institution of Production Engineers Member with extensive experience in building design, construction, and ongoing maintenance in Australia and Indonesia.

Phil Wilson also earned a graduate diploma in Management Services from Teesside University in 1974.

Among jobs held in “former lives,” Phil worked at Colebrand – a company carrying out specialist and difficult repair work. He was responsible for devising and supervising challenging repairs and leak-sealing projects. Assignments with Colebrand included repairs at the Heysham Nuclear Power Station in Northern England. Daring and dangerous assignments saw him performing underwater repairs to concrete storage tanks in the Brent Bravo Oil Rig base in the North Sea and sealing toxic leaks on the “Tanio” – an oil taker that broke up and sank in the English Channel.

Later, after emigrating to Australia, he worked for the Queensland Housing Commission, where he was involved in designing, constructing, and maintaining the Commission’s 37,000 public housing units.

While living in Australia, Phil Wilson was credited with bringing his musicianship and love of folk music to bear in salvaging the failing Australian National Folk Festival, which he headed as Festival Director and Managing Director from 1992 until 1999 based in Canberra, ACT.

In command of this important event that focussed on Australia’s diversified cultural heritage, Wilson took over and rescued a failed event. He built it to become Australia’s most important event to promote and understand Australia’s many ethnicities and host folk dance teams and musicians from around the world. During Wilson’s leadership tenure, The Australian National Folk Festival operated with a team of 700 volunteers, and attendance rose from 8,000 in 1992 to 42,000 in 1999.

Moving to Bali in 2002, Phil Wilson operated MrFixit – a property renovation and maintenance company based in Bali, coordinating a team of talented engineers and tradesmen. From 2007 until 2016, he wrote a regular column, “Fixed Abode,” in the Bali Advertiser, providing technical information and advice on maintenance issues.

Also in Indonesia, for 2 years, Phil worked as a consultant for Coffey International Development, building earthquake-resistant maternity units on behalf of AusAid, monitoring building design and construction quality, and designing MEP Systems. He also designed and supervised the installation of water supply systems.

With his brother, Mark, who also lives in Bali and served at the time as honorary British Honorary Consul, Phil assisted in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombing by organizing and leading a team of 57 volunteer relief workers. Subsequently, both men were named to the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honors List and bestowed with the distinguished Order of the British Empire (OBE). The OBEs were presented in recognition of Mark and Phil’s leading roles in the British government’s emergency response after the Bali Bombing of 2002, in which 28 British nationals lost their lives.

Phil Wilson’s leisure activities included playing music in a traditional folk group, scuba diving, caving and potholing, and running as a very active member of the Bali Hash House Harriers. Wilson was also a dedicated Rotarian in Bali who participated wholeheartedly in Community Service Projects benefiting the people of Bali.

**Mark & Philip Wilson – Running with Bali Hash House Harriers**

**Halcyon Days of Running with Bali’s Hash House Harriers**

Since 2007, Phil Wilson has served as Chairman of the Peduli Munti Guning Foundation, which provides disaster and humanitarian Relief for people who live on the eastern slopes of Bali’s Sacred Mount Agung.