Marian Simpson says a glass of brandy and ginger ale a day kept the doctor at bay. And there must be something to that given the Imlay House resident turned 106 last week!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Originally from England and having survived WWII, Marian only moved into the Pambula nursing home in October 2020 at the age of 105, proving she is made of tougher stuff.
Marian was quite happy to recount some key moments in her life, her good nature and sharp memory allowed a glimpse into her past.
"I didn't expect to last this long, nobody in my family have lived this long, the way I am at the moment," Marian said.
She arrived in Australia 69 years ago with her husband and children.
Over the course of her time in the country, she moved all along the east side of Australia from Sydney to Leeton, Melbourne, Bendigo, then back down to Melbourne before finally moving to Eden in 2018 with her daughter Lindy Gilligan.
Marian left England in 1952 due to conditions being pretty bad after the war. Her husband John had been offered a job as an emergency teacher in Australia.
She recounted that after rationing for years during the war, the moment the family stepped foot on the ship taking them to Australia, they were blown away by the food on board.
"After post-war England, the way the food was laid on on the ship was just amazing," Marian said.
John died 19 years ago while they were still up north in Queensland, and Marian said she found the humidity and place she was living at awful.
Her daughter Lindy offered to get her away from it and stay with them in Melbourne for seven weeks - which turned into 17 years.
Then two years ago Marian moved with Lindy and her husband Kevin Gilligan to Eden. Kevin had said he found Eden to be the most beautiful place and that he could live here for the rest of his life.
When asked what people should make the most of in life, Marian's response was peace.
"Peace is the main thing in life, there isn't enough of it.
"I put the TV on and I listen for a second or two and turn it off because it is always negative and about war going on in the world," she said.
VIDEO: Marian is very proud her memory remains sharp to this day. She said she heard this song once when she was younger and can still recite it today...gorgeous!!
When asked what life in Australia is like compared to England, Marian's said it was noticeably different.
"We don't get fog here like we used to in England, where the bus conductor used to get out of the bus and show the driver which way on the road he was going," she said.
Marian said she still has a very good memory, recounting the time when radio and television first came out and how they had owned a nine-inch TV.
"We all huddled around it together when the Queen of England was crowned," she said.
Marian said she escaped death twice during WWII, the first time she survived a bombing near Clapham Common train station and the second was an escape from a suspicious man inside a train she was travelling in on her way to Bristol.
She explained that sirens frequently went off to warn about German Heinkel planes flying in the sky.
When travelling on a train if the sirens went off, the trains often went into a tunnel so as to hide themselves she said.