Looking back at 100 years of life experience

Key points:

• Logan centenarian Lily Elizabeth Milne-Ward, better known as ‘Betty,’ has worked as an aircraft electrician and a hairdresser, in addition to having spearheaded a women’s health movement

• Betty is a centenarian and one of the original founding members of the Logan Village RSL

• Bolton Clarke has been caring for Australians since 1885 and is today Australia’s largest independent, not-for-profit aged care provider

Betty is a Bolton Clarke at-home support client who is defying the odds by celebrating her 100th birthday from her own home, which she has claimed is due to her own ‘stubbornness’ and ‘persistence,’ along with support from staff.

“In my 60s, my second husband and I started turf farming with my son and I was moving 12 tonnes of earth a day,” Betty said.

“I started as a bookkeeper and cashier when I was 14 and then moved into the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during World War II. That took me into engineering when Japan came into the war.

“The Air Force put out a call to all the WAAF asking if anyone wanted to re-muster into a technical field and of course, with my head, I put in for it straight away.”

Betty would spend her time training to become an aircraft electrician and slowly move into metrology — the scientific study of measurements.

“Eventually I became the officer in charge of a NATA laboratory — the National Association of Testing Authorities and was answerable directly to the Department of Defence.

“When the war ended, I got married and left the Air Force; we had our two children and I worked for Qantas in the technical field before moving up to New Guinea for a few years.

“I was doing hairdressing at the time and was trained by a woman from Western Australia — so I sort of floated between the different talents.”

On returning to Melbourne, a chance encounter with a doctor led her to become an activist around women’s reproductive rights.

“There was a doctor who was coming to do a speech at the townhall where I lived in Melbourne and I thought the fellow was taking on the establishment and he needed support.

“From this, I got into the fight to give women more options — we always said women’s health was a matter for doctors, not the police.

“Everything that was given to me to do, I did by the law which involved me dealing with high-ranking police.

“We were able to then broaden the fight to tackle the road toll in the 1970s and this saw the law for mandatory seatbelts passed within three years.”

Moving to Queensland in her 60s to pursue farming, Betty found herself still drawn to helping others while overcoming her struggles after her home was destroyed by fire.

“I was getting things ready for the community work I had been doing before Christmas and my husband and I were outside and could smell something burning.

“I went over to the house and there were flames coming out the window — the car was in the garage, the Christmas money was in my purse and we lost the lot.

“It turns out that the new stove I had bought not long before was faulty and was the reason for the fire.”

Now living independently at a Logan retirement village, the great-grandmother of 11 says that living to 100 can be full of surprises, but it’s all about your mindset through the ageing process.

“There are things you don’t expect with getting old but luckily when I was involved with my political movements, we moved into the aged care space and the doctors held seminars for us to learn about the ageing process.

“That has stood me in good stead for this time because nothing has come as a surprise.

“My advice would be to stop thinking ‘can I do this?’ and start thinking ‘I can do this’.”

For more information about how to improve your chances of making it to and staying healthy at 100, please check out the Aged Care Guide article to find out more.

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