General News
14 March, 2025
Mary marks her 100th birthday
Mary den Dulk celebrated her 100th birthday among family in Moliagul.
Mary den Dulk’s family and friends gathered at Moliagul’s old school on Monday to mark a very special centenary celebration.
Ms den Dulk turned 100 on Wednesday, with her loved ones gathering over the long weekend for the occasion.
Ms den Dulk was born in Delft, home of the iconic Dutch blue and white pottery, between Rotterdam and The Hague, in the Netherlands on March 12, 1925.
Even at 100 years old, she still has a sense of wickedness and determination, which she recalls having since her life growing up in the Netherlands.
“At school, the nun was hitting my friend, she didn’t do nothing, so I got her scarf and ran out. I took it with me,” Ms den Dulk said.
She ran all the way home with the nun’s scarf and as a result, was expelled.
“Then I went to a school with boys and girls, and I was the happiest person of them all,” Ms den Dulk said.
She married her husband during the Second World War at the Delft town hall.
The pair worked in the Dutch underground, helping allied soldiers.
At the time, she also rescued two soldiers about to board a boat to Germany by hiding them in a pram.
“I had an old fashioned pram, I went over there and took two. The war was terrible,” she said.
Ms den Dulk and her husband had three children before arriving in Australia in 1954.
She hid that she was seven months pregnant at the time, knowing she would otherwise not be allowed to board the ship.
“We came here and we said, ‘we have three Dutch children, we need three Australian children,” Ms den Dulk said.
She obliged, and had six children.
As soon as she arrived in Melbourne, the family boarded a train to Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills.
Upon arrival, Ms den Dulk couldn’t speak a word of English.
“I didn’t like the language, too many silent letters, it took a long time for me,” Ms den Dulk said.
But she loves how much bigger it is here, which she experienced when her husband and three of her children travelled around Australia.
After her husband’s death, she moved to the Central Goldfields, and has stayed here for nearly 20 years.
She has loved being a member of Ladies Moliagul and Bealiba CWA with her daughter Marg for many of those years.
“I like it, all the people are nicer here,” she said.
She doesn’t miss the Netherlands, recalling the Dutch being much more competitive than Australians.
“If you don’t want a chair, you put it outside to be collected. But instead, somebody will put another one outside too that is bigger,” Ms den Dulk said.
At 100 years old, she still enjoys taking walks around her property, and driving around the countryside.
“I like driving in the country, I love the country,” Ms den Dulk said.
However, she doesn’t drive, her daughter Marg Coe does. Her husband tried to teach her once in Australia
“I was learning, and went accidentally backwards, he shouted. I threw the keys, never again,” she said.
She feels the difference in cars has been one of the biggest changes she’s noticed in her life-time.
As for Ms den Dulk’s secret to living to 100, she advises strong coffee.
“Strong coffee, I love it, you can never beat the strong,” she said.
Double shot, but never with sugar.