General News
12 June, 2023
Moonambel's Iris Farnsworth marks 100th birthday
Long-time Moonambel resident Iris Farnsworth will celebrate her 100th birthday on June 17, surrounded by friends, family and loved ones. She credits living in the bush and playing sport with her longevity and said her greatest joy in life has been...
Long-time Moonambel resident Iris Farnsworth will celebrate her 100th birthday on June 17, surrounded by friends, family and loved ones.
She credits living in the bush and playing sport with her longevity and said her greatest joy in life has been her five children.
“Just seeing the kids do alright,” she said is what made her happy.
Mrs Farnsworth lived independently in Moonambel until six months ago, when she was 99, and now lives at Kara Court Nursing Home in St Arnaud.
She keeps in close contact with her family, is still very sharp and has maintained her sense of humour.
“Well just seeing that I get there, I think I should be able to make it,” she laughed when asked what she thought about turning 100.
So, what’s her secret to living for a century?
“For a long time I was up the bush, well I’ve been at the bush all my life. And I always played sport,” she said.
Mrs Farnsworth played golf well into her 80s and also enjoyed tennis and bowls at different times in her life.
Her eldest daughter, Bernice Fithall, thinks longevity is also in her mother’s genes.
“Her cousin lived to 103,” Bernice said.
“Hard work I think and living the simple life is what helped mum live a long and relatively healthy life.
“The fact that their food was simple and no preservatives, they ate their own garden vegetables and their own meat. Also, she played sport. She played golf until she had to give it up to look after dad.
And I think it’s in the genes too. Just the simple life and hard work and being active.”
Mrs Farnsworth, then Iris Robinson, was raised one of five children on a farm near Stuart Mill.
“My father worked for AJ Simpson the auctioneers. I think it was about 5000 acres, about five-and-a-half miles out from Stuart Mill. He was the manager of that. So we spent our younger days out on the farm at Stuart Mill. Towards Emu way,” Mrs Farnsworth told The Advertiser.
“We went to school at Stuart Mill and we rode bikes. It was about five and a half miles (to ride to school), I think.”
She married Keith Farnsworth in 1942.
“When I met Keith, he was cutting eucalyptus leaves in the paddock between the main road and where we had to go,” she said.
Keith cut and processed eucalyptus to sell. It was a business he continued for many years.
Iris and Keith settled down on a property the other side of Moonambel in an area called Wild Dog.
They had five children, Bernice, Carol, Rodney, Frank and Ray.
“Dad used to cut and process eucalyptus. And had a few sheep. And mum used to milk the cows and had chooks,” Bernice said about their home in Wild Dog.
When the children were school-aged, the family moved to a home in Moonambel, where Iris lived until six months ago.
Keith, who was 12 years older than Iris, was 99 years and five months when he passed away.
“Mum nursed him right until the end,” Bernice said.
Iris had five children, 17 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
“She loves the grandkids,” Bernice said.
“Mum never gets frazzled. She’s always calm. She always gets along with everybody.
“She was a good cook. And the grandkids always looked forward to going home to grandma’s homemade biscuits.”
Iris will celebrate her birthday with family and friends at the pavilion at the old Moonambel football ground on June 17.
Asked how she wanted to mark the incredible milestone of turning 100, Iris was thinking of her family, rather than herself.
“As long as the kids and their families are there. I’d just like to see them have a long life,” she said.