www.awnw.com.au
Issue #286 – Wednesday, 17 June, 2015
Albury Wodonga’s largest circulating newspaper
Welcome mat for refugees Albury is making its mark as a melting pot of multiculturalism as the city officially becomes a Refugee Welcome Zone. TURN TO PAGE 8 FOR THE FULL STORY
It’s Eva forever By MONIQUE KUZEFF TO PLANT a tree and watch it grow to a size you can no longer wrap your arms around is an experience not everyone gets in their lifetime - but having reached 100 years of age this week Eva Dunstan has got to experience exactly that. Throughout 100 years Ms Dunstan, who has lived in Albury for the past 50 years, has been to a lot of places and done a whole lot of things including visiting Tasmania, touring New Zealand, and going three times around Australia. “So what I haven’t done and where I haven’t been (laughs) is hard to say,” Ms Dunstan said. “In my time it didn’t matter what came up you had a go.” During her childhood in Queensland and into her teenage years Ms Dunstan said when an opportunity presented itself she would snatch it up. “Whatever came up I’d take it by the horns - as far as I could see, life was too short,” she laughed. Through her smile and giggles Ms Dunstan admitted that she had not been bothered over the last few years but was grateful for a lot of things she was still capable of doing. “I’m lucky enough I can still talk and hear but it’s getting that way now that your eyesight is practically going, “ Ms Dunstan said. Even at her age Ms Dunstan said she was still competent enough to live on her own and in her own home with only the occasional hand from her son with the groceries and gardening. Ms Dunstan said her secret to reaching 100 years old was keeping herself busy all the time. “My idea is to keep myself occupied through reading, knitting and playing the accordion - but I gave that up because it’s too heavy to put on my lap now.” Throughout her lifetime Ms Dunstan worked a variety of different jobs including milking cows, working in a cafe and a hotel, and being the matron of a grammar school for 25 years. School today is nothing like what it was all those years ago Ms Dunstan said, after visiting her old school in Queensland in 1993. “When I went to school we rode on a horse and now kids go to school on a bus,” Ms Dunstan said. “We used to have a paddock and a farmyard
Eva Dunstan turns 100 this week. Picture: MONIQUE KUZEFF
out the back where we would milk cows but there isn’t a cow nor a horse in sight anymore.” Ms Dunstan said there were only 10 students
in her class at school and she knew of only three others that were still alive. “Two sisters and another lady are the only oth-
ers from school who are still alive and the rest have all gone - but that’s just the way it goes.” “But life still goes on,” she laughed.
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