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World traveller Irene Lyall was set to mark her 100th birthday with a teacup filled with gin.
The Welsh-born centenarian turned 100 on Friday 12 March with Hugh, her husband of 67 years. Both still live in their home in Dandenong.
Ms Lyall says the secret to her long life is a good moisturizer – and what she’ll be drinking in a commemorative ‘centenarian club’ teacup gifted by her aged care provider Bolton Clarke.
“I don’t drink tea, so I’ll put gin in my cup,” she says.
Born and raised in the little village of Rhossilli on the southwestern tip of the Gower Peninsula in Wales, she is the third of five children.
“They were very good parents,” she says. “They were very happy.”
Her father was a fisherman and Ms Lyall and her siblings spent many hours at the beach.
He died while Ms Lyall was still a teenager. Life became particularly hard on her mother, with “no child support to speak of”.
“The local farmers and community rallied behind her and my siblings and I had to all pitch in to help.
“My job was to look after my two younger siblings.”
Ms Lyall went to the village’s school, comprised of two classrooms – one for junior students and one for seniors.
There was no option to commute to a big city school as the distance rendered it impossible.
“The nearest city was Swansea, which was 18 miles away.
“People didn’t have much money, so you didn’t travel to the big city very often because of the cost.”
When World War II came, Ms Lyall left Wales and worked in munitions.
She made metal parts including screws, nuts and bolts, parts for guns and camouflage nets to cover vehicles and tanks.
“It wasn’t hard, but I came home smelling of tar and creosote.”
Later, she worked as a charge-hand for the Navy Army and Airforce Institute where she cooked, served meals and supported recreational activities.
Her position was second in charge to the manager and eventually she began running the Corporals Club, where she met her future husband Hugh.
He joined the army in 1947. As a Corporal he worked as both radio and gunner operator on tanks.
There was a lot of interest in their relationship.
“I used to have to walk from the main camp to the Corporals Club each day,” Ms Lyall says.
“One of the soldiers asked Hugh if he went out with ‘that old-fashioned girl.’
“He was the only soldier I went out with.”
Mr Lyall says she was different to the other girls around the camp.
“We kept each other on the straight and narrow,” he says.
They courted for nine months before Hugh left the camp in 1950 for Hong Kong and Kenya an then nine weeks of leave in Germany.
The couple’s love continued to blossom even though they were apart.
“We kept in touch via letters and the phone,” Mr Lyall says.
“It cost five shillings for the phone call and we didn’t get much phone time each evening.
“The girls on the switch used to put me through last because I was a regular, so if everyone else was done, I’d get more time.”
He left the army in 1953 and the pair married on 6 February 1954.
“I didn’t get down on one knee,” Mr Lyall says. “We just decided we’d get married.”
They rented a flat in London before a friend urged them to go to Australia.
They boarded the P&O SS Iberia passenger liner on 13 March 1956, paying 124 pounds each for a one-way ticket.
“We met people on the ship who were very nice and looked after us when we first arrived,” Mr Lyall says.
“They became our Australian family.”
The plan was to travel onto New Zealand or Canada if they didn’t like Australia.
But they did and they stayed, eventually building a home in Glen Waverley.
“We’ve never regretted it,” Ms Lyall says.
“The best thing we ever did was move to Australia.”
They travelled extensively, visiting 18 different countries, including Canada several times and a round the world trip in 1982.
They also explored their own backyard, including 6000 miles in a rental car from Perth travelling through Western Australia and a yearly trip to Queensland to escape the Melbourne winter.
“We also took a six-month holiday to Britain in 1972, visiting friends all over and Hugh’s old soldier buddies,” Ms Lyall says.
“We have no regrets; we’ve had a good life.”
