He is a century old, but you wouldn’t notice it; he is as sharp as ever.
Garfield’s Harry van den Broek is old enough to have lived through the Great Depression and a Nazi occupation, yet at 100 years old he is still driven by unwavering optimism.
“I think actually that retirement is not sitting still, you’ve got to keep yourself occupied mentally and physically and be an optimist. That is what I’ve claimed all my life,” he said.
Last week, Cameroon’s Paul Biya was re-elected for an eighth term as head of state. At 92 years old, the press proclaimed him the oldest president in the world.
If you take the title of president more generally, then Garfield’s Harry van den Broek has Mr Biya beat.
While reaching a century of life, Mr van den Broek is also the current president of the Rotary Club of Bunyip-Garfield.
He was elected two years in advance; he put up his hand for it when no one else did. Understandably, his fellow Rotarians asked if he was sure.
“Why not? I’m an optimist,” he recounted saying.
The small but close-knit club has been more than enthusiastic during his term.
Mr van den Broek is no longer able to drive due to the condition of his eyesight. For every meeting, he receives his own presidential escort from a fellow Rotarian.
On his own two feet, Mr van den Broek stands with a sturdiness uncommon for his age.
As he welcomes a constant stream of friends and family at the Garfield Community Centre for his birthday—a flurry of handshakes and kisses that many of any age could find exhausting—his vitality appears unwavering.
This is a common theme of his life; he has always carried a youthfulness beyond his years.
Born in the Dutch town of Asten in 1925, he grew up in a farming household. As a boy, he saw the Great Depression, and as he came of age, the Second World War.
“The change in my lifetime can’t be described. When I was school-aged, there was hardly a car on the road.”
He recalls how his parents had to go next door to borrow 40 cents to pay for power before the town electrician came and took out the fuse.
When the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans in 1940, Mr van den Broek’s teenage years were marked by curfews and various restrictions.
Like most boys, he didn’t care much for such strict rules.
“My saying is, a teenager’s got a lot of dare and no brains.
“I didn’t abide by that. I just enjoyed breaking the rules. My parents were very, very worried and somehow I didn’t understand why they were so worried.
“I had my own family, then I realised what it meant being worried about the family.”
Getting caught wasn’t the only threat. Mr van den Broek was an able young man, and as the Nazi war machine began its slow unraveling, it conscripted its subjects for brutal roles.
But he said he was lucky in two respects: he lived on a farm, so he never went without food, and he looked young for his age.
“When I was 18, I looked like a 16-year-old.
“You had to have a document, sort of like a passport.
“I had one, but I didn’t use it because it was much easier for me to play the schoolboy. I was able to move around quite freely, and if they caught me, then I just sort of told them I wasn’t 17, I was only 16 years, and they believed it.”
After the war’s end, he found himself called up to serve in the Dutch military as the Netherlands made a years-long attempt, both diplomatically and militarily, to re-establish control over its then-colony, the Dutch East Indies.
By the time he re-entered civilian life, weary from his experience in Indonesia, he decided to migrate.
Originally destined for New Zealand, he found his parents and two brothers joining his departure from post-war Europe, and they eventually settled in Australia.
“Migration to Australia has been successful for me, and it is the best move I’ve ever made in my life.”
The family continued the tradition of farming, moving to a property in Clyde North in 1950. Fifteen years later, they moved to Garfield North, and for the last 60 years, they have remained.
Today, the van den Broek descendants number around 400.
“I’m a local now,” he said with a laugh.
Mr van den Broek lives on a small property in Garfield, where he still manages his own hobby farm with a few cattle.
“I think actually that retirement is not sitting still; you’ve got to keep yourself occupied mentally and physically and be an optimist. That is what I’ve claimed all my life.
“I’ve been an optimist all my life, and I had rough times, but I survived.”
After one hundred trips around the sun, he isn’t willing to settle down. When his time comes, he wants to go on his own two feet.
“I don’t want to be sick. I don’t want to be looked after. I want to do it all on my own.”
His secret? Don’t worry about it.
“I personally believe that people worry too much about what can happen. And it doesn’t do them any good because they’ve got no control over that.
“It’s amazing that most of the hiccups in my life I was able to solve by being an optimist.”
