Last week, flanked by two bosom buddies, her six children, many of her 17 grandchildren, and 20 great grandchildren, Nance Wills merrily brought in her 100th year on Earth.
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Proudly adorning her neck was a ha’penny minted in her birth-year and embossed with the effigy of King George V.
Nance was born on Thursday, December 13, 1917, in Lakemba, Sydney.
She still remembers walking across the Harbour Bridge when it was first opened in March, 1932.
She moved with her husband, John Wills, to Warrell Creek during the Menzies era, where they raised five boys and one girl: Barry, Chris, Michael, John, Anthony and Dianne.
“She is a resilient woman—she had to be to put up with five sons,” Michael Wills said.
“But she’s also funny, quirky, and very loving.
“And she’s a really good cook.”
The gastronomic centenarian is famous for her sausage rolls, her dumplings and ‘Nance’s Nectar’: a home-made alcoholic drink.
“She’d also boil tins of condensed milk to make caramel, you know, and everyone would get a tin of caramel as a present,” grand-daughter Steph Wills said.
“Or a real Christmas pudding with thruppence and sixpence in them,” son Michael said.
She’s a bit of a card sharp and always did love a day out at the races.
“And she really wanted that letter from the Queen—well she got it!” Michael said.
The birthday party gathering celebrated in true royal style, with scones and jam and cream, and the birthday lady wearing a bejewelled tiara.
Happy Birthday, Nance, from all of us here at Guardian News.
Some fun facts from 1917
- Albert Einstein published his first paper on cosmology
- Houdini performed ‘Buried Alive’ escape
- In 1917 King George V changed the royal household's name to Windsor because the United Kingdom was at war with Germany and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is a German name. When he heard about the change of name, German Emperor William II joked that he wanted to see Shakespeare's play ‘The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’.
- The General Strike of 1917 begins, a massive industrial action involving over 100,000 workers in support of railway workers in Sydney.
- William "Buffalo Bill" Cody died
- A federal election is held. The incumbent Nationalist government led by Billy Hughes is returned to power.
- Jon Cleary, Sidney Nolan, NSW politician Jack Beale, and Olympic swimmer Mervyn Wood were also born this year
- The two halves of the Trans-Australian Railway meet.
- A man throws an egg at Prime Minister Billy Hughes, and the refusal of Queensland Police Service to arrest him leads to the forming of the Commonwealth Police Force.
- The second plebiscite on the issue of military conscription was defeated.
- The Royal Australian Navy battlecruiser HMAS Australia is damaged in a collision with the British cruiser HMS Repulse.
Mel Leigh Dee
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
