Central Coast resident Ettie Bunt is one of the first people in Australia to receive a card from King Charles III on her 100th birthday.
She celebrated the milestone recently with family and friends, with flowers and cards covering the sideboards.
Still living independently, Ettie’s days are filled with simple pleasures – crafts, crosswords, jigsaw puzzles, reading, baking scones and gardening.
Her love of knitting and crocheting has supported people worldwide.
She has donated numerous crafted blanket squares since August 1995 and her association with other community-inspired women affiliated with Wrap with Love and the Ourimbah Hospital Auxiliary has established special long-term friendships.
Ettie survived scarlet fever at the age of four and she still recalls the awful smell resulting from disinfecting her family home using a loaded spade of burning sulphur which was carried from room to room.
This method of destroying the virus was later determined to be futile in disease control.
Her early and teenage years were marked by the Great Depression and World War II.
Her family upbringing with five siblings on a farm in the NSW Monaro Plains taught her lifelong skills.
Ettie has witnessed immense change over her lifetime including the introduction of a metric system, wireless, motorcars, television, technology and space travel.
Ettie received a very special birthday delivery from Arnott’s – a box filled with her favourite Shredded Wheatmeal biscuits, which she has enjoyed eating with a cup of tea over the past 100 years.
Ettie has lived throughout the reign of five British monarchs and has witnessed 25 Australian Prime Ministers and the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
Birthday messages were received from local and State political representatives, the Australian Prime Minister, and the Australian Governor-General.
Despite being disappointed not to have received the Queen’s Birthday message, as they were born in the same decade, Ettie is amongst a select few to have received this message so early in the reign of King Charles III.
Source: Media release, Jan 17, 2023, Merril Jackson