We took Anne for lunch yesterday to Carrick Hotel. We had been there recently with Probus and were quite impressed so thought it was worth another try. We were asked to be there and ready to order by 12 o'clock so we assumed they were expecting a crowd and we were right. The main part of the dining room was set for a large party and my heart sank when I noticed four high chairs. We had a nice table and ordered on time as instructed, the large party started trailing in from about 12.15. They were mostly young couples with kids and they all had these huge modern prams which take up so much room. There were the obligatory grannies and grand-dads, dragged out for the day so it was quite an event.
We had plenty of time so I wandered around to look at the paintings and so on hanging on the walls and was intrigued by an old photograph. It showed a very old man in workman's clothes, carrying a rake and, beside it was a timeline of his life. He was born in England and arrived in Northern van Dieman's Land in 1789 on his uncle's ship. It said that he spent the next 23 years living and hunting with the local aboriginals.
In 1812, he met up with a local farmer and worked with them as a gardener until 1839, when he moved into a small hut on the property. His only companion was his cat, Joey. In 1890, he moved to the Launceston Invalid Depot where he died in 1891.
This so-called historical record claimed that he was 117 years 6 months 21 days old when he died. remarkable!
Of course, I checked Google who tried to tell me that Australia's oldest recorded person was a Queenslander, Dexter Kruger, who was a mere 111 years, 188 days when he went. Maybe I should tell them to bring their records up to date.
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