Working hard in her younger years picking vegetables and regularly eating her own homemade yoghurt are what Shepparton’s Agathi Thoma, née Dhosi, credits for reaching triple figures.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The now centenarian, who turned 100 on January 2, was born in 1926, in a small village named Floq, just outside Korçë in Albania, to parents Sotir Dhosi and Efygeni Ligor.
The following year, the first of her younger brothers, Paul, was born, and not long after, her father emigrated to Australia (where her youngest brother, John, was eventually born).
In 1938, Sotir had saved enough money to bring Efygeni and their children — who had by then moved to Korçë to live with Efygeni’s sister — to Australia.
So, Agathi boarded the Esqulino in Naples, Italy, with her mum and brother and set sail to Melbourne, where her dad met them at Station Pier when they arrived on October 10, 1938.
The next day, the family travelled to Shepparton.
Despite attending school in Albania, Agathi struggled to fit in at Shepparton Primary School because she could not yet speak English.
She was placed in a Prep class with students much younger.
“I couldn’t understand a thing because it was in a different language,” Agathi said.
“It was very hard, and we were frightened of the others (kids, who would tease them about coming from overseas).”
A year later, when Agathi was 13, she left school to pick vegetables.
Her father was share-farming in Florence St and the family lived in a corrugated iron shed on the property, which had hessian-covered interior walls.
“We were living in a tin shed, dirt floor and got two buckets of water from the channel a day to bring inside to use,” Agathi said.
“When it was raining, the floor would get dirty because it was wet, but we still lived.
“We used to go every day picking peas, tomatoes and beans in the summer time.
“If anybody had anything for us to pick, we would pick it, but you’ve got to pick good ones, not the rubbish ones; we used to get 25 cents for one bag that was 50 pounds.”
Agathi would ride her bike to the farms where there was work.
Despite the hard labour and challenging living conditions, she said life was better in Australia than it had been in Albania.
On October 16, 1942, the family became naturalised Australian citizens.
The following year, on July 25, Agathi married Xhuvi (John) Thoma at St Augustine’s Church in Shepparton.
The family was Orthodox Christian, but at the time there was no Orthodox Church in Shepparton, so St Augustine’s had allowed use of its church for worship.
John, also Albanian and a farmer, owned an orchard on Hosie Rd, Shepparton East, where Agathi moved to.
In 1944, the couple’s first daughter, Jeanette, was born, followed by Ellen in 1945 and Pat in 1947.
With encouragement from their progressive Australian neighbours, Mr and Mrs Taig, Agathi learned to drive.
She can’t be sure, but she believes she might have been the first Albanian woman to get her driver’s licence in Shepparton.
“The other Albanians were laughing at me to go and learn to drive the car,” Agathi said.
“They didn’t like a woman to drive the car.
“Then everybody learned it.”
Unfortunately, John fell ill and could no longer run the farm, so the family moved to Oak St in Shepparton in 1960, where their fourth child, and fourth daughter, Margaret, was born in 1963.
John sadly died of a brain tumour in 1969, aged 59 years, leaving Agathi a widow.
Agathi remained living at the property, which the family dubbed “The Oak St Preserving Co.” because she regularly grew fruit and vegetables and preserved them there.
As well as her edible plants, Agathi had an extensive ornamental garden, which she kept immaculately manicured.
A crochet champion — her many Shepparton Agricultural Show ribbons now adorning her room at Ave Maria’s Mercy Place, where she moved to when she was 95 — Agathi was largely self-taught in all her crafts.
She crocheted the wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses for one of her daughters’ weddings and made clothing and other items for others as well.
Famous for her jelly sponge cake, among other baked goods, Agathi said making her own yoghurt throughout her life was also a skill she mastered.
“I’d milk the cow and get my own milk,” she said.
“That’s the secret.”
Both to good quality yoghurt and longevity.
“I’m still alive, and I worked hard,” Agathi said.
“I think I’m stronger than someone who didn’t work at all.”
Later in life, she has taken a crown for ‘bowler of the year’ at her aged care home and is proud of her 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
She received letters from King Charles III, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and local dignitaries to congratulate her on her 100th birthday.