Milestone: Robert Jennings is happy to have reached 100 and to be enjoying life with his wife, Nancy.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Living past a century is a rarity for most people and an achievement worth celebrating.
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For Robert Jennings, turning 100 was just another day of getting older, but with all the change he’s seen in his lifetime, the feat is not one to be taken lightly.
Celebrating his birthday on April 5, Mr Jennings, the second youngest of nine children, is the last of his siblings alive and with most of them living until their late 80s and 90s, it’s no surprise he reached 100.
“I didn’t think I’d reach 100 but here we are,” Mr Jennings said.
“I’ve seen a lot of change, a terrible lot of change ... Everything was so steady back then and now it’s all so fast these days, I can’t keep up.”
Although he was born in Clare, South Australia, Mr Jennings spent most of his childhood in the nearby town of Farrell Flat with his sister and her husband after his parents passed away.
Seen it all: Robert is astounded at how much has changed over his lifespan.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Mr Jennings attended school in the area, working at a farm across the road on weekends where he suffered an injury he would carry for the rest of his life.
“A bag of wheat fell four feet down and hit me on my shoulder and put it out when I was only a young kid,” Mr Jennings said.
“When we went down to the hospital the doctor said ‘he’s young, he’ll grow out of it’. I came home and had a crook back and still got it today.”
This was the injury that landed him an early retirement after being told he could no longer work due to his back.
After leaving school at the age of 12, Mr Jennings went on to work in various jobs across South Australia, NSW and Victoria.
He worked across a major pipeline in South Australia as a young man and during World War II he was a courier for the Australian Army after being shifted from travelling overseas due to pre-existing injuries and a hernia surgery.
It was over a decade later that Mr Jennings met his wife, Nancy, and they have now been married for more than 50 years.
He then worked in Griffith, NSW, as a truck driver for many years transporting goods between there and Melbourne and on surrounding farms before the couple moved to Shepparton for retirement 36 years ago.
Mr and Mrs Jennings often took the opportunity to travel when living in NSW to the point where they had travelled around Australia three-and-a-half times in total.
“I enjoyed life,” Mr Jennings said.
“My best memory was travelling around Australia and going fishing with my wife — and we used to catch a fair few, too.”
But if there’s one adventure Mr Jennings never regretted taking, it was marrying his wife all those years ago.
“The best thing that happened in my life is the wife I got today. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t be here today,” he said, gesturing towards Mrs Jennings.
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