General News
1 March, 2024
Bygone days and loving memories
Dorothy Gosling (nee Roll) was born at Rainbow on March 5, 1924 to parents Paul and Hedwig, and grew up on a farm south of Yaapeet with her mother and four siblings.
Dorothy Gosling (nee Roll) was born at Rainbow on March 5, 1924 to parents Paul and Hedwig, and grew up on a farm south of Yaapeet with her mother and four siblings.
Paul Roll died of cancer when she was 18 months old, leaving her mother to run the farm and raise the family on her own.
"My father was very excited with a daughter after having four sons, and to celebrate he went out and bought a new Dodge motor car - a big step up from the horse and buggy," Mrs Gosling recalls in her memoir.
Mrs Gosling attended Galanungah State School and enjoyed her days on the family farm where she was surrounded by many pets including chickens, dogs, ducks, guinea pigs, kittens, lambs, pigs and rabbits.
In 1951, after a "long courtship", she married Mack Gosling at the Presbyterian Church in Rainbow, on what Dorothy recalls as a dusty and hot day.
Their reception was held at Condoleon's Cafe, and they honeymooned in Warrnambool.
The pair lived on a farm at Nypo, north of Yaapeet and had three children - Wendy in 1952, Jill in 1954 and Gai in 1957.
The family moved to East Geelong in 1958 before returning to Rainbow and buying Joe Wishart's Men’s Wear Store, along with a house in Queen Street.
Mr Gosling died of an aneurysm in 1975, but Mrs Gosling remained in Rainbow until she moved to Nhill in 2002.
Ahead of her birthday milestone, she said the anticipation has been building as the event nears.
"I wasn't excited until this last week when I have been getting calls and cards," Mrs Gosling said.
"My grandson and his wife are also flying home from Queensland for my birthday."
And when you have had 99 birthdays, Mrs Gosling said it's a case of "birthdays are birthdays", although her favourite, to this day, is her 13th, for no particular reason other than it was when she became a teenager.
No doubt after celebrating her 100th next week with her family - including her three daugters, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren - this birthday will be just as memorable, if not more so.
"When we all get together, it's a crowd," Mrs Gosling laughed.
Mrs Gosling said she doesn't know if there is a particular secret to getting to 100.
"Do to others as you would have them do to you," she added, after reflecting on it.
In her 100 years, there have been a number of influential inventions - but her favourite was the electric iron.
"We used to have to heat up our irons on the stove," Mrs Gosling said.
"And sometimes you'd wash your clothes and start ironing and the iron would leave a black streak off the stove on the clean clothes, so then you would have to wash them again."
Mrs Gosling has penned a memoir "My Memories of Bygone Days", sharing details of her past including her childhood days, farm life, entertainment, and her experiences during the war years, droughts, floods and plagues.
"My family asked me so many questions, so I decided to put it down on paper," Mrs Gosling explained.
Mrs Gosling has given the Argus permission to republish parts of the memoir, which we look forward to doing in the near future.