Tom Stringer and Phillip Edwards turned 99 in January and Eunice Clarke, Maud Muller and Ida Martin will mark the same milestone in March.

Barunga Village’s Margaret Bennier thinks five residents turning 99 is a special achievement for both residents and the village.

Thomas Stringer

Tom was born three kilometres out of Port Broughton and spent most of his life on a farm at Mundoora.

He finished school when he was 14 so he could work on the family farm.

“Back in those days it was different. I used to ride a horse to the general store,” Tom said.

When Tom was younger he enjoyed attending social dances on the weekend and playing sport for the Mundoora Football Club.

Phillip Edwards

Phil was born at Wallaroo and lived there until he was 14.

He attended Wallaroo Mines Primary School and Kadina Memorial High School.

He moved to Moonta when he was 14.

In his life he has lived in nine different locations as a postmaster including Port Pirie, Quorn, Cummins and Edithburgh.

He now resides at Barunga Village with his wife of 74 years, Gwen.

“I can’t give enough credit to Barunga Village,” Phil said.

Maud Muller

Maud was born three kilometres out of Port Broughton and attended primary school at Wokurna and Garfield.

Maud married Bill and later his brother Jim and she had three children: Donald, Delma and Maxwell.

She worked on a farm for most of her life and, “milked a lot of cows and chased the eggs every night”. Maud also enjoyed going to social dances on the weekend in her early days.

Maud said if she if she could have her life again she wouldn’t change a thing and her dream is to attend her 100th birthday.

Eunice Clarke

Eunice was born in Port Broughton and attended school in the town.

In 1930, Eunice married Albert Daniel (Bert) and they lived in a small family farm at Wards Hill.

Bert and Eunice had five children together: Neil, Audrey, Harold, Donald and Jeffrey.

To add to the income of their farm Eunice and Bert kept pigs and milked cows.

Ida Martin

Ida was born in Keith, South Australia. Ida and her family lived in Panitya, Victoria, and she attended school at Pinaroo, SA.

Ida’s father served in WWII and sadly didn’t return; this is when she moved with her mother to Bridgewater.

After Ida left school she worked in a store, as a hairdresser in Gawler and spent six years working on a farm in the Barunga Range.

Ida moved to Port Broughton in 1986 to the Barunga Village cottages and now resides in Barunga Village retirement home.