Marriage, death, cyclones and happiness: Dulcie Schnitzerling, OAM, from Babinda turns 100

On her 100th birthday Dulcie Schnitzerling tells what she did to find happiness after the death 12-year-old son and then her husband.

A newly minted centenarian and legend of the Babinda community has reflected on her 100th birthday, what she did to find happiness after the death of her 12-year-old son, and the “love of her life”.

“I think when I met my husband it was the happiest time of my life,” Dulcie Schnitzerling AOM, recalled.

Ms Schnitzerling was working in a cafe in Babinda, and her husband was in town cutting cane.

“He was so shy, he kept on buying things at the cafe just so he could be talk to me,” she said.

“Many a milkshake was bought in our courtship.”

Ms Schnitzerling said the pair moved to Brisbane during the World War II, had five children, multiple mortgages and were “very happy”.

“For a long while there we bought the cheapest cuts of meat we could find. They had to eat it, if they didn’t eat it at night they go it for breakfast”.

Eventually the family bought a cane farm just out of Babinda, and not longer after tragedy struck.

Her 12-year-old son “was on a tractor which flipped when he was driving it and crushed his body into the wet mud”.

It was 1973. The young boy was dead.

Babinda matriarch Dulcie Schnitzerling OAM celebrated her 100th birthday on Wednesday, March 20. The centenarian was born in Innisfail in 1924, has lived in Babinda for 86 years, was an SES volunteer for 46 years and volunteered at Babinda Hospital for over 25 years. She has met Prince William and was awarded the Order of Australia Medal at 83. Picture: Brendan Radke

“My husband blamed himself. It was such a sad time. I thought I was going to lose him too. I’m not sure if he ever got over it,” she said.

“But life just keeps on going.”

It was 20 years later that her husband died of bone cancer.

“That was heartbreaking. I nursed him through the last 12 months of his life. He was in so much pain.”

The 100-years-young legend of the Babinda community responded to her grief by getting busy.

She volunteered at Babinda hospice and then for the SES – where she is the region’s oldest and longest serving member.

During Cyclone Larry in 2006 she worked from “5am to 5pm” making sure people were fed.

This led to her receiving an OAM in 2007.

Dulcie Schnitzerling responded to her grief by doing volunteer work – with which she was awarded with an OAM. Picture: Brendan Radke

She volunteered at the hospice she now calls home for over 25 years, right past her 95th birthday.

“I’ve had an eventful life and a very good life,” she said.

But how does it feel being 100?

“Not much different from being 99,” she said.

Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day:

Lifeline 13 11 14;

Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467;

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800;

MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78

Originally published as Marriage, death, cyclones and happiness: Dulcie Schnitzerling, OAM, from Babinda turns 100