Tom and Georgina Borg: Innisfail couple to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary

A Far North Queensland man has admitted he married his wife on New Year’s Day so he’d never forget the date, as he prepares to celebrate their 75th anniversary.

A Far North Queensland man has admitted he married his wife on New Year’s Day so he’d never forget the date, as he prepares to celebrate their 75th anniversary.

Thomas Borg, a former cane farmer, and his wife Georgina will celebrate their diamond anniversary on Sunday.

“I picked New Year’s Day to get married so I wouldn’t forget the date,” Mr Borg said.

The couple, now in their 90s, met in Japoonvale near Innisfail, where they were grew up to Maltese parents.
“Things were hard in those days because our parents only spoke Maltese and not a lot of English. My father worked on a cane farm so when I left school I worked with him,” Mr Borg said.
While working on his father’s farm, one of Tom’s chores was to milk the cow and bring the milk to Georgina’s family as her mother was sick and needed help.
It was on his trips to Georgina’s family home that Tom met his future bride.
“We were five brothers and three of them used to go and see her and she used to tell ‘em, you’ve got another brother. Where is he?” Mr Borg said.
One year, when a flood hit the town, water went through Georgina’s family home making it unsafe to live.

Tom’s brother Sammy went to check on her family and said he would ask their father if they could stay at the barracks on the Borg’s family property.

Tom and Georgina Borg married at Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church, Innisfail on New years Day 1948. Picture: Supplied

While Georgina’s family stayed on the Borg’s property, Tom’s brothers would frequently go and visit them.

“I used to milk the cows and one day mum said to go take them a bucket of milk and that’s how I met her,” Mr Borg said.
But he was not the only one in his family with eyes for Georgina.
“The first time I took the milk over, I said hello and the second time I stayed a little bit longer and the third time I stayed longer and my brother Sammy said hey, that’s my girlfriend,” Mr Borg said.
To get his brother to back off, Mr Borg told Sammy he could milk the cow and take the pail to Georgina’s family.
“Sammy said you know I can’t milk the cow so I can’t take the milk over and I said, well leave me alone,” Mr Borg said.
A year later, Tom and Georgina were married.

“We were very young then,” Mrs Borg said.
Georgina was 19 and Tom was 21 when they got married at the Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Innisfail.

Innisfail couple Tom and Georgina Borg, who now reside in Cairns, will celebrate their Diamond anniversary on New Years Day. Picture: Catherine Duffy

Their secret to a successful and happy marriage is to “remember that no one has the same mind as you”.

“It’s all about give and take,” Mr Borg said.

“You’re going to argue so you have to learn to give and take and then when you go to bed, you forget everything.”

For seventy years, Tom worked on his cane farm which he later sold to his son.

The couple have also spent time travelling overseas including England, Singapore and to their parents’ homeland, Malta.

They lived most of their lives in Innisfail before moving to Cairns in recent years for care.

Together they have three children, 10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

Originally published as Tom and Georgina Borg: Innisfail couple to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary