‘I’m flabbergasted she’s made it this far’: Daughter’s tribute to mum aged 111

A Bribie Island great-great-grandmother born before the Titanic’s fateful voyage, who met The Beatles before they were famous, can now also lay claim to being Australia’s oldest person. Here is her amazing life story.

She was born a year before the Titanic sank, lived through two world wars, meet The Beatles before they were famous and witnessed the reigns of a string of kings, queens and prime ministers, but now Gwendoline Mary Moore has an even more impressive claim to fame.

The Bribie Island resident, known as Gwen, has turned 111 which might well make her Australia’s oldest person.

While no official Australian database can confirm the oldest person in the country, Frank Mawer was believed to have been the oldest before his death at 110.

Mrs Moore’s life journey has taken her around the globe after migrating from Wales in the 1960s to support her daughter who was going through a tough period at that time.

During WWII, she and her husband Cyril were unable to enlist because of ill health but she worked in a munitions factory.

“Her first job, when she was a teenager in southern Wales, was as an usherette in a cinema,” daughter Joan Lambell said.

“It was at that time she met my father.”

She also worked in the canteen of a television studio in Bristol, Television Wales, and the West (TWW).

“While she was there she met all sorts of celebrities,’’ Ms Lambell said.

“She met the Beatles before they were famous.

“People used to go to the TWW studio to audition and she met the Beatles, Tom Jones and she met Engelbert Humperdinck and a few other famous people.”

Born on November 27, 1911, Mrs Moore hailed from the small town of Tredegar and was a miner’s daughter.

One of five children, her older sister Lillian died last year at the age of 113.

At one point the sisters were among the oldest living siblings in the world.

Mrs Moore has three children by her first husband, Cyril Clifford Pearce, who died aged only 37.

Two of daughters, Joan (92) and Jill (78), both live on Bribie Island.

Until five years ago, Mrs Moore was still living alone in Sandstone Point but when her eyesight started failing she moved into Bribie Cove Nursing Home.

Bribie Island’s Gwendoline Mary Moore recently turned 111. Picture: Contributed

Ms Lambell said her mother was very determined and knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it.

“To be honest, I’m flabbergasted she’s made it this far,” Ms Lambell said.

“After having a triple bypass at 94, she bounced back from that operation. Within a week she was back home.

“Let’s face it, she’s got something going for her.

“At her age, she’s had a hell of a life.”

Gwendoline Mary Moore worked in a munitions factory during WWII and even met The Beatles before they were famous. Picture: Contributed

Ms Lambell described her as a very good mother, a wonderful cook and well known in the church community.

“Mum never got involved with any of the modern technologies,” Ms Lambell said.

“She still does everything in imperial weights and measures.

“I know she works her materials out by the yard.

“She had to resort to decimal currency because that came into being when I came here in 1966.”

Mrs Moore migrated to Australia with her second husband in 1966, initially only for two years to be with Ms Lambell, before moving back to Wales and persuading her other children to move to Australia.

Mrs Moore now lives at the Bribie Cove Nursing Home. Picture: Contributed

“When my husband and I first came to Australia in 1966, to give our children a better chance, I was excited about coming but it never occurred to me I might be homesick,” Ms Lambell said.

“I found myself pregnant when I got here and I found myself very isolated because (my partner) Rod was at work, the children were at school.

“I didn’t know anybody, I was tied to the house and I couldn’t drive anywhere at that stage.

“I was very homesick and cried a lot.

“My mother came over really because of that.

“She was always my champion, championing my cause.”

Mrs Moore has eight grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.