Today I had the honour of capturing the incredible Irene, who is 104 years old!!!
Irene's sight may be failing her, & her hearing is not what it used to be.. but she is as mentally sharp as ever, & was able to recount her life story to me while I took the photos. She also could move exceptionally well, using only a walker.
Irene was born in Kyogle in 1918, her father was a farmer, who was called up to serve in the war.
She loved her time as a child growing up there with her brother.
The photo she held in the images was taken when she was 18 & starting her training as a Nurse at Royal North Shore. Her Mother is in the centre of the image, & her Brother who was 17 situated on the right.
Irene told me that her brother enlisted to fight in the war also, & lied about his age..
After only 10 days of training in Dubbo was due to be put on a boat to sail out to fight. Her Father went & dragged him off the boat & told them his real age, forcing him to come home.. Irene said that same boat got hit by a torpedo & he would have been killed if her father hadn't retrieved him.
Irene married at 25 years, I commented to her that most the ladies I spoke to, seemed to get married at around 19.. She said, she was working & didn't have time for any of that..
She had three children two sons & a daughter. Sadly she lost her eldest son some years ago.
She said they raised the children in Sydney, & lived in a 2 storey house. Irene said she stayed very fit as there was 60 steps up to the house from the road. She would need to bring the pram down the steps first, then go back up & retrieve the baby, then back up to get the other children.
After the children arrived, Irene worked for a chemical plant, that produced products like round up, called Monsanto. She said she had 400 employees to watch over, & only 9 of which were women. I asked if she had any troubles with managing so many men.. but she said they were all very respectful to her.
The paintings in the images are all Irene's art works she created. I asked if they were somewhere she lived etc, but she said she just made the scenes up in her mind then painted them.
