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The Australian woman renowned as the world's oldest internet blogger has made her final post, aged 108.
Olive Riley, of Woy Woy on NSW's central coast, died in a nursing home just after 6am (AEST) yesterday.
She will be mourned by family and an international readership in the thousands.
"It was mind blowing to her," her great grandson Darren Stone, of Brisbane, told AAP tonight.
"She had people communicating with her from as far away as Russia and America on a continual basis, not just once in a while."
Olive had posted more than 70 entries on her blog - or as she jokingly labelled it, her "blob" - since February last year.
The
ardent Sydney Swans AFL fan shared her day-to-day musings and her
life's experiences raising three children on her own, living through
two world wars and the Depression, her work as a station cook in rural
Queensland and as an egg sorter and barmaid in Sydney.
In her final post, dated June 26, an increasingly frail Olive noted she couldn't "shake off that bad cough".
She
also: "read a whole swag of email messages and comments from my
internet friends today, and I was so pleased to hear from you. Thank
you, one and all."
Olive's musing live on at https://www.allaboutolive.com.au and more recently at https://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com.
She was born in 1899, and would have turned 109 on October 20.
"She enjoyed the notoriety - it kept her mind fresh," Mr Stone said.
"What kept her going was the memories she had, and being able to recall those memories so strongly."
Olive's funeral will be held at Palmdale Cemetery, on the NSW Central Coast, late this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, June 26, 2008
SETTLING IN
This is a temporary blog created for my friend OLIVE RILEY, of
Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia, aged 108, the world's oldest
blogger. Her main blog, The Life of Riley, is posted at
https://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
OLIVE RILEY'S 74th POST
Olive says:
Hello, dear friends everywhere.
I
can't believe I've been here in this nursing home for more than a week.
How the days have flown, even though I've been in bed most of the time.
I still feel weak, and can't shake off that bad cough.
I've
never been treated so well in all my life. The nurses can't do enough
for me. Ask them for anything, and they are only too happy to provide
it.
Penny, who's in the next bed to mine, had a visit one day
this week from her daughter, who's a professional singer. Guess what
happened! She and I sang a happy song, as I do every day, and before
long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite
a concert!
Mike expects to be back home from his world tour on
July 9. Perhaps he'll make a video next time our choir performs, so you
can all join in.
Eric read a whole swag of email messages and
comments from my internet friends today, and I was so pleased to hear
from you. Thank you, one and all.
Brenda Bryant, from Newcastle,
just 50 miles north of WoyWoy, read my earlier post about my memories
of Washing Day when I was a young girl in Broken Hill a century ago,
and cleverly turned it into a poem, which she has sent to me. I'd like
to share it with you.
Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia, aged 108, the world's oldest
blogger. Her main blog, The Life of Riley, is posted at
https://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
OLIVE RILEY'S 74th POST
Olive says:
Hello, dear friends everywhere.
I
can't believe I've been here in this nursing home for more than a week.
How the days have flown, even though I've been in bed most of the time.
I still feel weak, and can't shake off that bad cough.
I've
never been treated so well in all my life. The nurses can't do enough
for me. Ask them for anything, and they are only too happy to provide
it.
Penny, who's in the next bed to mine, had a visit one day
this week from her daughter, who's a professional singer. Guess what
happened! She and I sang a happy song, as I do every day, and before
long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite
a concert!
Mike expects to be back home from his world tour on
July 9. Perhaps he'll make a video next time our choir performs, so you
can all join in.
Eric read a whole swag of email messages and
comments from my internet friends today, and I was so pleased to hear
from you. Thank you, one and all.
Brenda Bryant, from Newcastle,
just 50 miles north of WoyWoy, read my earlier post about my memories
of Washing Day when I was a young girl in Broken Hill a century ago,
and cleverly turned it into a poem, which she has sent to me. I'd like
to share it with you.
https://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com/
FOR OLIVE RILEY
The World's Oldest Blogger
Sometimes, I hear the young complain of all they have to do.
But I am sure that their complaints should really be quite few.
Take Washing Day, for instance, all they do is press a knob,
And then machines go whirling round and quickly do the job.
They throw in powder, maybe bleach, and softener as well,
And dirty clothes are whirled about, then spun around, pell-mell.
And then, to follow up, I hear, they set the dryer spinning,
They've hardly raised a finger to the end from the beginning.
But things were very different in the days of long ago,
When Olive Riley's mother washed her clothes as white as snow.
And Olive well-remembers that, when it was Washing Day,
Daughters had to do their bit; there was no time for play.
First Olive looked for firewood, which was sometimes hard to find,
She had to hunt for broken twigs or sticks of any kind.
Sometimes she found a fruit-box that was thrown down on the floor.
She chopped it with a tomahawk, though it made her fingers sore.
After filling up the copper, her Mum would light the fire,
And the water would start heating, as the flames grew ever higher.
Then she threw in some soap chips, followed by Reckitt's Blue,
(That was a clever little bag that made things look like new.)
Next she got the Sunlight Soap to scrub at all the stains,
And, sometimes, if she scrubbed too hard, there were blisters for her pains.
The corrugated board was rough, her hands were roughened too,
Ruined by years of scrubbing, but what else was there to do?
Then, she threw in the dirty clothes, and gave them all a stir.
The steam rose up in clouds and very nearly smothered her.
She was splashed by boiling water, and the bubbles stung her eyes.
And a line of snowy washing was to be her only prize!
Yet, now, would come the starching, of the collar and the cuff,
And, however hard she starched them, it was never quite enough.
For Father must look perfect when in his Sunday Best,
He mustn't look inferior, measured against the rest.
At last, the clothes were clean and rinsed and the fire had lost its heat.
Mother was quite exhausted, after so long on her feet.
But the hardest job was yet to come, an energetic trick,
For she had to get the clothes out with a hefty copper-stick!
Imagine sheets all water-logged and weighing half a ton!
Her back was nearly broken by the time that job was done.
A soggy mass lay, wetly, in a tub, somewhere nearby.
The washing was as clean as clean, but not the least bit dry.
Now Olive had a job to do, though she was scarcely grown,
For Mother couldn't mangle all the washing on her own.
Between the wooden rollers Mother fed the dripping clothes,
While Olive turned the handle, standing on tippy-toes.
The mangle squeezed the water, it came quickly pouring out,
But the washing was still wet and heavy, that I do not doubt.
But Olive and her Mother had to drag it to the trees,
Where a line was stretched, so washing could be dried off in the breeze.
When all was safely pegged, they stood and eyed the white perfection.
But a flock of noisy magpies swooped and swirled in their direction!
They aimed for Mother's washing, causing splish and splash and stain!
'Oh well' said Olive's mother, we must do it all again!' https://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/
Thank you Brenda, for a really lovely poem! Love to all of you from wintry Woy Woy.
FOR OLIVE RILEY
The World's Oldest Blogger
Sometimes, I hear the young complain of all they have to do.
But I am sure that their complaints should really be quite few.
Take Washing Day, for instance, all they do is press a knob,
And then machines go whirling round and quickly do the job.
They throw in powder, maybe bleach, and softener as well,
And dirty clothes are whirled about, then spun around, pell-mell.
And then, to follow up, I hear, they set the dryer spinning,
They've hardly raised a finger to the end from the beginning.
But things were very different in the days of long ago,
When Olive Riley's mother washed her clothes as white as snow.
And Olive well-remembers that, when it was Washing Day,
Daughters had to do their bit; there was no time for play.
First Olive looked for firewood, which was sometimes hard to find,
She had to hunt for broken twigs or sticks of any kind.
Sometimes she found a fruit-box that was thrown down on the floor.
She chopped it with a tomahawk, though it made her fingers sore.
After filling up the copper, her Mum would light the fire,
And the water would start heating, as the flames grew ever higher.
Then she threw in some soap chips, followed by Reckitt's Blue,
(That was a clever little bag that made things look like new.)
Next she got the Sunlight Soap to scrub at all the stains,
And, sometimes, if she scrubbed too hard, there were blisters for her pains.
The corrugated board was rough, her hands were roughened too,
Ruined by years of scrubbing, but what else was there to do?
Then, she threw in the dirty clothes, and gave them all a stir.
The steam rose up in clouds and very nearly smothered her.
She was splashed by boiling water, and the bubbles stung her eyes.
And a line of snowy washing was to be her only prize!
Yet, now, would come the starching, of the collar and the cuff,
And, however hard she starched them, it was never quite enough.
For Father must look perfect when in his Sunday Best,
He mustn't look inferior, measured against the rest.
At last, the clothes were clean and rinsed and the fire had lost its heat.
Mother was quite exhausted, after so long on her feet.
But the hardest job was yet to come, an energetic trick,
For she had to get the clothes out with a hefty copper-stick!
Imagine sheets all water-logged and weighing half a ton!
Her back was nearly broken by the time that job was done.
A soggy mass lay, wetly, in a tub, somewhere nearby.
The washing was as clean as clean, but not the least bit dry.
Now Olive had a job to do, though she was scarcely grown,
For Mother couldn't mangle all the washing on her own.
Between the wooden rollers Mother fed the dripping clothes,
While Olive turned the handle, standing on tippy-toes.
The mangle squeezed the water, it came quickly pouring out,
But the washing was still wet and heavy, that I do not doubt.
But Olive and her Mother had to drag it to the trees,
Where a line was stretched, so washing could be dried off in the breeze.
When all was safely pegged, they stood and eyed the white perfection.
But a flock of noisy magpies swooped and swirled in their direction!
They aimed for Mother's washing, causing splish and splash and stain!
'Oh well' said Olive's mother, we must do it all again!' https://rinklyrimes.blogspot.com/
Thank you Brenda, for a really lovely poem! Love to all of you from wintry Woy Woy.
https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25668181/ see video of her...
