If it wasn't for the the large bouquet of flowers and a message from Her Majesty the Queen displayed on her dining room table, you wouldn't realise Joyce Christou had just turned 100.
Still living independently, the Bundaberg resident is full of conversation and life and said her centenary was something she had to pinch herself over.
“I just don't know how I have lived to 100 years old – no one in the family has lived anywhere close to this age,” she said.
“How I got here, I will never know!”
Joyce was born in Liverpool, England and became quite a well-known Latin American dancer in her community.
When she moved to Sydney Joyce continued her passion for dancing which is where she met her second husband – a love that lasted 50 years.
“I don't go dancing anymore, not without him,” she said.
Joyce moved to Bundaberg 11 years ago so she could be closer to her daughter.
Reflecting on her centenary, she said some of her prouder moments in life were family and her time in the Women's Land Army.
According to Imperial War Museums, the WLA made a significant contribution to boosting Britain's food production during the Second World War and saw women step in to provide a new rural workforce.
“Everything a man could do, we had to do,” Joyce said.
“That was my part of war service, I was proud of that.”
When asked what advice she would give to others about her birthday milestone, Joyce said there really wasn't too much to it.
“It's no different to feeling 99!” she exclaimed.
“You just have to take life as it comes, there is nothing else you can do.
“What my mother used to say is what can't be cured has got to be endured!”
Just one correction to this article, Mum was actually in the English Land Army during World War 2.
Thank you for this wonderful piece, regards, Christine.