Highlands History | Bowral ceremonies in honour of Sarah Loseby's 100th birthday

Later that year, on September 4, 1947, she attained her 100th birthday. The next day the Moss Vale Post reported that Bowral's civic authorities celebrated the milestone with a church service and various events. The paper then provided an outline of her life and family, from which the following is mostly taken.

The history of the Loseby family is indelibly linked with the district's early settlement. Sarah Gregg Loseby was born on September 4, 1847 at Harby Farm, Eridge Park Road, and in 1947 was the sole survivor of her generation.

Charles and Mary Loseby, her parents, came to NSW in the barque Tropic in November 1845, her father (born in 1802) deciding to forsake the life of a shoemaker in Leicestershire (England) for more thrilling adventures in a young colony, where his two brothers had already made good. Charles and Mary brought seven children with them and settled at Harby Farm, where he initially built a slab and bark home. It was there that Sarah and another sister were born, making a family of four sons and five daughters.

Charles built a barn and stone cottage and made Harby Farm productive. They had a plentiful supply of green vegetables and luscious fruit, and to this, and the bracing air of the Highlands, Sarah attributed her long freedom from illness. It is recorded that some of the potatoes grown near the Bong Bong River, which washed the western boundary of the selection, weighed up to two pounds (0.9 kilograms) each. Wheat was grown, it being one of the principal harvests locally until rust ruined the crops.

From hides produced on the farm Charles manufactured tanned leather and made boots and shoes for the entire family. In 1860 he won the contract to deliver mail six days a week between Berrima and Bong Bong.

Charles' brother Richard, who had arrived in the colony at age 17, carried the mail between Sydney and the local district from 1825, and was licensee of the Argyle Inn at Bong Bong. Another brother, Thomas, was a soldier who twice enlisted in the colony, and from 1839 was licensee of the Kentish Arms, on the southern road between Berrima and the Crossroads, and then of the Bargo Tavern until 1848. He later opened an establishment near Bong Bong.

Sarah's mother Mary, born in 1806 at Somerby in Lincolnshire, died in August 1866 at Harby Farm, and her father Charles in August 1898. Sarah vacated the property in 1912 and went to live at her newly built house 'Somerby' in Boolway Street, Bowral.

The celebrations at Bowral for Sarah Loseby's 100th birthday were described at length in the Southern Mail of September 12, 1947:

"Amongst the many hundreds of messages received by Miss Loseby on her 100th birthday, were one from the King and Queen, one from the Governor-General of Australia, and one from the Governor of NSW. To celebrate the occasion, Bowral Council had arranged ceremonies which occupied most of the afternoon. The efficient manner in which they were organised and carried out relieved Miss Loseby of much of the strain of the occasion.

"In a message, read by Rev Stanley Howard towards the end of a thanksgiving in St Jude's Church, Miss Loseby said: I am 100 years old to-day. The 100 years of health and strength have been God's gift to me. I thank Him every day as I read my Bible and lift my heart to pray. He gives me my daily food and the flowers in my garden and kind friends to visit and happy thoughts of the past and bright hopes of the future. The day is never quite long enough for all I wish to do. On this, my birthday, I thank you for your goodness to me, and I hope you all enjoy every minute of your lives, as I have enjoyed mine so far. God bless all the dear children and our young folk. Yes, may God bless us, every one."

After the service she would unveil a plaque at Bowral's first school and attend the opening of a playground named in her honour at Bradman Oval.