General News
19 May, 2026
Centenarian always looks on bright side of life
LONG-TIME Far North resident Elsie Stewart, who celebrated her 100th birthday this week, is amazed she has lived this long.
“Lucky to last this long,” she said.
She has attributed her longevity to never smoking or rarely drinking alcohol.
“I can’t stand smoke. Never even tried it,” she said.
“I tried to look on the bright side all the time.”
Surrounded by family and friends, Ms Stewart has had gatherings across two days to mark the occasion.
Ms Stewart turned 100 on 14 May.
A friend’s celebration was held at Cazalys on 13 May, followed by a family gathering yesterday, with relatives travelling from interstate, including Sydney.
Born and raised in Cairns, Ms Stewart recalled a very different city from the one we have today.
“It was very quiet,” she said.
“I grew up in the corner of Bunda Street and Hartley Street, that’s where we lived.”
Ms Stewart said Aboriginal families lived along the waterfront and children walked to school together.
“It was a nice community. We’d walk to school with the Aboriginal people’s kids,” she said.
She attended the old state school in the city opposite the council chambers and remembered flooding, walking long distances to school and simple playground games drawn in the dirt.
Ms Stewart was one of 10 children in a large family. Her father died in a wharf accident when she was seven-years-old after a chain broke, while sugar bags were being loaded onto a ship.
“He was only a few months old when dad got killed,” she said of her youngest brother.
Despite the hardships, Ms Stewart said there was little conflict among the siblings.
“There was no jealousy or rivalry or anything like that. We all got on well together,” she said.
At 14 she began working at the Commonwealth cafe in Cairns after being unable to secure a hairdressing apprenticeship.
“I started at the cafe washing up,” she said.
Later she moved to Sydney by coastal ship, describing it as “the cheapest way to go in those days”, before working in mail sorting at the GPO and later in taxation.
Friends say Ms Stewart remains active socially, still enjoys dancing events at Cazalys and is well known among the local dance community, where “people go out of their way to be really nice to me”.
