Community
10 July, 2025
Nothing stops Fred at 97
FREDERICK James Piercy has more stories than most books on the shelf.
Born on September 20, 1927 in Tully, Mr Piercy is a living local legend, who has done everything from working in smelters to dropping into Antarctica with the first Australian naval scientists and now skydiving for fun well into his late 90s.
“I’ll be 98 in September,” he said, sitting comfortably at his second home – Hopscotch Kitchen Bar in Cairns. “And I’m still going strong.”
Mr Piercy’s early life took him around North Queensland. After leaving Tully at age five, he lived in Chillagoe and at just 14, he began working in the town’s smelters.
“They called us nippers back then,” he said.
“We’d haul ore in kerosene tins – no electricity, just hard work.”
After completing a butchering apprenticeship and earning steam and diesel tickets, Mr Piercy joined the Royal Australian Navy. His service took him up and down the coast – and twice to Antarctica.
“We took the first scientists down in 1947 on the HMAS Labuan. I’ve still got the cap at home,” he said.
Those missions saw Mr Piercy help establish research outposts on Heard and Macquarie islands and visit the old French whaling base at Kerguelen, where everything from buildings to boats was covered in grease to ward off the freezing cold.
He met his first wife in El Arish, where his mother ran a boarding house.
“She came up with her three brothers,” Mr Piercy said. “We met there and that was that.”
They married before his naval service and went on to have three children, including Ben, who now helps care for his dad. “I live at Heritage Gardens, out the back,” Mr Piercy said.
“But I’m not old. Not really.”
After his first wife died at Millstream Estates, life offered him another chapter of love, reconnecting with a girl he’d known since he was eight.
“After 50 years, we got together,” he said.
“We spent 26 years together before she passed three and a half years ago.”
These days, Mr Piercy splits his time between Heritage Gardens and Hopscotch Kitchen Bar.
“I discovered Hopscotch a few years back and I’ve lived here ever since – well, nearly,” he said.
“A couple of beers, a big lunch, sometimes dinner. The food’s great, the service is better and I’m not getting a free meal for saying that either.”
But Mr Piercy’s not just enjoying the comforts of Cairns – he’s still chasing thrills. At 98, he’s preparing for his fifth skydive this September.
“I’ve done four so far, including one with Col (Hopscotch co-owner) last October. I talked him into it,” he said.
What keeps him going back to the sky?
“It’s the challenge – and that first 1000 feet – you’re just dropping with nothing but faith behind you. It’s an adrenaline rush like no other.”
Mr Piercy’s favourite beer is Great Northern. His favourite meals at Hopscotch?
“They’re all great but too big for me,” he said.
“The food’s always top-notch, just like home cooking, and the staff are really friendly and treat me like family. If you’re not satisfied at Hopscotch, you’re not satisfied anywhere.”
As his 98th birthday approaches and another skydive looms, Mr Piercy has no plans to slow down.
“Still going. Plenty more stories left yet,” he said.
