The 100 Project | Centenarians | Australia | Edie Dryden

View audio transcription

I was born on the day that the Aussies landed in Gallipoli. They were all slaughtered then. The enemy were waiting for them. And they fell into the trap. "And that's what happened to Uncle Rob." I'm Edith May Dryden. But I was Edith May Taffs. I was born in Wandin. Born on a strawberry farm, my people owned a strawberry farm, on the 16th of October, 1915. And how old are you now please? I'm 110. Oh, I had a lovely mother. Loved my mother. Mary Emily Patterson. "Well, my mother was a bookbinder." "Not ordinary books, big volumes, you know." "And it's a very complicated affair." "She worked for my grandfather, William Patterson." "He was head printer there at the Argus office." The Argus was the daily newspaper. She was beautiful, my mother, when she was young. She was engaged to be married and Grandma said, “Now it's Horace or nobody.” So she married Dad. "Why did your grandmother want her to marry your father?" Oh, I suppose Dad owned so much property. "In those days that's what mothers did." She.... she lived in Melbourne. Grandma’s house is still there. In South Melbourne. "I can remember even the great aunts." What were they like? Very beautiful. If you saw on TV how André Rieu’s ladies were dressed. "That's how Mum's aunts were, my great aunts." Real ladies. And what about your father? I don't talk much about my father. "He had the strawberry farm and the timber mill and" he built cottages and... Oh he was quite clever. Yeah, he was known for that and strong. Very strong. Yet he wasn't very tall. Why don't you talk about him much? Well, in those days, you didn't sort of mix much with your father because, he went to work and Mum looked after us. "That was the way it was in those days." Had five brothers and two sisters. I was third in the family. I think I was Dad’s favourite then "because I was fair and blue eyes like him." "When Mary and Horace, they had brown eyes" and brown hair, like Mum. "Did you have to look after the younger children?" Yeah. "I used to look after the three youngest ones, " Ernie, Keith and Margie. "My father sold his property in Wandin," and we went to Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula "where he bought a lot of land because land was very cheap." "And people thought we were awfully rich" "because they were all poor down there." "We were well dressed and well fed, " "and oh I suppose we were pretty lucky." And what was your house like? Oh, well, it had six bedrooms. Dad and another friend of his built with Dad "and after that they built many houses in Rosebud." Weatherboard houses, not brick. And where did you go to school? Rosebud. "It was only a small school, you know." 47 kids. boys and girls mixed, "and only the one head teacher, " Mr Ellingham. Country kids, you know. Their fathers were fishermen, small, small boats, you know. My favorite school friend was Ethel Bundy. She spoke very well "and she used to teach me elocution." "I think they call it ‘figure of speech’ now." "But the boys in our class used to take her off" and it wasn’t fair, because she was very well spoken. And what did you learn at school? What did I learn? Reading and writing and arithmetic. "How long did you stay at school for?" The eighth grade. "When you turned 14 and got your Merit," mostly you left school then. "Oh well, my father didn't want us to go on any further." He used to say, “Oh, women don't need education. Not like the men do.” Oh, it was a different life then! Yeah. What did you work as? "Oh, when I left school, I worked in the shop." A sort of grocery and cafe. Oh, yes, I worked hard in the shop. And she wasn't a very nice lady. She was very hard. "I was only getting seven & six a week." I used to play the violin and I used to go down to people "by the name of Little, and they taught me the violin." And I was sitting on the veranda with my sister and mother. And this man came up. Yeah, his name was Ted. I tell him Dad was out the back. "He probably went out there to see him about the" scraps for his cattle, for his grandmother's cattle. We got married in Saint Xavier’s church in Frankston. "What did you like most about your husband?" What did I like about him? Well, he was their father, all those children. He was alright. "And where did you live once you got married?" We lived in Seaford. Rent a house. "It was just a little weatherboard place," but it was alright. "And then I went down to my mother-in-law," and I loved my mother-in-law, she was lovely. She took me to the hospital when my first baby was born. You've lived a long life, "what do you think the most important" "things are about living a good life?" "Oh, I suppose having all my lovely kids." "How many many children did you have?" Six children. Five boys. And I've got five daughters in law, and every one of them are lovely. Every one of them. That's Billy, the eldest. "That photo was taken when he was 17." And Bobby. That's Phillip, and that's Teddie. "I never went to work while they were little." No fear. I was so busy with them. They were all fed by the hour and they knew when to wait for their bottle. "Where did you live with your children and your husband?" I lived in Yarragon. Gippsland. "He used to work at the butter factory," "go around the farmers picking up the cans of milk." I brought up the children well. "They have plenty of food and plenty of clothes" and plenty of love. They... they really loved me. That's Judith. "She died when she was just about 13." "She got rheumatic fever, and that affected her heart." I collapsed. I didn't come to "until all my people were there sitting around me" and the doctor, not the priest. "So I can't remember very much about..." falling... "like she was in my arms, I know I was holding her." "I was in bed and I was holding her" and that's when she died. My son and daughter-in-law, they were managing a bakery so they asked my husband, "“What do you think about moving?” " "Because Yackandandah was up for sale." "My daughter-in-law and I managed the shop" and Teddy baked the bread. Was it a successful business? Oh, yes. Until, till the big bakeries, "the Beechworth bakeries, came in" and then we decided to leave. Someone told me... "They told me I was never going to die." I believed them. I think they were right. "I don’t know why I am still here." The youngest one is about 76, I think. Bobby was a sailor. Very proud of him. "And Terry, oh, he had a very good job." He was clever, too. He’s the one with the dementia. My eldest son and Teddy and Judith are in heaven. Yes, I hope to see them all again. Are you glad to be here or are you ready to go? When it’s time. When God calls me. How long were you married for? Oh, until he was 97. And I built my new unit and I was able to do every craft and art that you could imagine. "I couldn't do enough craft and art." I did China painting and watercolour painting. Oh, knitting, crochet.... "Oh, you’d have to go through the alphabet."

Thanks To

Frances Dryden, Bobbie Dryden

Edie Dryden

Name: Edie Dryden | Centenarian Interview | The 100 Project
Uploaded: 2026-03-18T17:30:15+11:00
Description: Born During One of History's Darkest Days, Now She's 110

"I was born on the day the Aussie's landed in Gallipoli"

Born During One of History's Darkest Days, Now She's 110

Celebrating her 110th birthday, Edie stands as a supercentenarian whose life spans extraordinary change — from horse-drawn deliveries and wireless radios to the digital age.

Edie was born on 16 October 1915 in Wandin, country Victoria — the year Australian troops landed at Gallipoli. Her parents were strawberry farmers and her early life was shaped by a world without many of today’s modern comforts.

As a young child she moved to Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula, where she completed her schooling and met Edward (Ted) Dryden. They married in 1933 at St Francis Xavier Church in Frankston and began their life together during the years of the Great Depression.

Family would become the centre of Edie’s world. She and Ted raised six children — five boys and one daughter. Her daughter’s death at just 13 years of age was a heartbreak that never left her, a reminder that a long life carries not only longevity but profound love and loss. Today, her youngest son is 76, and if her eldest were still alive he would be 91. She has 19 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and 47 great-great-grandchildren! Her extended family have remained her greatest source of pride and purpose.

In December 1960, Edie and Ted moved to Yackandandah, where they bought and ran the local bakery for 11 years. Through their work and family life, they became part of the fabric of the town.