Could Coonabarabran’s Bill Wilkin be the world’s oldest, active golfer?

Bill Wilkin’s positive, resilient and family-strong attitude continues to thrive in his one hundredth year.

Mr Wilkin was born into a farming family on 13 March, 1924, in South Australia.

This year marks the centenary of Mr Wilkin’s life, during which he has led a fulfilling existence.

His most recent success was a hole-in-one at the Coonabarabran Golf Course, and he is one of the oldest, active golfers in Australia today...possibly the world.

The honourable occasion of Mr Wilkin’s 100th birthday will be celebrated with his four children, nine grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

A day out on the green was also required to celebrate his life.

Mr Wilkin grew up on a dairy farm next to the Murray Darling River and had to cross the river by ferry to get into town.

He is a family-orientated man, who owes his longevity and happiness to his late wife, Betty, and a good diet with no added sugar.

He met Betty in Sydney when she worked at the Children’s Hospital in Camperdown.

Mr Wilkin said they spent a day together and were inseparable from that time onwards.

They were married for an impressive 72 years before she sadly passed.

Growing up, Mr Wilkin was the eldest of six children.

His primary school was a hall that held 60 students of various ages. The students had to be well behaved, or face punishment, and due to the lack of transport options many did not move on to high school.

Mr Wilkin left primary school to work on the family dairy farm.

In the 1940s, during World War II, Mr Wilkin enlisted in the Air Force as a mechanic and ended up as a dispatch rider.

His role as a dispatch rider meant he delivered communications around Darwin by motorbike.

He was also witness to the Darwin bombings in 1942, when Japanese fighters attacked the port and harbour.

“In the Air Force, you do all sorts of jobs out there in the bush. Communications has definitely changed through the years – just about everything has changed,” Mr Wilkin said.

“But one of the highlights of my life was marrying my wife. We were family minded and both came from farming families.

“We came to Coonabarabran as our children wanted to continue farming and we needed more land. We sold our farm in South Australia for $56 an acre.”

In the sixties, around 70 families moved from South Australia to the Warrumbungle Shire in search of farmland.

After the war, settlement blocks were made available to servicemen, however, the land was often not big enough to make a good living.

Mr Wilkin mentioned the politics of the time were different after the war. He said the Government at the time wanted control and rationed petrol and food, such as dairy.

He recalls how Robert Menzies stepped into office as Prime Minister and removed the restrictions in his first day in office.

Despite the political happenings and his experience in the war, Mr Wilkin remained focused on farming and agricultural practices.

He built his homes from scratch and ensured the family farming legacy would be passed to his sons and relatives.

Despite reaching the remarkable age of 100, Mr Wilkin has no intentions of slowing down. He plans to keep playing golf for as long as possible and remain dedicated to spending time with his family and friends.

Happy birthday Mr Wilkin!

PHOTO: Keen golfer, Bill Wilkin enjoyed an early birthday catch-up with his friends from the Coonabarabran Veteran’s Golf Club prior to his official 100th birthday on Wednesday, 13 March.