Community & Business
5 April, 2023
Eric turns 100
Retired Cross Hill dairy farmer Eric Dorries celebrated his 100th birthday with a party at Biddeston Hall last month.
Eric was born on 22nd February 1923 in Oakey on Cherry Street where the medical practice is now.
He was the last of nine children born to John Christian (Christy) and Charlotte Dorries (nee Diflo), both of German ancestry.
His father Christy, grew up on Greenwattle Street then on the outskirts of Toowoomba, while his mother Charlotte hailed from Charlton Pinch.
Christy bought a dairy farm at Crosshill, where the children were raised and which is still owned today (although much larger these days) by Eric’s son Keith.
Eric attended Crosshill School, a one-teacher school taught by Mr Jones in the 1930s.
“If we took the road to school, it’d be 3 miles from the farm,” he said.
“We used to go through the paddocks which was one and a half miles.”
The Second World War meant a call up for service.
“I was examined for the Army in 1941 and they said I’d have to have my tonsils out”,he said.
“The doctor sent me up to the hospital.
“I got up there and they sent me straight back down because they didn’t have the facilities to perform the operation.”
This meant Eric was disqualified from service.
After the War’s end, Eric bought the farm from his father Christy and he would manage the property, with the help of his sisters for the next six years.
Eric wasn’t to be a bachelor forever, as he met Laurel Short, who was from a dairy farm near Murwillumbah in New South Wales.
The pair soon hit it off and were married at the Church of England in Murwillumbah on the 8th July 1953.
Eric and Laurel will celebrate their platinum anniversary later this year.
Eric and Laurel would have four children Linda (born 1954), Keith (born 1956), John (born 1959) and Valda (born 1961).
A story of interest to Oakey locals relates to the rugby league coach Wayne Bennett, who was a relieving policeman in Oakey.
“We were trying to get a form done and he crossed off something he shouldn’t have, so he had to come out to the farm to verify that I could drive a tractor,” Eric said.
“He came out, but he didn’t bother to see if I could drive but he checked Laurel’s driving and when asked
to reverse she reversed straight into some 44 gallon drums.”
Both still received their licences.
Indeed, it was Laurel who enjoyed the outdoors.
Having grown up on a dairy farm with a surplus of cows that needed to be milked, she was much more at home with outdoor work than indoor chores.
Conversely, the death of Eric’s mother when he was 16 meant he had to learn how to cook, and often prepared meals for his brothers when they returned home.
In 1974, Eric lost his middle and ring fingers on his right hand as a result of a mechanical accident during a machine demonstration on his property.
“(The man giving the demonstration) said ‘Oh, brush that grain off the shield, will you?’,” Eric said.
“It turned out the shield wasn’t on.
“He stopped doing demonstrations after that, and he told us he couldn’t eat for three weeks.”
Over the years Eric has had two knee replacements and in 2013 at the age of 90, he had a stent inserted in his heart after a mild heart attack.
Around this time, he and Laurel moved from the family farm to Toowoomba.
When asked for the secret to his longevity, Eric smiled.
“Well, most things you’re told not to eat, fatty bits and fried eggs, I’ve had plenty of,” he said.
“You’re meant to eat vegetables.
“We never had many vegetables growing up on the farm - you have to have water to grow vegetables.”
Eric’s cooking abilities have been much appreciated by his children.
He could bake a mean rice pudding, and at the age of 90, took up Flo Bjelke-Petersen’s pumpkin scone recipe.
“I can’t say I had many hobbies – there was always something to do around the farm.”
Laurel says that her husband’s memory is impeccable.
“He knows where everything is, finds things that I can’t find.”
Over the years Eric and Laurel have been blessed with ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren which has given them many holidays to visit the family scattered from Melbourne to Townsville.
Eric’s children, grand-children and great grand-children were amongst the 70 odd relatives and friends who helped him celebrate this major milestone.
