Australia’s oldest woman, South Australian great-grandmother Lorna Henstridge, has died aged 112, bringing to an end the extraordinary life of a woman who witnessed two world wars, two pandemics, the Great Depression and the terms of 26 Australian prime ministers.
Henstridge died in Bordertown, South Australia, on September 7, aged 112 years and 93 days, according to longevity researchers LongeviQuest.
Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Jennie Jacobs, who previously described her mother as having had “a good innings”.
Henstridge had celebrated her 112th birthday only three months earlier, surrounded by family at her former home in Keith. At the time, she remained remarkably engaged with the world around her. She could still go out for coffee, hold a conversation, walk around the garden and follow her beloved Adelaide Crows.
“She can still go out three times a week for a cup of coffee, and she walks every day and likes talking to people and reading the paper,” Jacobs told the ABC in June.
“She’s a very social person and very interested in sport.”
Henstridge’s extraordinary age was independently validated by the Gerontology Research Group in 2024. She became Australia’s oldest known living woman following the death of 111-year-old Olga Abate in June that year.
Henstridge was born Lorna Morton Paterson in Adelaide on June 6, 1914. The world she entered was almost unrecognisable from the one she would eventually leave behind.
Canberra had only recently been proclaimed Australia’s capital, the First World War was about to begin and the Titanic had sunk just two years earlier.
She spent part of her childhood on her family’s farm near Bute on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. Her early life was a long way from the conveniences of modern Australia. When she began school, her father would ride with her on horseback to the railway station before she caught the train to school.
Her father died in his thirties, leaving her mother to raise the children and run the farm. Henstridge later moved to Adelaide to live with her grandmother, attending Unley School and St Peter’s Girls’ School. She completed a business course and went to work for a shoe importer.
During the Second World War, she worked at a library for soldiers, where she met the man who would become her husband, Alan Henstridge. The couple married in 1945 and eventually settled in Keith, where they ran a menswear store and raised their three children.
Their life was deeply intertwined with the local community.
Henstridge played the organ at her local church for decades, was involved in golf and lawn bowls and became president of the Keith Golf Club. She was also involved in fundraising for the Red Cross and supporting Australian troops during wartime.
For an aged care sector increasingly focused on supporting older Australians to remain independent for as long as possible, Henstridge’s later years offered an extraordinary example.
She remained living independently until she was 105. After her husband died in 2003, she continued living in Keith before eventually moving into care at Bordertown Memorial Hospital.
Even after moving into aged care, however, she maintained a remarkable level of independence and activity. At 110, she was still walking through the facility and its gardens every day.
She repeatedly credited movement, social connection and keeping her mind active as important parts of her long life. “I think the main thing is you’ve got to keep moving all the time … moving your body and moving your mind,” she told the ABC.
On another occasion, she summed up her approach more simply: “I just keep on keeping on.” She also spoke about the importance of fresh air, exercise and taking an interest in other people.
Her outlook was remarkably practical. Rather than offering a grand theory about longevity, Henstridge suggested that people should stay active, maintain their interests and enjoy themselves.
Henstridge spent roughly seven decades of her life in Keith, becoming deeply embedded in the community.
Her daughter said her mother had always been someone who enjoyed being around people. That social connection remained important well into her 100s.
Henstridge was also part of The 100 Project, which documents the lives of Australian centenarians and supercentenarians. In her profile, she spoke about enjoying conversation, friendships, reading the news and getting out of her room for fresh air.
“I like people,” she said. She also reflected on how dramatically the world had changed during her lifetime. “When I was a child, we didn’t have much and we didn’t want for much,” she said.
“We had a happy, simple life.”
By the time she reached 112, she had seen technologies and social changes that would have been almost unimaginable during her childhood. She had lived through the First and Second World Wars, the Great Depression, the Spanish flu pandemic and COVID-19.
She had seen 26 Australian prime ministers come and go. And she had gone from travelling to school by horseback and train to living in a world of smartphones, social media and artificial intelligence.
Henstridge leaves behind three children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
At her 112th birthday in June, one of her great-grandchildren was already 18, meaning there was a possibility she could eventually have become a great-great-great-grandmother.
Her daughter said the family viewed her mother’s longevity with a mixture of amazement and admiration.
Henstridge’s remarkable life is a reminder that reaching extreme old age is not simply about the number of years someone has lived.
For much of her life, it was about staying connected, remaining curious, continuing to move and, as she put it, simply keeping on.
