Australia's Oldest Man Dies, Aged 107
The Age
Thursday July 25, 1996
Perth.
Mr Jim Glanville Wright, believed to have been Australia's oldest man, has died in Western Australia, aged 107.
Mr Wright died of pneumonia this week at a Perth nursing home, in his 50th year in retirement.
He was born in Adelaide on 27 March 1889 - the year Henry Parkes called for a federation of the Australian colonies.
He studied architecture, but made a career as an administrator in the navy.
Mr Wright's wife of 50 years died in 1966. He had 17 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
His only daughter among six children, 65-year-old Mrs Olive McKinley, said yesterday her father never over-indulged in food or drink.
``He received love and returned it," she said. ``He was a happy bloke with an eclectic mind. I think that's what kept him young."
Earlier this year, during celebrations for his 107th birthday, Mr Wright recalled some remarkable experiences, including seeing Halley's Comet twice, the first motor car, and the arrival of electricity and flight.
``His philosophy was exemplified by the way he lived," Mrs McKinley said.
``He never embellished with lies . . . He never put anyone down, believing everyone needs praise and encouragement. He didn't believe in material goods, saying the more possessions, the more worries.
``He took people for their qualities. He was never a racist.
He was angry about injustice - a socialist, a pacifist, an anti-monarchist, a conservationist though not militant, an incorrigible atheist."
He also had an intense interest in politics, which could be partly explained by family connections. Mr Wright was related by marriage to the Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Kim Beazley, and to Mr Bill Hassell, the former Liberal Opposition leader in Western Australia.
Mr Wright spent his retirement working in a salvage yard, building boats and sailing on the Swan River and around the west coast.
© 1996 The Age