Kath Moloney marks remarkable 100 years

It was party time at Mercy Place in Ballarat East on Friday morning as a popular resident prepared to mark her 100th birthday on 7 February.

Kath Moloney was treated to a high tea attended by about 60 other residents, family and staff at the Corbett Street complex before a second, formal celebration at the North Star Hotel for family and friends on Saturday.

Mrs Moloney wore a tiara and a sash for the Mercy Place event, which also featured a birthday cake and an official certificate presented to her by service manager Nav Sidhu.

The sash read ‘100 and fabulous’, and according to Ms Sidhu, it’s a fitting description.

“As you can see, she’s very enthusiastic and lovely, and she loves the social aspect of her life,” she said.

“She is a gorgeous person; she is fabulous.”

 

 

Ms Sidhu said Mrs Moloney was the first resident to notch up a century during her time working at the complex, which began in January 2025.

Mrs Moloney, known for her mischievous sense of humour, sat at a head table during the high tea and was flanked by her two children, daughter Christine of Ballarat and Terry of Castlemaine.

Born in Wangaratta, Mrs Moloney was the third of 10 children and is the only surviving one.

She worked at the Wangaratta Base Hospital and met her husband Laurie at a dance hall while he was in the army.

She was 20 when they married and moved to Ballarat in 1946, where they had Christine and Terry. There are now three grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Mr Moloney died at the age of 74 after an accident in 1998.

She spent her working life in the sewing room of the Ballarat Base Hospital – from January 1957 until her retirement at the age of 60 after 29 years of service.

 

 

A keen golfer, Mrs Moloney scored a hole-in-one at the age of 80 and played a round as many as three times a week.

She has travelled extensively, including a month-long overseas trip at the age of 90, and still enthusiastically follows horse racing – even participating in a weekly family tipping competition.

Mrs Moloney moved into Mercy Place in April 2024, where she is a constant participant in happy hours and indulges her fondness for the occasional shandy (and bubbles).

Mercy Place has 112 residents in 14 ‘houses’, as they are known, and which is described as small household living.

Daughter Christine said her mother had always been very active and a “livewire” until osteoporosis in a leg and a stroke forced her to slow down.

Ms Moloney said she and Terry were both very proud of their Mum.

 

 

For her part, the birthday girl said 7 February would make her the longest-lived member of her direct family.

She said she sometimes finds it hard to believe she has reached such a significant milestone.

Mrs Moloney said she was not certain whether she would receive the traditional official royal recognition of her birthday, but revealed an interesting anecdote about the Windsors.

“[There was] Elizabeth and Margaret; the Queen was the same age as me,” she said.

“I had a sister younger than me, and we used to think we were princesses.”

Remarking on the turnout for the high tea and the suggestion it was an indication of her popularity, Mrs Moloney quipped: “It’s probably the food, but don’t tell them I said that.”