Happy birthday, Flo!

As a 5th generation Queenslander and a former member of the Qld. National Party, I think I have some right to publish that wish. She's a great old Queensland lady



Turning 90 today, Flo Bjelke-Petersen still drives her car and follows politics. Speaking from her Bethany home near Kingaroy this week, the widow of former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen said she felt "very blessed" to have reached such a milestone.

"God's been very good to me, I've been well looked after," Lady Bjelke-Petersen said. "I have had a few falls here and there and stays in hospital. But my health has been fairly good and I thank the dear Lord every day that he has given me 90 years."

Born in Brisbane, Lady Bjelke-Petersen turns 90 today. A great-grandmother, she has family travelling from Russia, England and the US to celebrate the occasion, which includes a dinner on Saturday in Coolabunia, close to her home.


The former senator said she was thrilled to have her driver's licence renewed this week and still made regular trips to Kingaroy. "I went and got my doctor's certificate so I can keep on driving," she said. "I just drive to town and back, I used to drive to Brisbane but I called that off."

Still following politics closely, she shared her thoughts on this month's election. "It all depends on whether people think Tony Abbott will make a better prime minister than Julia Gillard," she said. "I think he'll do a good job, I certainly hope he gets in and gets a chance – that would be wonderful – but we'll just have to wait and see.

"I don't know about Julia, they say all the women love her but I don't think so myself."

Asked to name the greatest event of her life, she nominated marrying her husband, who died in 2005. "I thought I'd reached the stage where I was going to be on the shelf," Lady Bjelke-Petersen said. "Joh's father in the early days said to him, 'Now Joh, don't be in any rush to get married, take your time and choose wisely'."

They married when she was 31 and Sir Joh was 40. The couple had four children – Meg, Ruth, Helen and John – 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Plans for her birthday will likely include tucking into her famous pumpkin scones and playing the organ – a regular event at Kingaroy's Canowindra nursing home.

And therein lies her secret to reaching 90 years: "Keep active." "Keep your brain working and I do believe that is good, instead of having it rusticating at home here all the time," she said.

SOURCE

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