The pair will today celebrate 50 years of marriage, a rare milestone. 

Lois and Barry first met through a chance meeting. 

Barry was from Nar Nar Goon and Lois from Koo Wee Rup near Gippsland. 

“Barry’s brother’s girlfriend introduced us,” Lois said. 

“My first impression of him was good and since that moment he then started coming over to my house.

“We courted for about 12 months before getting engaged.

“I remember one of the dates we went on; we went down to Melbourne and saw piano player Winifred Atwell. 

“She was a famous pianist back in those days.” 

The pair married on Australia Day 1953. 

“We were supposed to have got married in the May of that year but something came up and we had to change it,” Lois said. 

“We didn’t even realise we had got married on Australia Day until after.”

Lois said she wore her sister’s wedding dress on the big day. 

“I wore my sister’s dress and then my daughter wore the same dress when she got married,” she said. 

“Barry’s aunty was a seamstress so she made the bridesmaid’s dresses.”

The 69-year-old said what she remembered most from her Australia Day wedding was how hot it was. 

“It was a very hot day,” Lois said. 

“At the reception the minister even allowed the men to take off their suit jackets because it was so hot.

“The jelly dessert we planned to eat had melted.”

Lois said one of the funniest moments from her big day was arriving to the church before her soon to be mother and father in-law. 

“Barry’s parents were working on the farm; they were milking cows so we had to wait for them,” she laughed. 

The newlyweds then packed up and decided to go on a month-long honeymoon in Queensland. 

The pair drove up to Queensland in the station wagon and camped out for most of their trip.

“We had a mattress in the back of the wagon and a portable stove and we just drove around,” Lois said. 

“The only bad thing I remember was all the frogs and the toads that were around, they were everywhere.”

The lovebirds then returned to working on Barry’s family’s farm in Merrigum. 

“We would help with the cows and things around the farm,” Lois said. 

“Sometimes I wish we were back on the farm.”

Lois said they then decided to relocate to the regional town of Mitiamo where they have run the Mitiamo Post Office for more than 35 years.  

“Barry is 77-years-old and still delivers the mail,” she said. “I love working at post office because you are always in contact with people. 

“It can get quiet but it fills in the day.”

The pair have two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 

Lois and Barry will celebrate their special occasion with family and friends today at an event in Moama.