Messages of congratulations for their 65th wedding anniversary have come from far and wide, including Buckingham Palace, Government House and the Prime Minister’s office in Canberra.

“It’s nice to be popular,” Lindsay says in his understated way, holding up a photo of the queen.

It’s almost 70 years since Lindsay and Joan first laid eyes on one another at a St Kilian’s dance and they both agree – the years have flown by.

When they met, back in 1944, Lindsay was a butcher at the family store in Mitchell Street, while Joan was working for the Bank of Australasia.

“When all the men came back from the war I had to give my job up in Bendigo and was forced to move to Melbourne to find work,” Joan says. 

“I worked there for the two years before we were married.”

Lindsay used to visit as often as possible, making the 100-mile journey in his 1933 Austin 7.

“The roads weren’t what they are now. You appreciated the downhill stretches,” he says. “It was a long trip, but worth every mile.”

The couple were engaged at Easter in 1949 and married on November 12 the same year at Sacred Heart Cathedral. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. 

On the weekend of the wedding nature intervened and, as Joan explains, almost put paid to their plans. 

“The floods of 1949 are a part of Bendigo history now and it all happened the day before the wedding. 

“We had come into Bendigo to finalise plans, then couldn’t get back to the family farm at Yarraberb (near Campbell’s Bridge) where my wedding dress and the bridesmaid’s dresses were. “We had to drive through major floodwaters. It almost didn’t happen.”

Clearly it was meant to be. 

Joan made it down the aisle, and the reception was held at Lister House in Rowan Street.