Forever a country girl: Rita celebrates her 100th birthday

The Cooinda Court Aged Care Facility resident celebrated her 100th birthday on Thursday in Junee.

While a broken leg meant she had to be in hospital for the occasion, it was nonetheless special, with a breathtaking cake covered in pink and white flowers and some of the best company she could have asked for.

"The girls have been able to come and see me and they've been so lovely," Ms Craig said of her carers at the aged care facility.

"They're all so lovely and have been with me in Cooinda and they came together to hold a party for me.

"We had a beautiful cake - it has beautiful flowers and all for 100 years on it - you couldn't have anything better than what has been done."

Ms Craig has spent her whole life living at her property on Wantabadgery Road, between Wantabadgery and Junee, before moving into the aged care facility later in life.

"I've only ever lived in the Wantabadgery Road home, I own it," she said.

Home is where the heart is, and if you asked Ms Craig what her home means to her, she would tell you "everything".

Ms Craig even goes as far as to credit her home for her decades good health - 10 decades matter of fact.

"We had a creek that went through our paddock and there was a backwash from the creek - that means an area where there's dampness but the water doesn't always stay there," she said.

"My father had a vegetable garden and we probably had what they now call organic foods - but we had all the veggies of the time.

"We had veggies every day of our lives and we had to walk and collect all our veggies for our tea - we didn't want to do it but our mother said; 'you've been sitting in school all day and the exercise will be good for you'."

It is those fresh veggies and the daily boost of exercise that Ms Craig says has kept her healthy.

"Country life is what we lived," she said.

"Wherever your home was, that's where you stayed, and you were taken to your church service on a Sunday and you had your day at home and your parents read the papers - on the seventh day, the day of rest - that was country life in those days.

"It was much the same everywhere there."

Later in life Ms Craig had two children, a son and a daughter, with her late husband Ken Craig, and when they were adults and she had more time on her hands, she began serving the Junee community - one veggie at a time.

"I had lots of help via education from Junee but as the years went by I helped there by doing Meals on Wheels and I got an award from doing it," she said.

"I just felt that if I could help someone in some way, I would.

"I had that break where it worked and I was just able to do it."

If you were to ask Ms Craig how she felt about turning 100, she would shrug.

"I've just gone along until it came," she said.

"I've been lucky right through - I've had a few ups and downs but we all do."