GOOD family and friends, a daily walk and a glass of brandy before bed - the three things 100-year-old Mal Middleton thinks essential to living a long and fulfilling life. Retaining a positive outlook on life despite a century of battles, challenges, triumphs and adventures, the longtime Orange resident turned icon is quick to demonstrate he also retains an equally solid grip on his sense of humour.
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“I’m still breathing,” is his traditional daily morning greeting to staff or visitors at Parkwood Hostel, his home of seven years.
From his cosy room filled with photographs of family and memorabilia from a lifetime of accomplishments, it doesn’t take long for Mal to recall just some of many memories from the last 100 years, especially his role as a driving force behind the development of the state’s travel industry.
Between 1924 and 1942 Mal was involved in the traveller softgoods industry in Sydney before serving as a lieutenant and special liaison officer with the AIF and RAAF in Sydney in World War II between 1942 and 1945.
In 1945 Mal, wife Edna and daughter Janelle decided to make the move to Orange.
What was Sydney’s loss was Orange’s gain.
The relocation allowed Mal to use his early foray in the travel industry to become an instrumental part of the city’s business community.
Among his many early ventures, Mal partnered with like-minded entrepreneur Hugh McCarron to run a daily bus service between Orange and Bathurst in association with the then East West Airlines air passenger service.
It was Orange’s first commercial air service and cost passengers the equivalent of three dollars to fly from Sydney to Bathurst and 75 cents for the bus transfer to Orange.
Mr McCarron and Mal later opened the Central West’s first commercial travel office in Orange before constructing Australia’s first drive-in motel, the Belair, next door to the Lords Place courthouse in 1957.
The motel remains today, albeit expanded and updated, and is known as the Mid City Motor Lodge.
The ambitious project was financed by Mal, Mr McCarron and various local shareholders.
“Within a month we had the house full sign up and we soon built another in Parkes and then another in Nyngan,” Mal says.
“We eventually sold the motels and returned the capital invested to the original shareholders many times greater than the initial investment.”
Seven times larger than their initial investment to be precise.
Mal remembers another business venture that had the potential to be even more successful but never quite got off the ground.
“One day the business partner of my father’s friend returned from America with an idea of starting a chain store in Australia,” he recalls.
“They asked my dad to be a third partner in the business and to do so he would need two thousand pounds as his share which meant he and my mother would have needed to mortgage their home and another they owned in Mosman. As it was such an unknown quantity he declined.”
He should have accepted.
The business soon became corporate giant Woolworths.
“Makes me wonder what a third share in Woolies would be worth today,” Mal laughs.
Mal’s involvement in the travel industry led to a passion for globetrotting that saw him embark on two epic around the world expeditions.
“Running an international travel business I soon found I needed more knowledge of the world,” he says.
It was on one of these world trips that Mal experienced a memory that’s stayed with him for nearly 50 years.
“A friend suggested I should include in my European visit a call at Oberammergau, a village in south-west Germany where every 10 years a passion play was offered on the life of Christ,” he recalls.
“The passion play covered the life of Christ from birth to death and I was fortunate enough to be able to get a ticket and after the show, which went all day, I remember seeing a number of people strolling in the nearby fields absorbing the momentous occasion they had just seen. It is still one of the most moving moments of my life.”
Over 100 years of living life to the fullest, Mal has been witness to many milestones in history - two world wars, the Great Depression and the moon landing to name just a few.
The birth of his two grandchildren, Olympic and Commonwealth Games marathon runner Kate Smyth and Singapore-based fund manager Stuart Harris, rank as equally significant moments in history for the unashamedly proud grandfather.
He resists the suggestion his wartime service and successes in the business community means the people of Orange have a lot to thank him for.
“Oh no, no, I don’t think so, life has been good to me really and I just enjoy doing what I can.”
