With a card from The Queen and Governor General taking pride of place on the mantelpiece, it’s clear Barry and Elaine Searle are celebrating a special milestone.
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The well-known Warrnambool couple are celebrating 60 years of marriage on Saturday but both found it difficult to pin-point the secret to wedded bliss.
“Patience,” Mrs Searle joked.
“Elaine has had to have a lot of patience,” Mr Searle said “I don’t think I would have lasted living with me.
“People always ask that question and I’ve thought about it, but I’m not sure there is just one secret to it.”
Mrs Searle said like any couple they had their low points, but there was also plenty of highs.
“If anyone thinks it’s all smooth sailing, they are mistaken,” Mrs Searle said.
The couple knew each other during school and spent summers at the Warrnambool swimming pool.
It wasn’t until he was “16 or 17” that Mr Searle mustered the courage to ask the young Elaine Scutcheon out.
“I think we were walking home from the pool and I just said would you like to go out with me sometime,” Mr Searle said.
“You used to follow me around on your bike,” Mrs Searle quipped.
They were married with a small wedding at Warrnambool’s Church of England on November 21, 1955, both aged just 19.
“A lot of people said it wouldn’t last because we were too young,” Mr Searle said. “I think we’ve proved a few of them wrong.”
The couple ran the Oasis Reptile Park on Aberline Road for 15 years, housing exotic and native snakes and lizards.
When the park closed in 1984 the couple bought a four-wheel-drive and caravan and indulged in their other passion, seeing as much of Australia as possible.
“We’ve been all around Australia, across the middle and from top to bottom,” Mr Searle said.
“The first time we went around was in an old Kombi van, which I had decked out, and we just camped wherever we wanted.”
“We’ve never been overseas and have no desire to,” Mrs Searle said.
“If we won lotto tomorrow I’d pack up and head off around Australia again, there is just so much to see, it’s beautiful.”
The couple have four children, nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren and will celebrate their milestone with a small gathering on Saturday.
“There is one person coming who was at out wedding and there are friends flying in from Queensland and maybe even one from Alice Springs,” Mrs Searle said.
