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It's our birthday! Stockland and homeowners celebrate turning 70

People
June 24, 2022

Seventy years ago a young Elizabeth II was getting ready to assume the throne, The Greatest Show on Earth won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and the Summer Olympics were held in Helsinki, Finland.

Back in Australia, Dalray won the Melbourne Cup while Ken McGregor and Thelma Coyne Long were the Australian Open men’s and women’s champions.

In Sydney, a young Hungarian immigrant named Ervin Graf started a small company in south-western Sydney which would one day become Stockland. We have many homeowners who are also celebrating a milestone and are planning celebrations for their 70th birthday.

Here are some of their stories:

John and Vicky Heathcote from Vision by Halcyon (QLD)

This fun-loving couple were born eight hours apart from each other – but on separate days.

“John is the 12th of December and I am the 13th,” Vicky said.

The pair have shared every birthday and have celebrated their milestone years in fine style, with surprise parties for a few and spending their 60th on a friend’s 117 foot yacht.

“We’re just about to go away for three months to Cape York, so we will have to start planning what we’re going to do for out 70th,” she said.

Vicky said a December birthday was always tough to get everyone together as the festive season is well underway. “We will work something out with friends and family and definitely celebrate,” she said.

Vicky said she and John had always lived by the motto: “Make the most of everyday.”

John and Vicky Heathcote from Vision by Halcyon
Vicky and John Heathcote from Vision by Halcyon

Graeme Pearson from Vision by Halcyon (QLD)

Having turned 70 in February, Graeme has already had his birthday party renting a house in Bundaberg for the whole family over a weekend.

“I have a son, son-in-law and three grandsons who are all February birthdays so we got to spend it together which was great fun,” he said.

Graeme said he has always had a “boots and all” attitude, jumping into opportunities which have presented themselves over the years.

“I always took my dad’s advice as he always said ‘never get to the end of your life and say I wish I had,’” he said.

Graeme Pearson from Vision by Halcyon
Graeme Pearson from Vision by Halcyon

Gay Hilton from Halcyon Lakeside (QLD)

Sunshine Coast native Gay said she felt blessed to be born in the 1950s in a small country town not far away from where she now lives at Halcyon Lakeside.

“I had an idyllic childhood, we’d come home from school for lunch and go for a swim in the creek,” she said.

“It was just magic as everyone knew each other and life was very carefree.”

Gay still loves the music of the era, citing 1950s rock and roll as her favourite.

“Every Saturday night we would go to the pictures and see Elvis Presley and I remember saying to myself that I was going to go to America one day to see him – and I did!”

Gay celebrated her 70th birthday on 31 January with a host of family and friends at Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast.

Gay Hilton from Halcyon Lakeside
Gay Hilton from Halcyon Lakeside

Read about Stockland's 70 years of creating connected communities here.