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Community & Business

12 March, 2021

100 years of Bruna Biancotti

WHEN the stock market was at its all time high and jazz bands had the hype, Bruna Biancotti was taking her very first breath in Italy.


Bruna Biancotti with her letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her 100th Birthday.
Bruna Biancotti with her letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her 100th Birthday.

BY ELLIE FINK

WHEN the stock market was at its all time high and jazz bands had the hype, Bruna Biancotti was taking her very first breath in Italy. 

This year she celebrated her 100th birthday with her close family by her side at Herberton Aged Care Facility with her regular cheeky smile on her face the whole day. 

Bruna’s life began in Santorso, Italy on March 2 1921 as a sibling to Lidia, Ada and Mario Berlato. 

She immigrated to Australia when she was two years old and was believed to have cried the whole boat trip over causing both her mother and the nurse grief. 

She spent her early years in Silkwood Queensland and later moved to the Atherton Tablelands where her family shared farmland. 

At the ripe age of 10 years old Bruna was milking cows and picking corn all by hand with the only machinery available to her being a horse drawn cart. 

She dreamed of becoming a nurse when she grew up but was not allowed to as her father told her, “no daughter of mine is going to bath men!.”

Later in life, Bruna was struck by cupid’s arrow and fell in love with an Italian man Ron Biancotti and they were wedded March 15 1944. 

Soon enough they had four children, Tony (deceased), Renetta (deceased), Louie and Mario. 

Bruna’s family started their business as the owners of Superstar Milkbar and Café which still stands in Atherton today. 

She used to live in her very own two storey building until the age of 98. 

She was very proud of this but was then moved to the Aged Care facility at Herberton Hospital due to a decline in her eyesight and a few falls. 

Her grandson David Halps travelled from his home in Brisbane to be with Bruna on her special day and says she had the whole family laughing with joy. 

 “At her Birthday party on Tuesday March 2, I was doing a little speech, of which Bruna may have thought was going on too long and she just jumped in and yelled ‘hip hip hooray’“ he said. 

 “Bruna has always had a fantastic memory as she would be able to remember any family event down to the finest detail.

 “Her favourite saying is “I’ll give you a punch in the nose” in response to us being cheeky back to her.”  

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