By Oliver Lees
In 1957, four years before their marriage, Elisabeth and Barry Priest first met on the dance floor of the Friars Town Dance in Castlemaine.
“I just went up and asked for a dance, we hit it off straight away,” Barry recalls.
“He walked up to me and I thought, ‘Oh, he looks quite nice and tall’,” Elisabeth said.
On May 20, the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
They moved to Sunbury in 1975 as Barry became sergeant of the police station.
Barry said Sunbury, at that time, “was much more like a country town” as the police station itself only employed four people.
According to Elisabeth, they planned on living in Sunbury for just a few years, but ultimately decided it best not to uproot the lives of their four school-age children.
“We couldn’t keep pulling them out of school,” she said.
“We’ve always had something to do with the kids, not just our own but in our work for the community, too.
“Barry was involved in the Scouts and I was in the Cubs, we also started the first Blue Light Disco in town.”
The couple have engaged themselves in a long list of community activities over the years, including Barry’s tenure as a founding committee member at the Red Rock Christian College and Elisabeth as a volunteer at the Sunbury Visitor Information Centre.
Reflecting on their relationship, Barry said strong family values have always been important to them both.
“We have common interests, we both enjoy travelling and gardening,” he said.
“But we really enjoy the family, that’s always been our priority.
“Now with nine grandchildren, we’ve never tired of babysitting responsibilities.”
Barry and Elisabeth’s daughter Cathryn said she was “incredibly grateful” for the example her parents set for her.
“They would consider themselves ordinary, but I think they are an extraordinary couple that have worked together beautifully over a really long period of time.”
