Aline Douglas: Waipa Mill's first female worker turns 100

Aline Douglas was Waipa Mill's first female worker, in 1939. Today, she turns 100, and sat down in her Rotorua home with journalist Zizi Sparks to share a century of vivid memories from her great loves and favourite inventions, to the times that changed the world.

When Aline Douglas was 17 years old, she had to bike a mile home from work in her dress and high heels just to use the toilet.

Then Aline Bailey, she was the first female employee at Waipa Mill when it opened in 1939. She worked as the mill's typist–telephonist working nine-hour days for the equivalent of $4.17 per month.

But the mill did not have a toilet the first year so she would wait until lunchtime to bike about a mile home to use the toilet. The men would go among the trees.

Douglas was born in Palmerston North on September 23, 1922, and celebrates her 100th birthday today .

She spent her first 15 years in Karioi near Waiouru, at boarding school in Palmerston North and at Whanganui Girls' College.

The family of six moved to Rotorua in 1937 as her father, a forest ranger, had been transferred.

In Karioi, the family used candles for light so it was a treat to be able to turn the lights on at the wall.

Aline Douglas in her younger years. Photo / Supplied

Douglas went to the city's only high school at the time which is now Raukura, Rotorua Boys' High School.

"Then I wanted to be a nurse and of course, the war was coming and dad said 'no, you're not becoming a nurse, they climb out of windows and go off with boys'.

"He knew of a job coming up at Waipa Mill. I got the job in 1939 on August 14."

Aline Douglas, then known as Aline Bailey, when working at Waipa Mill in 1939. Photo / Supplied

While Douglas worked at the mill, her father got work in Kaingaroa.

She would board during the week and, with no car, bike with her sister from the mill to Kaingaroa on a Friday afternoon and return on Sunday.

"It would take us three hours one way and four hours the other. It was all gravel roads."

They never punctured a tyre.

Douglas remembers during World War II, a train carrying troops would arrive at the station where Central Mall is now every eight weeks and they would bike down to the station to see the new arrivals.

As Douglas knew how to tap dance, she would also entertain the forces stationed here.

"We went dancing every night and we always wore long dresses."

After the war, Douglas married her husband Des, an accountant at the mill, on August 14, 1946, at Rotorua's Blue Baths.

"We didn't have a car so we got in a taxi to the bus stop and went to Hamilton for the honeymoon."

They had three children - Jill, Judi and Kevin - and Douglas became a stay-at-home mum.

The Douglas family Judi, Aline, Kevin and Jill. Photo / Supplied

They saved a £180 deposit to buy a £2000 (about $350 and $3860 at yesterday's exchange rate) home in Rotorua which Douglas still lives in today.

Des died 14 years after their marriage on November 19, 1960. At 38, Douglas was widowed with three children.

She sewed and cooked and was always home when the children returned from school. She was always dressed nicely when at home doing housework "in case someone came to the door".

The third car Douglas bought was a pink 1975 Austin Morris. A manual with no power steering she has only stopped driving recently.

When her three children left home, Douglas "was a bit lost" so she took in boarders including her grandchildren and nieces and nephews over the years.

Des and Aline Douglas. Photo / Supplied

"I've been looking after children and family my whole life ... I loved my own kids so much."

In 1974, Douglas got the news her mother would only live another year due to her heart.

Douglas and her sister would stay with their mother for alternate three-month stints.

"She lasted seven years and the doctor said it was the company."

Douglas has seen countless changes in her lifetime but her favourite inventions are mattresses and fridges.

"The first mattress we had was like horse hair. When we got a proper mattress it was amazing."

As for the fridge, they used to keep milk in a bucket of cold water sitting on a brick, and the meat was kept in a ventilated cupboard. They would have to check the meat for bugs before using it. The laundry was done with a copper tub and a wringer.

"The biggest change in Rotorua was when they tarsealed the roads. When we came here it was all pumice stone and the shops would have to keep the doors closed because some horses and wagons would bring dust up.

"Another thing was when the lights were put on under the shop verandahs."

In the last couple of years, the biggest change has been Covid-19 - which Douglas has had and beat.

Aline Douglas in the 1975 Austin she only recently stopped driving. Photo / Supplied

"I didn't think I would get through."

Douglas was prescribed antiviral tablets for her infection and turned the corner overnight, she says.

Asked the question centenarians inevitably get about the secret to a long life, Douglas says she was active, regularly biking long distances, dancing and gardening. She has also never smoked or had a drink in her life.

"I had a strict father and you didn't do those things."

Douglas will celebrate her birthday on Saturday and has received a letter from the Queen, which arrived before the monarch's death.

She has 28 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.