Dorothy Joyce McGillivary, a 96-year-old resident at Uniting Bernard Austin Lodge Liverpool, 27km south-west of Sydney’s CBD, is a remarkable woman.
To call her a book worm would be an understatement. She is the Liverpool City Library’s longest member and has borrowed a staggering 14,000 books.
Librarian Mary Bush has known Dorothy and her family for 30 years. The past 14 years she has been taking books to Dorothy. When COVID-19 allows, Dorothy and her family still go to the library and the senior Australian is rightly treated like Royalty.
And in recent times, over a year when a pandemic has meant many social interactions have been put on hold, especially for the elderly, the library and books have been even more important.
Dorothy reads most of the day, often until the small hours. She recently read three books in a week.
Her favourite reads are books on history and non-fiction.
“I don’t know, it’s something I’ve always had [my love of books]. I’ve always wanted to read things that have happened, not things that are just a figment of someone’s imagination. I’m just interested in things that have happened, like history.”
Dorothy represents something that Ms Noble exemplifies everything a local library should be. It’s a communal space rather than just a place to get books.
“Sometimes we have people just come through the door to be amongst people, sit at the library desk and pick up a magazine or a book and they find somebody they can talk to. It’s not only about books, it’s a social thing, because people think the library is the social place to go.”
Here are Dorothy’s top five books:
- Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion, by Lady Anne Somerset
- Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful Servant, by Tracy Borman
- Elizabeth: Renaissance Prince, by Lisa Hilton
- Bomber Boys: Fighting Back 1940-1945, by Patrick Bishop
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Alison Weir
