Elder Uncle Ossie Cruse celebrated the milestone on Saturday, December 15, surrounded by five generations of his family and descendants, including several great-great-grandchildren. 

“I don’t feel any different to what I was when I turned 45!” he laughed. 

“There’s still many things to deal with.” 

The event was something the most important person in the room was unaware of until the last moment, as his family successfully planned a surprise party. 

“I didn’t know anything about it, I was totally surprised!” Mr Cruse said. 

“It’s incredible they kept such a secret.” 

READ MORE: ‘Tens of thousands of years of history’: Boyd name change gains traction

When Mr Cruse was asked for some advice from what he had learnt over his years to pass on to people, he had some beautiful words to share. 

“I think there’s two words I always maintained as part of life,” he said.

“Truth and justice, truth and justice in everything.

“Be truthful in everything and in everything you do be just, be proper. That not only fits into civil rights, but it fits into everything we do as people governed by love, the greatness of love.” 

About 100 people gathered at Jigamy to celebrate the occasion, with friends and community members invited along with family, and with some coming from South Australia, Victoria and the ACT. 

It was clear Mr Cruse had made some friends in high places over his life, as Member for Barton Linda Burney sent him a personal message recorded on video wishing him a happy birthday as well, which was played at the celebration. 

Being surrounded by family, “blood family”, and the community had been a “really beautiful experience”, Mr Cruse said. 

“That’s what we all should be doing; caring for each other,” he said. 

In September last year, he married Western Australian leaf music expert Robin Ryan. Also in 2017, a documentary on ABC’s Australian Story about Mr Cruse stated he had been a driving force of the Indigenous Australian rights movement on the world stage yet some of his most influential work was in Eden.