AUSTRALIA: South Australia's oldest person dies at 111

. ADELAIDE, South Australia / The Independent Weekly / January 15, 2009 South Australia's oldest person, Myrtle Jones, has died at 111. Mrs Jones passed away in an Adelaide nursing home on Monday and is survived by 27 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren and seven great great grandchildren. Born Myrtle Dagg in 1897 in Victoria, she moved to South Australia with her husband Hubert in 1948. She spent most of her adult life as a housewife and after the death of her husband 27 years ago continued to live in her own home until she was 109. After growing up in the horse-and-buggy days, she lived through the development of the first cars and then the space age. She also proudly boasted to friends on occasions that she saw Halley's Comet twice, once in 1910 and again in 1986. Australia's oldest person, Emily Beatrice Riley celebrated her 112th birthday last year in Melbourne while the oldest recorded person in the world is 114-year-old American Gertrude Baines. Harrison Funerals said a funeral service for Mrs Jones would be conducted in Adelaide on Friday. Copyright © 2008. Fairfax Media.