Miriam Schmierer, the oldest Australian who celebrated her 111th birthday on Friday, said faith and her spiritual life are responsible for making her still alive today.

My main interest is my spiritual life, my faith, Schmierer told Abc.net.au.

The supercentenarian regularly writes to family, friends and missionaries around the world. She also writes a column in her nursing home's monthly newsletter.

A spokeswoman for the nursing home said Schmierer's state of health is enviable.

She has been lucky to go through life with very little health problems, she said of Schmierer, a resident of the nursing home for 18 years now.

Born on August 20, 1899, before Australia chose its first prime minister, Schmierer grew up on a dairy farm at Mount Whitestone near Gatton in southeast Queensland. On August 20, 1925, she got married to a cream carrier who later became a cattle raiser. Her husband died in 1965, four years after she retired in Hervey Bay.

Schmierer remembers her life as a farmer's wife with great fondness.

I love the country. It is so beautiful and the people are so warm and genuine. The cattle were my interest. Animals are great to work with - they listen and obey, she said, according to Abc.net.au.

Schmierer is the 49th oldest person in the world. Living for three centuries, she also has outlived two sons, three brothers and five sisters.

Australia