Keep an open mind for the opportunities that life offers is the advice of Monterey's Cliff Jackson, OAM as he celebrates his 100^th birthday.

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It was a lesson learned the hard way for Cliff, a retired aviation engineer and a pioneer of the aviation industry in Papua New Guinea.

Cliff was born in Woombye, Queensland on May 8, 1926. The family moved to Queanbeyan and Cliff grew up on an orchard with his parents, four brothers and one sister.

He left school at 14 and worked three jobs a day - early morning delivering bread on a horse and cart, then cleaning windows and delivering groceries.

Cliff ran away from home at the age of 15, jumping a freight train, changing his name and putting his age up to 18.

"I 'jumped a rattler', as they called it," Cliff said. "I had no plans. I had no idea where I was going and what I was going to do.

"I went into the goods yard and climbed onto a freight train. I wasn't there long. We were soon on the move.

"We arrived in Goulburn in the early hours of the morning. I got out and spent the day in the grandstand in the park. There was a passenger train to Sydney in the afternoon. I got on and spent the time hiding in the toilet to avoid the ticket inspector.

"We got into Sydney late at night, about 10pm or 11pm. I had heard of the People's Palace but I didn't know where it was, so I found the bandstand in Belmore Park and went to sleep there.

"A policeman woke me up. He was very kind and took me to the People's Palace run by the Salovs in PItt Street.

"I didn't have any money but they gave me a room and a meal. The next morning I looked for a job in the Sydney Morning Herald. I got a job as an errand boy and an importing business."

Cliff moved from the People's Palace to a boarding house in Redfern run by the church and got a job at a munitions factory at Alexandria working as a labourer.

"One night Sydney was shelled by the Japanese and that determined me to join the forces," he said. "I wouldn't have been called up because nobody knew of me. I applied for the air force and went into the RAAF in June, 1942 and was sent to Adelaide to train in engineering school."

Cliff trained as an aircraft engineer and was sent to Melbourne for more engineering studies.

He was posted to Mildura to the 2 OTC (Operational Training Unit) which had Spitfires, Boomerangs and Kitty Hawk aircraft. He then was transferred to 8 OTC in Parkes where he worked on Spitfires.

"I was in Parkes when peace was declared and was taken off working on Spitfires to work in admin."

Cliff was discharged in June, 1946 and got a job at Bankstown Airport where he worked at Clyde Engineering converting DC3 aircraft to civilian use for TAA.

During this time he qualified for his civilian certificate as an aviation engineer and got a job in Papua New Guinea working for Guinea Air Traders on Avro Ansons, Lockheed Lodestars, DC 3s and Hawker De Havillands.

He then worked for Biggs Sepik Airways s chief engineer.

"I started thinking of having my own aeroplane and borrowed two-thousand pounds to buy a 1936 Waco aeroplane," he said.

Cliff started Papuan Air Transport, operating regional services.

"We used to fly to Kokoda every day and lots of other airports. We had 23 ports when we finished."

The company linked with Ansett Airlines to book passengers on their services and vice-versa. Ansett made an offer on the company in 1970 which was accepted.

"They offered me a job as general manager in Papua New Guinea but I declined. My family was in Brisbane and I wanted to work there. They then offered me a job as airport manager at Brisbane Airport," he said.

Cliff eventually moved to Sydney as operations manager for Ansett NSW, He became state manager Ansett Aviation after Sir Peter Abeles and Rupert Murdoch took over in 1982.

It was during this time that he met his wife, Gay, who was flight attendant manager.

Sir Peter Abeles appointed him as regional director of Ansett Transport Industries.

Cliff was then asked to start the Ansett British Aerospace Pilot Training College in Tamworth.

This became the Royal Australian Airforce Pilot Training College.

Cliff had suffered with bad eyesight for many years. In 1988 his eyesight had deteriorated. When he retired in 1993 at the age of 67 he went to the Royal Blind Society, now Vision Australia to see what they could do for his eyesight,

"I was asked if I would like to become a volunteer and I took the job and started the next day," he said.

"I was eventually asked to start the vision impaired and blind people's support groups in NSW and the ACT. This grew to 35 support groups, each with an average of 20 people.

Cliff awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Australia Day honours for services to the vision impaired and blind community and to the aviation industry.

Cliff will celebrate his life and achievements with a family gathering of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"At 100 my knees have let me down, otherwise I've got a healthy body. I'm here and I'm 100," he said.

"My advice is to keep your mind alert for activities and how much further you can progress your life in this world," Cliff said.

"Don't lock up your mind. Keep your mind open. If you do this you see many opportunities," he said.