Anyone who knows George Armitage will tell you he has a dry sense of humour.
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At 103, George is still quick with a cheeky remark and, according to his eldest daughter Barbara, often gets her in a bit of trouble.
The father-of-eight, who lives with Barbara, spends his days tinkering in his workshop when he is feeling well enough, sitting in their beautiful garden, and, although he would never admit it, cuddling up with their three little dogs.
He also spends time volunteering alongside Barbara at Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter in Koonoomoo, where the pair collect shrubbery and native plants for the animals.
It is a busy life for a man who has lived through more than a century of change.
Born on February 7, 1923, in Birkenhead, England, George grew up in Moreton, near Liverpool.
Looking back on his childhood in England, one thing George distinctly remembers is the weather, describing it as “either raining or freezing cold”.
George met his wife, Joan, during World War II, when they both worked as mechanics in the British air force.
He still remembers the first time he met her, describing it as “very romantic”.
The couple married in a church in Brighton in 1945 and went on to spend 75 years together, even receiving a card from Queen Elizabeth II to mark their diamond wedding anniversary.
“Joan was a good person and had a fascination for babies ... if anybody wanted to go anywhere and weren’t bringing kids, she'd insist on having them,” George said.
The war left its mark on the family, with George’s parents’ house bombed. When George returned home, he and his brother spent a year rebuilding it.
With work scarce and money tight after the war, George and Joan decided to make a new life in Australia as ‘Ten-pound Poms’.
They arrived in 1949, first settling in Woodend, Victoria, and George began working as a mechanic in Kyneton.
“I’ve always been a mechanic my whole life, working in different factories or garages,” he said.
Joan and George went on to have eight children: William, Stephen, Andrew, Barbara, Janet, Anne-Marie, Michael and Susan.
Barbara remembers a childhood that looked very different from life today.
“I was 10 when we got electricity to our house, so imagine doing washing and stuff like that with eight kids,” she said.
“I remember kerosene lamps, and we had a wood stove in the kitchen, and that was our heating.”
When George wasn't at work, he could usually be found out the back, working in his shed.
“People would be constantly coming over, saying ‘George, can you fix this? George, have you got this part or that part?’” Barbara said.
“He became very adept at fixing things, like a bush mechanic, instead of buying a part, he’d find a bit of wire and stuff and fix it up ― nothing got thrown out.”
That knack for making, fixing and finding a way to keep things going has stayed with George throughout his life.
He has always loved riding bikes and, when Barbara was growing up, there was a yard full of them.
“He used to love biking a lot before his balance got bad, but he’s currently building a tricycle he can hopefully ride,” she said.
“About three years ago he made a bike with a wheelchair and pedals at the front for a woman who had trouble walking.”
George moved to Cobram around eight years ago, at the age of 95, and recently travelled more than five hours from Cobram to Warrnambool.
The journey was made so George could meet his newest great-great-granddaughter and see the beach for the first time in more than 40 years.
It was a special moment for the family, with five generations all together.
Barbara said they were determined to get George on to the sand, and having a wheelchair with big wheels wheelchair helped.
“It was good because we got a wheelchair that had big pumped-up wheels, so you could walk on the sand with him in it,” she said.
“There was a freezing cold wind, but he loved it, and he kept saying, ‘Take me into the water, take me into the water.’”
Over more than a century George has lived a full life, married for 75 years, raising eight children and building a new life on the other side of the world from where he was raised.
He has watched his family grow across five generations, with 34 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
“He’s a special dad,” Barbara said.