Recognising senior Victorians

As a young child, Juel lived in a tent in country New South Wales during the Great Depression after her parents lost everything they owned.

Emine migrated to Australia in 1958 and remembers how strange it was to come from a big city like Ankara to what seemed like a village in Australia. But she flourished.

Les fought in the jungles of Papua New Guinea in World War 2 and returned to run a dairy farm with his wife Pam.

Margaret grew up in Numurkah and moved to Melbourne to further her music studies as a talented pianist.

Growing up in East Gippsland on the family farm, Gay trained in Melbourne and then served in the Air Force Nursing Service during the Korean War.

When Alexandrina Fairbairn first arrived in Australia in the 1960s, her Scottish accent was so strong her employer thought her name was Annie and, 60 years later, she still goes by Anne.

Born in Austria in 1936, Ralf recalls being woken in the middle of the night by his mother to seek shelter in a bunker during bombing raids.

Richard joined the army straight from school, making a career in the military after both of his parents had also served.

Ivan started work as a carpenter at age 15 and loved it so much he was still sanding floors at 90.

Amy and her family experienced the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires in Macedon and became very involved in the annual Red Cross fundraising appeal as a result of that.

Migrating from Argentina in 1974, Hector experienced the rebuild of Darwin after Cyclone Tracey. He says “Australia gave me the opportunity … they accepted me, and I love it here”

Born in St Kilda in 1948 Suzanne's parents opened one of the first restaurants there. Her father, a Yugoslavian migrant, has been a huge influence on her life — inspiring her to become an English as a Second Language teacher and a lover of classical music