A Lancefield resident is still making time for his community at the incredible age of 80.
Born but not raised in Kilmore, Sydney Green celebrated his 80th birthday in February among community members at Lancefield’s Mechanic Hall – a place Mr Green associates with his most cherished moments, considering it’s where he first met his late wife Anne at a dance.
Most people would know Mr Green during his 62 years at Lancefield Fire Brigade, following in the footsteps of his father as captain to support his community in crisis, including during the 1982 Ash Wednesday bushfires.
The brigade was non-stop during Ash Wednesday, with members constantly working, and Mr Green sleeping on the brigade’s floor, not coming home for one or two nights to save what was left of Mount Macedon in the hottest circumstances.
Mr Green said the situation could have been a lot worse.
“There were two fires in Macedon, and if it hadn’t been for the first one, there would have been a lot more people burned to death with the second as simple as that,” he said.
“The streets of Lancefield and Romsey were choked with cars and people from Macedon left their homes and came somewhere you could barely find any room to park a vehicle in.”
There were good times at the brigade for Mr Green as well, earning national medals at presentations, but the one he appreciated the most was the Australian Fire Service Medal at Parliament House on January 26, 2006.
Mr Green’s brigade work would even come home at times, with his six children answering the fire phone while he was out on the farm.
His children knew what to do if the fire phone buzzed, and then it meant business for Mr Green when he was not at home or working for himself.
Prior to his adult life, Mr Green grew up in a family of four next door to the house he bought once he was older.
Mr Green knew the house was meant to be at 14-years-old.
“I was about 14 and [the owner] was going to sell it,” he said.
“The bloke that came to buy it was trying to knock him down in price considerably, and I was there, and I said to him … ‘if I had the money, I’d buy it off’.
“A few years later, probably six or even years later, I was working under a truck, and he came in and he said, ‘You’re the boy who wanted to buy my place, do you still want to buy it?’, and I said yes, I do.
“And that’s how I bought the place.”
Still living in the house, Mr Green continues helping his community as much as he can, taking calls from the Lancefield Park Committee of Management as a member now after he was once president.
