One of Dungog's last remaining World War II veterans, Trevor Brooker has celebrated his 100th birthday marking a huge milestone in his life.
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Born on December 5, 1923, Trevor was the fifth and final child of Barbara and Stanley Brooker alongside his siblings Neville, Mervyn, Dawn and Ross.
Mr Brooker, known universally as "Pop" to his family, attended a one room school at Mirannie, NSW with his siblings.
In 1936 Mr Brooker and his family moved to Rosebrook where he attended a single teacher school. From there he attended Maitland Tech until he left school at the age of 16 to join the army.
In 1939 at the age of 16 Mr Brooker joined the 16th Light Horse Regiment which would later become the 16th Motor Regiment.
After training Mr Brooker and his regiment went to New Guinea where he became very sick with a mosquito borne disease, scrub typhus and was evacuated back to Australia.
After recovering Mr Brooker was deemed unfit for further service and as the war headed to its inevitable conclusion he was demobbed on the fourth of December, 1944.
Mr Brooker would then secure an apprenticeship as a bricklayer and became a master of his trade. Jobs that he worked on include the Catholic Church at Cessnock.
In 1964/65 he built a new house on their property at Brookefield during one of the biggest droughts that the area had seen.
On the 12th of February, 1949 Mr Brooker married Edna May Challen after meeting her at a dance at Maitland Town Hall.
Initially they lived in the house that he built at Rutherford until 1952 when they purchased a dairy farm at Brookfield.
In 1955 Mr and Mrs Brooker had their first child Margaret, followed by Jenny in 1956.
In 1980 the grandchildren began arriving with a trio consisting of Lynne, Heather and Matthew followed by Ruth. Emma arrived five years later.
Since then a further seven great grandchildren have appeared as well.
He would run the dairy farm for 13 years until 1965 when bulk milk pickup started and Mr Brooker decided to close the dairy and run beef cattle instead.
In 1980 Mr Brooker retired and moved to Dungog where he would become a member of the Dungog RSL Sub Branch and held the position of secretary.
For their efforts both Mr and Mrs Brooker were recognised as life members of RSL NSW and life members of Dungog RSL Club.
Mr Brooker has lived a long life, living through the despair of the Great Depression and the horrors of war only to return and start his own family and engage in the community.
For his efforts, Mr Brooker has been awarded an OAM alongside his wife.
