FROM tiger snakes to native finches, Jeff Stewart has always had passion for weird and wonderful animals.
“When I was very little mum and dad used to own a pet shop, I guess that’s where it all came from,” he says.
“Vets weren’t very good in those days so we looked after all sorts of animals.”
During Mr Stewart’s teenage years in his home town of Upwey, Dandenong Ranges, he accumulated an impressive collection of native reptiles including turtles, snakes and lizards.
When some of his lizards were stolen from the lizard pit in his backyard, he added venomous snakes to the mix.
It was the significant crime rate in Upwey, the last stop on the train line, that eventually drew his family out of Melbourne and into the country.
“The crime rate was horrendous,” he said.
“We chased one man away from the house and heard later on the news that he had confronted an elderly man a few doors down and [attacked him].
That was the final straw.”
His parents moved to Nyah and started up their own motor repair shop in the main street.
Jeff, in his early 20s, followed them to the region soon after to help out once they had established the business, which has since closed down.
“When I first got up here I couldn’t believe that people would leave their cars running while they ducked into the shops,” he says.
“I learnt that’s just what it was like in the country.”
For more of this story, see Wednesday’s Guardian (May 1).
