Our People
13 April, 2026
As I Remember - Geoff Penna
Geoff’s enthusiasm and warm welcome begin the moment we sit down for the interview, on his and Jean’s back verandah with cups of tea, overlooking their fruit trees, chooks and goats playing in the drizzly rain. He proudly shows me photos of the Red Angus cattle he is breeding. This home they now tend sits near to the place where it all began for Geoff.
Born in Ballarat, Geoff moved with his parents, Bob and Florence, and his two siblings to Elmhurst to care for his unwell grandmother.
“There were four adults and three kids in a little house, lined with hessian and wallpaper.” There was no running water, and Geoff recalls one section of the house being moved by bullock wagon—still with its thatched roof intact. Today, the two chimneys of this original family property, ‘Pollegiloe’, first settled in 1866, still remain.
Geoff remembers candles and hurricane lamps, before the town held festivities to celebrate the power being ‘turned on’ in Elmhurst in 1954.
His childhood sounds idyllic, spent on a small mixed farm with dairy cows supplying cream to the Wallace Butter Factory, along with poultry for eggs and meat, and pigs. Geoff tells me he had a pet goat as a child—he now has about six, climbing on the fence as we chat.
Other memories from those early Elmhurst days include a battery-powered valve radio, toasting bread with the wood stove door open, and a kerosene refrigerator. Each Monday was washing day, done entirely by hand, including chopping wood to keep the copper boiling for hot water. Elmhurst was finally connected to town water in 1964.
Geoff recalls his father mowing the town’s grass verges along the highway using a horse-drawn mower, before the family purchased their first tractor in 1958. They did not own a car until 1965—a second-hand Holden sedan.
The now-closed Elmhurst Primary School is where Geoff created many memories: school picnics, district sports and arbor days. He warmly recalls a trip to Lake Learmonth and a ride in Jack Keith’s boat. Another fond memory is of a ‘special one-off’ task in Grade 6, when rubbish needed to be taken from the school to the local tip. Geoff gained permission to bring the family horse and cart to school—along with a nosebag for the horse—to get the job done.
When it was time to attend Ararat High School in 1961, Geoff travelled by bus via Crowlands, crossing a challenging bridge. The old wooden bridge over the Wimmera River was not strong enough to carry both the bus and its passengers at once, so each crossing required students to disembark, walk across, and then reboard. In winter, the bus was often difficult to start. Students were required to push it—Geoff laughs, cheekily adding that the girls were doing the pushing while the boys tried to hold it back. At other times, the bus broke down altogether, and the more studious pupils hitchhiked into Ararat.
Geoff recalls the many community events as ‘precious times’. “We walked a distance to the local hall and hoped for a kind offer of a lift back home afterwards.” There were film nights put on by an oil company, as well as regular dances.
In 1961, the family moved again when Geoff’s father gained a position as Regional Officer for the Country Fire Authority in Wangaratta. Geoff remembers it as the furthest he had ever travelled in a single day. The move proved fortuitous: in Wangaratta, he began his printing apprenticeship and also met Jean.
Geoff’s life took a significant detour at the age of 18, when he was “compelled to register for National Service Training.” It was the Vietnam War, and his birthdate was drawn in the ballot. After being granted an exemption to complete his apprenticeship, he was farewelled at Wangaratta Railway Station on January 27, 1970, by friends and workmates—bound for Seymour and, ultimately, Puckapunyal Army Camp.
Geoff remembers it as an extremely hot and demanding time. Recruits initially wore ill-fitting, second- or third-hand ‘greens’ while learning to salute and march. Of completing the first 10 weeks of training, he says: “We were now grown men, trained for adulthood and war.”
His first assignment was in artillery, relocating him to Holsworthy, south of Sydney. His next posting, to the School of Artillery in Manly, became “home for the remainder of my two years of National Service.” As luck would have it, there was a printing room, and Geoff was the first qualified person to work there. He relished the role, bonding with most of the officers—except one, nicknamed ‘the Bull’.
“It was a dream position: printing highly sensitive material that required me to be listed for ‘Top Secret’ status.” Geoff produced training manuals that were distributed to Army bases across Australia and to some overseas deployments.
During this time, he and Jean caught up intermittently. Geoff made the long drive from Sydney to Wangaratta in his Morris 1100—“no radio or anything. It took so long!” Jean would sometimes stay with friends in Sydney, and she wrote to him every single day.
After completing his National Service, Geoff returned to his printing job in Wangaratta, and in 1972, he and Jean were married.
The following year, they moved to Foster in South Gippsland to work for a newspaper and as general printers. It was here they began a side career in photography, “initially all black-and-white photographs for the newspaper.” Geoff also reported on proceedings at the Foster Magistrates’ Court—of which he still has plenty of stories to tell. During their time in Foster, they welcomed the births of their three children.
In 1978, they took up the opportunity to establish ‘Penna Print’ in Ararat—first in Barkly Street, which they quickly outgrew, then in Vincent Street. For 28 years, Geoff and Jean provided commercial printing and photography services to clients across Victoria. After selling the business to Hansen Print, Geoff stayed on as manager for a further 10 years before retiring.
Geoff’s contributions to the community, and his lifetime of service, are many and worthy of recognition. He is a well-known Justice of the Peace and has been involved in a wide range of volunteer organisations, including Ararat Community College Council, the Uniting Church, and the Ararat Retirement Village, to name just a few. If something has needed a volunteer in Elmhurst, Geoff has been there—and still is. The Elmhurst Bush Nursing Centre, Landcare, community development initiatives and Blokes groups are also among his many commitments.
However, it is with the CFA—following the positive influence of his father—that Geoff has given nearly 40 years of service. After a fatal house fire in Elmhurst in 2019, he was awarded the Police Chief Commissioner’s Citizen Citation, followed by a Government Group Citation. “It’s in the blood,” Geoff says, crediting his parents for instilling a strong sense of service. With characteristic enthusiasm, he adds: “We like to give back. We are blessed.”
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