Throwing one leg in front of the other, not a doctor in New England could work out what was wrong with him.

Taken to a specialist in Sydney, Dr Rick Money said, “You’re off the land aren’t ya? I think I know what the problem is.”

Mr Sewell was diagnosed with Hydatid disease of the brain, an incredibly rare illness with only 29 cases recorded in Australia and New Zealand in 60 years.

“In my lifetime I’ve had my ups and down,” Mr Sewell said.

“Nobody in this part of the world could figure out what was wrong with me.

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“Anyhow they operated, opened my head up and took 20 cysts out, that was all through playing with a dog and the cysts were the size of a cricket ball down to a golf ball.”

The dog Mr Sewell had played with was infected with Tapeworm larvae, which then formed the cysts in his brain.

After the surgery he struggled to eat, until his grandfather visited him in Sydney with an unlikely cure – a hamburger.

“That fixed me right up,” Mr Sewell said.

Life returned to normal, living out at Hillgrove Mr Sewell said he was never too fond of school.

“I’ve got to be honest, I did two-and-a-half years of high school before I left to work on the property,” he said.

“I worked at a shearing shed for 30-odd years and did the pressing.”

Eventually an opportunity came up to work on the table.

Standing across from the wool classer, the repetitive process would begin. 

Throwing, skirting, removing the neck wool, and Mr Sewell loved it.

“Today they make it very, very difficult,” he said.

“Going out and working in sheds I picked up a hell of a lot of experience and I really enjoyed it.

“We ended up selling the property, my parents both passed away and my brother and I took over Dad’s place – it was a lot of work.”

Mr Sewell never married, but he’s never been too fussed about it, he gets himself into enough trouble at the Masonic Lodge.

“I could see so many of these other devils getting married, it just didn’t worry me at all,” he said.

“I was very happy with the way I am, although I do sometimes get into trouble around here.”