And anyone he taught at Ballarat Clarendon College in his 28 years at the school would agree.

“He is inspiring, funny, intelligent and, most of all, kind,” Ms Adams said.

“He has a love for life and the world around him, seeing beauty in what many would see as dull.”

Mr Adams was diagnosed with a stage four glioblastoma multi forme brain tumour in May and is currently undergoing treatment in Melbourne.

For his upcoming 65th birthday, Sarah would like to compile a book of funny memories of her father for him to read.

“He is someone I am sure many people have good memories of, either as teacher, relative, father, friend or colleague.

“They could be anything although I’m pretty sure he is very sick of being sick, so if they could be happy, funny or good memories instead of messages of support would be great.” 

Mr Adams taught humanities subjects at BCC from 1980 until 2008 before becoming a Sovereign Hill schoolmaster up until his diagnosis.

He is also an avid bird lover, building a large finch cage in his backyard before his illness, and a keen conservationist, helping to revitalise the Yarrowee Creek.

Ms Adams said she was also keen to raise awareness of brain cancers, which have a very high mortality rate.

“People don’t realise that, they think they can just cut it out and you’ll be right,” she said. “But it’s actually a very debilitating cancer.”

Anyone wishing to contribute can email their story to storiesforjack@gmail.com.

Anyone wishing to donate to brain cancer research can go to https://foundation.petermac.org/.

fiona.henderson@fairfaxmedia.com.au