Phillip Island's Penguin Foundation put out a call for keen knitters to create the little jumpers in March last year.
Phillip Island's Penguin Foundation put out a call for keen knitters to create the little jumpers in March last year.
Being Australia's oldest person hasn't slowed down Alfie Date, who launched a knitting mission just twelve hours after arriving at his new retirement home to provide jumpers for penguins in need.
Alfred 'Alfie' Date is 109 years old, and began knitting in 1932 when his sister-in-law taught him how to knit a jumper for his newborn nephew.
Alfie Date is Australia's oldest man at 109-years-old, and spends his spare time knitting jumpers for penguins.
Photo / ninemsn.com.au
Now, Alfie is putting his generous and still-nimble fingers to good use, creating tiny clothes for Phillip Island Penguins who needed woolen jumpers in the wake of an oil spill which prevented the creatures from staying dry, Channel 9 reported.
Phillip Island's Penguin Foundation put out a call for keen knitters to create the little jumpers in March last year, to help prevent penguins from swallowing the oil when they attempted to clean themselves.
The same day that Alfie arrived at his new aged-care village in Umina, on the Central Coast of NSW, he decided to offer up the skills he had polished over more than 80 years.
"I think I'd been in here about 12 hours, might have been 13. The two girls (nurses) come in to me and say 'We believe you can knit'," Alfie said.
The 109-year-old quickly went to work, joining in hundreds of people around the world who answered the plea for jumpers.
He began creating stitch jerseys for the tiny penguins who can be poisoned by oil spills.
Little penguins are only found in New Zealand and southern Australia, and there is a colony of 32,000 who live on Phillip Island.
The grease allows water to seep under their feather coats, and also causes a great amount of discomfort and distress for the tiny creatures.
Despite his age, Alfie said that he always makes sure his jumpers are up to scratch.
"I like to make it without mistakes and I don't excuse myself for doing it. (But) I think there is an excuse for a person who's gone beyond the normal span of life," he said.
Alfie is used to helping others with his talent, and often gets roped into projects for friends and family.
The knitted jumpers help prevent penguins from swallowing the oil when they attempted to clean themselves.
Photo / Phillip Island Penguin Foundation
"The girls who used to work for me, they'll tell you I'm a sucker. I can't say no. It's a good way of getting along in life. You make friends all the time but you don't make a fool of yourself either," Alfie said.
Alfie's nephew is now a grandfather himself, and the 109-year-old is now the proud grandfather of 20, and great-grandfather of "roughly the same", although he suspects he might have more.
The Phillip Island Penguin Foundation officially labelled Alfie their "most senior little penguin jumper knitter", but wasn't aware when he started contributing that he was also the oldest person in Australia.
Danene Jones, spokesperson for the Foundation, said that they were privileged to have Alfie aiding their efforts.
With the contributions sent in from around the world, the Foundation has received enough jumpers for the penguins, and said that the response had been overwhelming.
