The 91-year-old will graduate from the University of New England (UNE) Armidale in early October with a Bachelor of Law degree.

Age proved no barrier for Mr Stewart, a father of six, grandfather of 12 and great grandfather of six, in fact he completed the course, which normally takes six years, in a mere four and a half years.

"Time is of the essence when you get to my age," Mr Stewart joked.

"I never smoked and I have always maintained that to enjoy a good quality of life you have to have not only a healthy body, but a healthy mind as well.

"If you exercise the body and stimulate your mind you should be able to live a long and healthy life and achieve great mental capacity."

Although he graduated from Sydney University in 1936 with a degree in dentistry and practiced for many years in Macquarie St, Sydney, Mr Stewart said his passion was always law.

So when his son retired and completed a degree of his own at UNE, Mr Stewart followed suit.

Not content to be just another mature age student, Mr Stewart drove to Armidale twice a year for the residential part of his degree and studied, boarded and ate with all the other students who were all significantly younger than him.

"I loved having three meals a day at university," Mr Stewart said.

"It was also a good opportunity to interact with the other students and find out what university life is like today.

"They showed great interest in what I was doing and encouraged me.

"There were a lot of questions from the students at first as I guess it was a bit of a novelty someone my age studying law.

"But they thought it was great that I was giving it a go."

Family and friends also encouraged Mr Stewart in his endeavours.

Ironically in attending UNE, Mr Stewart set himself apart from Prime Minister John Howard. Both were educated at Earlwood Public School, Canterbury High and Sydney University, albeit with the PM following several years after Mr Stewart.