Edna Marshall and Ivy Doolan both turned 90 recently and say healthy diets and leading a simple life have helped them reach their ninth decades.

Mrs Doolan, whose birthday was on Monday, has lived on her family's farm at Franklinford all her life. Her husband Bill died 33 years ago but she still helps her son round up cattle and lives relatively independently.

"I like to get outside and keep active as much as I can. I have always been a farm girl," Mrs Doolan said.

Apart from declining hearing and sight, she is in good health.

Even a fall in the cattle yards couldn't keep her down and she made speedy recovery despite fracturing her hip.

Mrs Marshall, who lives in Daylesford, said leading an uncomplicated life was part of the reason she was still fit.

"You have to accept what you're given in life and just get on with it. But I've had plenty of family support to help me along the way," Mrs Marshall said.

Family is also a factor according to Mrs Marshall. She has three children, eight grandchildren, and 21 great grandchildren.

Her husband John died 20 years ago.

"If I can just get a baby in my hands I'm happy," she said.

Mrs Marshall spent her working life at Daylesford Woolen Mills.

She recalled times when Daylesford's milk lady rattled past her house at 4.30am every morning.

She said mind-boggling changes in technology had stood out the most in her memory of the past 90 years.

"Who knows where technology will take us in the next 20 years," Mr Marshall said.

"Maybe there won't even be a need for school teachers in a few years."

Both women said, if given the choice, they'd rather be born in the 1920s than the current decade.

"There was more time for family then. We didn't have a wireless when I grew up and we certainly didn't have a television so we made our own fun with our brothers and sisters," Mr Marshall said.