For David Nolte, Greg Ham was a humble, quiet and measured bloke who loved people and was always ready for a chat.
As the local Carlton pharmacist, Mr Nolte had known the Men at Work musician for 30 years, ever since the band's iconic tune Down Under blasted on to the airwaves.
Ham would pop into the Rathdowne Street pharmacy to chat about the previous night's gig, or ask for Mr Nolte's opinion about some new glasses.
So it was with a heavy heart he found himself calling triple zero after discovering Ham's body on Thursday.
Mr Nolte said a local had come into his pharmacy "very, very worried and upset" because he'd been unable to contact Ham for several days.
"He said: `I've got a friend in Canning Street, I've been trying to get in touch with him for two or three days. The cats are screaming, they haven't been fed'," Mr Nolte told AAP.
Mr Nolte said he went with the man to Ham's house and, when there was no answer at the door, the friend jumped a fence and went inside.
"We walked through the house and found him, very sadly," he said.
Mr Nolte said he had noticed a change in Ham after the copyright controversy over his flute riff in Down Under.
"He was depressed, I would say," he said.
"It's a sad thing, it really got to him.
"But I don't remember him just as a court case.
"He was a very humble man, a very quiet, measured bloke. He was an absolute gentleman."
