But his two daughters hid a dark secret of an abusive father who stole their innocence and destroyed their childhood.

Yesterday, the father, now 64, was jailed for 11 years on 11 counts of incest. The Victorian County Court was told that from the time his daughters were young children in the early 1980s, until they were teenagers in 1995, their father subjected them to repeated sexual abuse.

He had sex with them and took pictures of their naked bodies.

The abuse occurred in the family home, at ski lodges, beach houses and in friends' homes.

All the while he masqueraded as a loving father, holding respectable jobs.

In 2006, the illusion was shattered when one daughter came forward and told police her story.

Her sister soon followed.

''Up until this point you must have considered you got away with your crimes,'' the County Court judge said.

Earlier this year, a jury in the same court found the man guilty of 17 sex charges, but many people, including his son and friends, still believed his guise, the court heard.

Before the judge entered court yesterday, the father smiled and laughed with friends who shook his hand and patted him on the shoulder.

''Obviously you were able to conceal from them the terrible secrets of the sexual abuse of your daughters,'' the judge said.

He described the abuse as ''utterly abhorrent'' and said the father should feel a great deal of shame.

The judge noted the father had expressed no remorse and intended to appeal against his conviction.

During his trial, the father argued the daughters were deluded and had maliciously brought the prosecution against him.

The judge said the daughters bravely waived their right to give evidence via video link and chose to face their father in court.

''[The daughters] were harbouring a dark and terrible secret that hung over their teenage years,'' the judge said.

''Instead of protecting your daughters, as you were obliged to do, you defiled them time and time again.'' After he had abused one of his daughters he told her, ''That was something which daddy is allowed to do''.

He had sex with the same child when she was home from school sick and they sat in bed watching the Barcelona Olympics.

He must serve eight years in prison before being eligible for parole.

The father will be a registered sexual offender for life.