The Road Autumn 2021

First staff picture with both Gerard and Barry Macklin, 1996
THEN AND NOW
GERARD MACKLIN
Hi, my name is Gerard Macklin and I’ve been asked to reminisce.
That is a scary thought in itself because it truly means that you are
“old enough” to reminisce. Some days I feel I’m not that old but then
on others … “well in my day, let me tell you!”
This rambling will go back and forth, making connections from
my beginnings to now. As a child, I went to school at St Michael’s
Bungaree. At the time, the school had Mercy nuns, I think the last
was Sr Christina. My connection then moved to St Paul’s. I was a
proud St Paul’s boy in the early 1980s. In the four years at St Paul’s,
the person I stood next to in every class photo was none other than
Andrew Seeary. The connection from St Paul’s to Damascus goes
back a long way.
What made me become a teacher? This is an interesting question
because I never actively wanted to be a teacher. I believe I fell into
the profession. When I look back, I think I was destined to teach.
My father had taken up teaching in his early forties when I was at
St Paul’s, my brother went to Aquinas followed by two of my best
mates, another went to what is now Fed Uni to do teaching. And
finally, my sister. I think teaching was inevitable.
My first teaching position – Catholic College Bendigo (now
McAuley College). Yes, you guessed it, a Mercy co-education
secondary college. My first Principal was Sr Sylvia Williams. This
was very interesting because when Damascus College gave me the
opportunity to go to Dublin for the Mercy Connect Program, the first
person I saw when I walked into the Mercy Centre in Baggot Street
Dublin was Sr Silvia. A beautiful then and now moment.
I moved back to Ballarat in 1995 and joined Damascus College in
Victoria Street. For the first time in my life, I worked with my father,
Barry Macklin. It was great working with my dad. We could discuss
all manner of things, good, bad and indifferent. It was at this stage I
realised the privilege that tradies had working with their parents.
Class sizes in Bendigo were 32 but when I arrived at the “Vic St”
Campus, class sizes were around the 26 mark. Having four to
six less students in a class may not seem like much; however, it is
significant when it comes to talking to each of your students in the
class. I remember teaching, especially in the Building 9 portables
and the old corner block Building 4. Building 4 still exists now, if you
go past it still stands because of a heritage overlay. Building 4 was
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