FORMER Deer Park Primary School principal George Murdoch, who has made the Australia Day honours list, recalls children’s hair having to be tested for lead content.
The Altona Meadows resident, who was also principal at Mackellar Primary School in Delahey, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to education in isolated communities.
As a local teacher, Mr Murdoch said there were some “absolutely gorgeous people” amid disadvantage in the Deer Park community.
“In those days there were no other support services in the place so, I mean, I became the support service.
“So while you accept that they’ve got disadvantages, your role is to try and help these people who are in trouble, and we did.
“Mind you, the school’s not even there any more; it’s been pulled down. I was arguing for it to be pulled down when I was there for other reasons.
“I mean, having a school at the intersection of Kings Road and Ballarat Road is real crazy. They were running lead tests in kids’ hair because of all the traffic that was going past.”
Mr Murdoch decided to “give it away” when former premier Jeff Kennett came to power and “started offering the brass handshake”.
Mr Murdoch and his wife Loris bought a four-wheel-drive and decided to camp their way around Australia.
The pair spent most of the next decade in the Northern Territory, working with Volunteers for Isolated Students’ Education and training children to be jackaroos and jillaroos.
Mr Murdoch later became co-ordinator of the Internet for the Outback program and helped connect 1500 families in remote Australia to the internet.
The Australia Day honour also recognises his work co-ordinating the construction of a business training facility at Copley Aboriginal settlement in South Australia, and as a volunteer tutor with Northern Territory Rural College.
He was “dumbstruck” at making the Australia Day honours list, but said the honour should be shared with his wife.
“I get the reward here because it’s my name, but you don’t do these things on your own — there’s two of us doing it,” Mr Murdoch said.
“I’ve retired from paid employment, but that retirement has led to satisfaction which you never get in paid employment.”
