Mrs Robyn MacCulloch

A teacher for 55 years and counting, Robyn MacCulloch began her career as a tutor in the History Department at the University of New England. After marrying, she and her husband moved to Sydney, where she taught at Canley Vale High School, Castle Hill High School and Parramatta Marist Brothers, welcoming four children along the way. When the family moved to Bendigo in 1988, Robyn commenced a teaching position at Girton College. 

Having settled into the school community, Robyn distinctly remembers the feeling of shock she experienced one evening in August 1992, when she and her colleagues were told the school would be closing at the end of the year. But the key memory etched in her mind is the reaction of the students. In the days that followed, classes became a haven for distraught pupils, filled with questions about their schooling futures. Seeing the banners the students had created asking that their school be saved, Robyn felt compelled to respond to their call.

The obvious challenges the fledgling school faced were the lack of resources and the sad state of the infrastructure at the MacKenzie Street campus, with broken bathroom tiles, missing floorboards, and even a bullet hole in one of the science rooms. But, more importantly, a great deal of trust had to be restored within the members of the Girton community who had put their faith in the new school. Robyn recalls the immense responsibility of maintaining high educational standards and student welfare despite the challenging new circumstances. However, the pressure gave way to an enormous sense of pride when she attended the very first assembly at the beginning of the 1993 school year, where the powerful addresses delivered by Headmaster Clayton Jones and Chairman John Higgs established the vision and values that continue to guide the school today.

Reflecting on the school’s fraught beginnings, Robyn feels privileged to have had the opportunity to be involved in a high-stakes struggle in which she passionately believed. Through the experience, she learnt a great deal about overcoming obstacles and staying true to purpose despite the seeming impossibility of the tasks ahead. Robyn “attempted” to retire in 2019 but her great love of teaching never wavered, and to her delight she has continued to teach at Girton over the past three years, first in various replacement roles and now with her own Year 10 and 12 classes. Outside the classroom, she enjoys spending time with her family, including seven grandchildren, and indulging her passions for reading and quirky detective TV series.