Indigo Interview: A rewarding teaching career

Mark Nesbitt was born in Wangaratta and lived the first 17 years of his life in Chiltern. He returned to the area in 1991 and has lived in Rutherglen since then. “In this time my wife and I have raised our two children who we are immensely proud of,” Mark said. What do you do workwise? I’m a retired mathematics and chemistry school teacher. I started teaching at the beginning of 1980 and retired at the end of 2022. What brought you to your role/career? It was during my year 12 that I decided I could do a better job of teaching maths than my teacher. I applied for a teaching course at Melbourne University. It also meant that I could leave the dairy farm being sick of the 24 /7 regime. What did you love about your work? I really loved teaching and working with students to help them improve their knowledge of maths as well as assist them to reach their goals. I greatly enjoyed my time as the senior school coordinator at Rutherglen High School. Although I can’t say I always achieved success with every student I constantly did my best. I really enjoy chatting to ex-students and talking about their life stories. What do you do in the community? I have been in the Rutherglen SES for approximately the past 25 years. I joined the SES as a way of giving back to the community in which my family and I live. Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing? There are a number of issues. These include the state of our roads (especially the Murray Valley Highway), diverting large trucks out of the Main Street of Rutherglen as well as giving the youth of Rutherglen something to be involved in other than just sport. What would you do to solve change, improve that situation? If we are going to improve the state of our roads, we need a state government willing to put the necessary funding into fixing them and not just pay lip service to the problem without outlaying the essential funds. To fix the problem of having large trucks in Rutherglen’s Main Street we need the council to bite the bullet and make some tough decisions on an alternative route which I know won’t please everyone. Whilst I enjoy watching sport and having been involved in sport, I realise that this is not everyone’s favourite pastime. Whilst I don’t have any great remedies for our youth I feel they need access to groups that are not sport orientated. What do you see as one of the most important current world issues? I feel that the energy crisis is one of the most important world issues at present. The price and availability of energy is a large factor in the rising cost of living which is affecting more people than what we realise. Unfortunately, our current energy sources are not only expensive but are also contributing to global warming. If the person you would most like to meet came to Indigo Shire (past or present), or was already here, who would that be, what would you show them, and why? I would have loved to talk to Nelson Mandela and hear about his life and experiences. I would have shown him my father’s farm as well as my grandfather’s farm and have him compare how living on these farms was different to his upbringing. I would have really liked to listen to his experiences and wisdom and just ask him question after question. What book are you reading? The latest Jack Reacher book titled ‘Chain Reaction’.

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