UNVEILING a space in memory of an admired teacher, will benefit generations to come at St Paul's Catholic College, Booragul.
Paul Burke was a foundational staff member and PDHPE teacher for 37 years, and on Tuesday, October 22, the school community gathered to honour his legacy with a new outdoor learning space, funded by the Catholic Schools Office and Diocese.
Paul died in October 2021, aged 60, after a long illness with melanoma. He was a champion bloke, a good rugby man and an accomplished cricketer.
He's the son of Wallabies great Cyril Burke, and carved out successful careers on the rugby park with The Waratahs and cricket field for Waratah-Mayfield. He also coached rugby at Lake Macquarie.
His wife Sue, daughters Melissa and Kristen and brothers Bruce and Ross were emotional as they heard stories of the impact he had made on the school and broader community.
"It's lovely to hear all these people say nice things about him. We knew [the type of person he was] but you don't know how other people interpret a person," she said.
"It's just really nice to see the impact he had on others."
Kristen said she was proud to see her dad recognised, even though he "would've hated the attention".
"He would've hated all of the attention but he deserves it," she said.
The new space is on the edge of the college oval, and will be used by the PDHPE staff in honour of their former colleague.
St Paul's principal Nicholas Wickham said the idea behind the space was that teachers would demonstrate concepts or skills to students before putting them into practice.
"Students will gather in the tiered seating and there's a central space with artificial grass for teachers to demonstrate," he said.
Mrs Burke played a critical role in the design of the space advocating for shade to be installed over the area, Mr Wickham said.
"Paul passed away from melanoma so of course we've got to have coverage over that," he said.
Mr Wickham thanked the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools Office and Diocese for funding an important piece of St Paul's history.
"It's important that we recognise the contribution of people like Paul Burke," he said.
