Hamish McDonald had a traumatic childhood. But amid the chaos caused by his mother’s drug and alcohol addictions, there were two shining lights; his grandmother’s love, and the safe arms of the police officers that so often knocked on his door.
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"Whenever they came around, they would extinguish the fighting," he said. "They were the heroes that would take me to my grandmother’s. I felt safe with them."
Mr McDonald didn’t have a great time at school. He was, in his own words, an angry teenager. He quit before he should have, and regrets it.
But the birth of his son Lachlan three years ago sparked new ambition — the desire to be a breadwinner for his family and role model for his son.
And he could think of nothing more inspiring than to become a police officer himself.
So, at the age of 25, Mr McDonald swallowed his pride and went back to school. Later this year he will sit his HSC exams in a bid to qualify for a bachelor of policing at Charles Sturt University.
"[Lachlan] has changed my outlook on life," said Mr McDonald. "He inspired me to keep going."
It has not been easy. His daughter, Olivia, was born a month before Mr McDonald’s first term began at Five Islands Secondary College in Port Kembla. For 18 months he has been juggling study with the intense demands of parenting a baby and a toddler.
"It was hard for me, leaving my partner there to deal with that," he said. "She is the hero when it comes to that area – she is fantastic, so supportive. I use the most amount of time I can to support her."
Mr McDonald’s wife, Teygan, is studying too, so their household runs to a strict routine; by 7.30pm the kids are in bed, and the studying begins. His subjects include general English and general maths, legal studies, visual arts, chemistry and biology.
He admits to a few nerves when he went back to school. "I wasn’t nervous in the sense of being around people and learning again, it was more that I was a 25-year-old male going back to school.
"It’s not something you hear of often. But it’s what people should do if they want to change their life — they should do everything possible, no matter what their feelings are."
Mr McDonald knows things could have gone differently if he hadn’t had his grandma, or if he had been more like the other kids in his neighbourhood.
"All the kids there were in the same situation as I was in, and all of them were like, ‘F the police’. But not me. I always saw them as putting their lives in danger to help people."
Mr McDonald knows exactly what kind of police officer he wants to be. "Not in a police car with people thinking, ‘I don’t want to get pulled over’. I want to help people as much as I can."
His grandmother is watching his achievements proudly.
"She is a wonderful, wonderful lady."
