In our “A Drink with Jeff” series, Campbelltown Catholic Club community liaison Jeff McGill has been catching up with a diverse selection of club identities. This time, he caught up with our reigning Club President.
The McDonald family might be called Campbelltown Catholic Club royalty . . .but David McDonald certainly doesn’t act like it.
In fact, our Chairman of the Board seems more at ease with his sleeves rolled up at a school working bee, than he does at some glittering formal function.
David’s dad and uncle—the late Bruce and Ron McDonald—were founding fathers of The Catho back in the 1960s (members No 3 and 4) . . . that’s why we mean by royalty.
But David wasn’t “crowned”, as such. His own journey with The Catho started picking up glasses and cleaning ashtrays. So, after interviewing so many other Catho members over the past few years, I decided to invite our “El Presidente” as my latest Drink With Jeff interview.
He needed a little coaxing, David is notoriously modest, but he agreed on the condition we met at the Bowlo!
Campbelltown Bowling Club, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday, is now part of the Catholic Club family, with a major renovation now complete. These transformations are physical and internal, but also emotional for members who are thankful to have their club back from the brink.
As I arrived in the morning it was drizzling rain, but the new decor looked great and I got some smiles from regulars in the bar. David arrived and shook my hand.
“We’re really happy with the renovation,” he said, “It’s just a shame there’s not more people here.” The place was a bit empty, but we both agreed it was still early.
“Bowling clubs everywhere are struggling,” David admitted. “I don’t think The Catholic Club will ever make any money out of this place, but we felt it was important to save. The Bowling Club is Campbelltown’s oldest surviving club, an important community asset, and we felt it was important to save. As more high-rise blocks come to the main street, I’m sure this club will benefit from all that potential patronage.”
A giant jug of iced water with lemon slices arrives, thanks to staffer Gina. What made it even more welcoming was the fact she didn’t know that David was the boss until I told her. (David certainly wasn’t going to tell her).
We both sat back and admired the view out the big glass windows to the greens looming below. We pondered the history. The ‘Bowlo’ was born in the jazz age of 1920s, and I love that famous old shot of ladies in high heels — a strict no-no on most greens.
I noted the fact that one of the Bowling Club’s most adored characters was Bill ‘Champ’ Vardy, whose daughter, Christine, was one of the first waitresses at The Catho in 1968 and a much loved staffer for decades! More than that, Joyce Vardy, Christine’s mum, spent years at Campbelltown Council as secretary to the Town Clerk — who just happened to be David’s father, Bruce McDonald!
“Yes, the McDonalds and Vardys were close friends,” he smiled.
David noted he shared the same birthday as the Catholic Club — December 5 — but he’s seven years older. “I was born in 1961 and the Club opened in 1968.”
The former St Gregory’s College student also attended St John’s Primary School, the birthplace of The Catho. It was at a working bee at the school in 1964 that the idea for a Catholic Club was first hatched.
St John’s needed more classrooms but money was scarce so Father Tom Grant begged his parishioners for help. Four brick classrooms were duly erected as volunteer parents worked up a sweat, guided by skilled tradesmen. After one hot day’s work, some of these parents grabbed a cold ale down the road at The Club Hotel. Among them was Bill Meehan and brothers Bruce and Ron McDonald who looked down at the beers they had just paid a publican for. It wasn’t long before the idea of a licensed club for Catholics was imagined, using its profits to help fund local Catholic schools.
The rest is history. In fact, the first “official” meeting of the new club was held in 1965 in David’s family’s loungeroom in Lithgow Street. When the club opened three years later, it became a backdrop to his youth, David fondly remembering the original auditorium, and the McGoldrick Room restaurant that opened in 1978.
“I remember being down at the Club with Uncle Ron on weekends — counting bottles of lemonade in the cellar, doing the stocktake, etcetera, back in the days when directors had to be a bit more hands-on.”
His father, Bruce, actually chose the site for the Club: then a patch of trees and grass outside of the town next to a golf course, but now in the throbbing heart of Campbelltown life. Well picked. David remembered his Town Clerk father as a busy man who was barely at home. “I didn’t see a lot of him, and back in those days board meetings at the Catholic Club would go to 11 or 12 at night. . . yes, we’re a bit more efficient these days [laughs]. But despite the fact that Dad was always out, we had a pretty good relationship. I don’t know how he managed all his civic and club duties while raising six kids.”
A true hero of that story was David’s late mum, Delore — without the staunch back-up of the wives, there simply wouldn’t be a club. Delore was also one of the original Club members: number 116.
It is hard to get David to talk about himself, so before our chat I asked his sister, Leisel, to send me a few words. She wrote:
“Out of the six of us kids he is by far the quietest achiever, never talks himself up and he is an incredibly hard worker. David is a family man through-and-through and he has a wonderful relationship with his wife, Louise, and three children, Lauren, Daniel and Lachlan (with Lauren and Daniel having worked at the Catholic Club). He makes a mean pavlova and is not one to pick up the phone and call you, but if you call him he’s always happy to chat and catch up. David is so easy going and I don’t think anyone would have a bad word to say about him.”
Leisel also sent me a photo of David and his sons, Daniel and Lachlan, cycling together in Europe. If he didn’t see a lot of his own dad growing up, David has built a different dynamic with his kids. Leisel added her brother has also walked the Kokoda Track and, as an avid cyclist, rode up the soaring Dolomites in Italy — a gradient 19-23 per cent ascent.
So, that saved me having to extract, like a wisdom tooth, boasting points from David.
I mentioned to our Board Chairman that his Uncle Ron McDonald would send me a weekly critique—good and bad— of my columns when I was a local newspaper editor. I only realised how much I treasured that thoughtful feedback after his death when they suddenly stopped coming.
“He did the same with me when I first got elected to the Board,” David smiled. “The Club’s annual report would have just come out, and I’d get all these pages of notes from Uncle Ron, drilling me in how or what needed to be done. All very helpful.”
David pointed out the window of the Bowling Club to Browne Street, opposite, and told me that was the first local address of the McDonalds. “When Dad moved to Campbelltown in the 1950s, he lived over there. His parents had moved them down from Condobolin, because they wanted to give their kids more opportunities. My grandfather had a taxi business, with a petrol bowser out the front of their house. Dad went to work originally at LJ Hooker, but then did town clerk’s course, and went to work at Campbelltown Council.” Bruce was mentored by Harley Daley, the namesake of Campbelltown Library, and eventually replaced him as Town Clerk in 1971.
David’s own career with the Catholic Club began in 1979 when he finished the HSC at St Gregory’s College and went to Wollongong University to study accountancy. “Working at The Catho funded my time through uni….I stayed until I finished my degree in 1983.”
He recalled, most fondly, his shifts at the old outdoor barbecue and pool area, which once stood alongside the club (now the site of busy Kellicar Road). “That was a good little shift, making me a lot of good friends and going to work wasn’t a chore.
“The benefit to me today, being on the board, is that I know how the cellars work, I know the bars, I know the stocktaking…you get a good feel for the club. The only side of the bar work I didn’t do in my youth was the dining room . . .obviously I wasn’t sophisticated enough,” he laughed. “Maybe I couldn’t make a Brandy Alexander or Fluffy Duck or something, but that is the one section of the Club I never did.”
After graduation, David headed overseas for three years. “Just bumming around, seeing the world, having a good time and working whatever job I could. England, Sweden, Egypt and Israel. In Israel, I was working in orchards and would have to get young labourers in the picking season, so I used to go down to the docks to hire backpackers straight off the boat; I’d listen for Australian accents.”
“On my return home, I didn’t know what to do, I had no money, so I went back to the Catholic Club as a barman.” His old workmate, Bill Benson, was by then a senior manager, and he met a young worker called Graeme Derrig (now the club’s long-serving marketing manager). David eventually found accounting work with Ernst & Young, then joined a plastic manufacturing firm in Minto. He’s now running his own plastics extrusions business in the Southern Highlands — Cromford Pipe — with wife Louise and son Lachlan.
He met his wife playing footy with Collegians (her brothers were teammates) and marriage and kids followed.
Lauren, Daniel and Lachlan attended three different high schools — St Pats, Mt Carmel and St Gregs — but all three went to St Thomas More Primary. His youngest son and my youngest son were in the same grade. “I should point out St Thomas More was a good breeding ground of directors of the Catholic Club,” laughed David. “My kids, Alan Scott’s kids, Steve Carter’s kids, Trevor Seymour’s kids….”.
“Most of us come from that link — P&F, working bees, and so on.” Which is why the Catholic Club delights in giving millions of dollars to local schools.
David, however, does not see himself growing into an old man as Chairman. He thinks it’s a healthy thing for boards to constantly “re-energise” and bring on fresh blood.
David even notes his own daughter, Lauren, has voiced an interest in one day standing for election to the Board. That would create another milestone — a third generation of McDonalds on the board. But David insists the surname is irrelevant. It’s all about passion, skills, and commitment to not just the Club, but the community.
At this point, we both went to the bar and ordered some hot drinks — and David also took a shine to the caramel slices on display. A beaming Gina, who said she has been at the Bowlo for 16 years and told us how much she loved her new-look workplace. “It’s like a breath of fresh air,” she said.
Back at our seats, I asked the Chairman of the Board what he is particularly proud of with today’s Catholic Club.
“Well, places like this [the Bowling Club] and Golf Club make us proud. Places that were once in trouble, but now reborn and part of our wider club family. The Board is also mindful of public attitudes towards pokies and we’ve made it a strategy to minimise our reliance on gaming by creating other revenue streams, from a luxury hotel [Rydges] that is going gangbusters, to our entertainment centre [The Cube] and leisure and fitness centre {Aquafit], and so on. And what about all the food choices — personally, I love Kyūbi, and the Dove & Shears is also a good feed.”
What could the Club be doing better?
“I think we have to reach out into certain parts of the community more, to make them a bit more aware of us. Other cultures and backgrounds, I mean, inviting them in and to get involved.” It might be a Catholic Club by name, but most members are actually non-Catholics, and David insists it is a community-wide asset.
David also spoke of how important it was for The Catho to work closely with other clubs.
He pointed out , re the Board Directors of Wests Campbelltown, that he once worked at The Catho with Marty Bullock, and Paul Lake and Steve Noyce come from that same St Thomas More School heritage as parents. And, David added, if you go to the sports bar at Wests you’ll notice it’s called “Macca’s bar” — in memory of his late uncle, John McDonald, a fondly-remembered Wests identity. “We’re competitors, but we also come together for a common cause: our community.”
As we prepared to wrap up our chat, I asked David whether he gets a warm feeling about his family heritage whenever he walks into The Catho.
“Not really,” he replied. “I’m proud to continue the family heritage, but I’m just a temporary custodian of a wider tradition. What does make me proud is how great the Club itself looks. I do love walking into our Club for that reason: the gardens, also Koshigaya Park opposite and the art gallery, the whole precinct looks great.”
As we leave the Bowling Club, we note that many of the seats around us have filled up with people, as the lunch crowd roll in. The place was buzzing — which made David smile. Long may it continue.
