Matt Hewson
One of the region’s master craftsmen has been honoured with the inaugural Jennifer Bantow Local Heritage Award for years of work restoring heritage buildings around Geelong.
Tuck-pointer Nat De-Palma, 68, received the award at the Geelong Heritage Awards last Wednesday night for his work over a career spanning the better part of four decades
Something of an obscure craft these days, tuck-pointing is a method using two colours of mortar in brickwork to give the appearance of very fine joins.
Mr De-Palma became a touring drummer with successful bands while still a teenager, and while his father was happy for him to pursue music he was also adamant his son learn a trade.
He turned his hand to bricklaying in between tours and soon discovered a passion for the heritage buildings around Geelong, many of which were at risk without people with the right skills to restore them.
“They were all getting pulled down, all these beautiful buildings, I just couldn’t work out why,” Mr De-Palma said.
“One day a building inspector came on to the job to look at some concrete, before we pulled the concrete, I just asked him why all the buildings were being pulled down.
“He just said, Nat, they’re rotting, nobody knows how to fix them. I thought if that’s the only problem, I’ll fix that.”
Without much guidance, he sought out the techniques of tuck-pointing and set about dedicating himself to the craft.
Managing to find mentors along the way, Mr De-Palma got his first big job restoring the Geelong Station in 1987 and has never looked back.
“I’m traditional with my methods; I still make my mixes with my feet on a hessian bag, exactly as I was taught, and my recipes are nearly 200 years-old, strictly no cement,” he said.
“The thing I like most is passing on the skill to others, so that significant buildings can continue to be preserved for future generations.”
