76-year-old Gerry Moore graduates with law degree the same day as his granddaughter

At 76 years old, an Irishman once shot in The Troubles has graduated with a law degree, but it wasn’t a straightforward journey to get there.

Gerry Moore graduated from a UniSA law degree at 76-years-old. The same day as his granddaughter. Picture: Tom Huntley

After being shot and then seconds later seeing the first man killed in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, completing a law degree at the age of 76 has caused no stress for Gerry Moore.

A father to four children and grandfather to 12, Mr Moore graduated with a law degree at UniSA on Tuesday as his 23-year-old granddaughter Maeve attained her teaching degree.

Mr Moore said he enjoyed “discussing assignments” with Maeve while they were studying at the same university.

“We’ve joked about finishing at the same time 50 years (in age) apart,” he said.

“One of the other reasons that I did the law degree was to inspire my grandchildren that everything’s possible.”

But after leaving school at age 15 in Northern Ireland and witnessing violence during The Troubles in the late 1960s, his journey to tertiary education has not been straightforward.

He recalled the day in 1969 he was shot in the town of Armagh, about 60 kilometres from Belfast.

Gerry Moore in Northern Ireland in 1971. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Moore was taking part in a civil rights march, when “three or four cars drove up”.

“We called them the B-Specials, they were an auxiliary police force,” he said.

“A number of these B-Special guys got out and from across the road shot into the crowd.

“I was sort of running, trying to get out of the way and I got shot in the leg and went down.

“Immediately the crowd just dispersed and it was dead quiet.”

Mr Moore said he then saw John Gallagher “lying on the road dead”.

Mr Gallagher is considered to be the first death of The Troubles in Armagh, which lasted until the 1990s.

“After that the ambulance came along, they picked up me and this guy who was shot dead and took us to the hospital,” Mr Moore said.

“I’ve never feared anything in my life since that.”

Mr Moore was 24-years-old when he fled Northern Ireland for South Australia in 1971.

For most of Mr Moore’s working life he was an electrician and when he retired at 65, it was only “two or three years” before he “needed to do something else”.

“Rather than play a lot of golf, I felt the need to be doing something better,” he said.

Mr Moore signed up for his university degree in 2016 and since “loved every minute” of his part time study.

Gerry Moore graduated from a UniSA law degree at 76-years-old, pictured with wife Bernadette. Picture: Tom Huntley

“I found it really enriching to be involved in discussions,” he said.

“When they would be discussing historical events and things, I was around for a lot of it.

“The dismissal (of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam) back in 1975, I was able to say ‘well, I remember very well when that happened’.”

Mr Moore said while he doesn’t “fancy embarking on full time employment” as a lawyer with his degree, it will help him with his volunteer work with the Australian Refugee Association in Salisbury.

His advice to young people came in the form of a CS Lewis quote: “you’re never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”.