BERRIMA is now home to acclaimed travel writer Frank Gallego who, in his retirement, is working on several book manuscripts including a novel, a biography and one on his pilgrimage to Compostela in Spain.
During his working years, 81-year-old Mr Gallego was privileged to launch the holiday and travel section at Sydney's Daily Telegraph in 1960, where he made a name for himself as a feature travel writer until his retirement in 1990.
He was personally hand-picked for the job by then Telegraph owner, Sir Frank Packer who decided to launch a travel section in his newspapers after buying a half share in World Travel Headquarters, which was then the largest travel agency in Australia.
It was a far cry from the then 31-year-old Mr Gallego's original career plan which was to be a missionary priest with the Jesuits. Mr Gallego, who grew up in Spain, had from the age of ten received a well-rounded education from the Jesuits including some training in writing and journalism.
After having some articles published in his small village it was almost ordained that one day the young man would come back to his love of writing and decide to pursue journalism.
In the mid-fifties while learning Chinese intensively with the Jesuits in the Far East with the aim of continuing their work in China, a young Mr Gallego began to have second thoughts about becoming a priest.
"By this time I was starting to wonder about my future, as from there I would be sent to do a course in theology. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to end up as a priest," explained Mr Gallego.
After leaving the Jesuits, Mr Gallego came to Australia and managed the office of an import export company in Darwin for a couple of years.
But it was not long that the exciting world of journalism became a more interesting option than the endless paperwork of the everyday office. Very soon, thanks to a good recommendation, Mr Gallego was appearing in front of the imposing desk of Sir Frank Packer.
"He said I suppose you should spend some time as a reporter and get to know who's who and so forth," said Mr Gallego.
Unfortunately for Mr Gallego, these were not the days of equal opportunity in the office. "I was the only foreign journalist in the newsroom," said Mr Gallego, and he soon found himself being treated differently to the other journalists and not being given enough work.
"I ran into Sir Frank in the corridor and he asked how things were going. I said: not too good, I'm not getting any jobs." Soon after, Mr Gallego was elevated to feature writer and then was given the demanding job of running the new travel section.
The sixties and seventies were boom times for the Australian economy and many people were now affluent enough to consider overseas travel. It was Mr Gallego's job to find and write about the new destinations and resorts that were springing up locally and abroad.
Mr Gallego soon became the envy of his colleagues as he jetted off to holiday destinations overseas three or four times a year. But he soon learned that there was a heavy responsibility that also came with the lighter side of his glamorous job.
After writing a less than praising piece about an Australian family hotel in his column, Mr Gallego saw how powerful his printed word could be.
"A few months later, I got a letter signed by two men who had inherited the hotel from their father.
“All of their regular clients had cancelled their bookings after reading the article and they had decided to sell as they didn't have the money to update," Mr Gallego said.
"I felt awful about it, but it really opened my eyes to being fair to people. You were going to places that were not very well known, so you had to be very careful about what you wrote."
Mr Gallego became one of Australia's pioneering travel writers, flying on the new Concorde and helping to launch the success of resorts and destinations all over the world amongst other firsts in the world of travel. "When I first went to the Gold Coast there was nothing much there," said Mr Gallego, marvelling how far tourism had come in Australia in fifty years. "I was the first to write about a lot of places particularly in Australia, the South Pacific and Asia," he added.
As well as thousands of loyal Australia readers, Mr Gallego garnered a whole swag of tourism writing accolades. He was the first person to win the National Travel Writing Award. He has also won the Association of Australian National Tourist Organisations' Award for best articles in foreign countries and been given an award for distinguished service to the travel industry by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents. Mr Gallego was also the president of the Australian Society of Travel Writers for nine years.
Over the years, Mr Gallego's expertise in the travel industry has been called upon by many governments when he has been engaged as a consultant. He is also a very popular speaker at travel and other conferences.
In his retirement Mr Gallego is now considering giving private Spanish lessons. He is busily using his writing skills to best effect, working on several manuscripts including one he describes as a "fictional biography". A second book is a work of fiction and the third is a book about his experiences walking on the pilgrim trail to Compostela.
The last manuscript was accepted by a publisher in England, but Mr Gallego didn't go ahead as the publisher wanted to make too many changes to his work.
But for a hopeful author he doesn't seem too disheartened.
Relaxing in his comfortable home in Berrima with his wife Christiane De Bievre he seems more than happy to just keep chipping away at his books by spending a few hours each day at his desk.
"When you are retired you don't have to force yourself. You don't have to work to deadlines."
Email a friend