John Gale (journalist) - Life

Life

Gale was born in Bodmin, Cornwall, United Kingdom, in 1831 and educated at Monmouth Grammar School. He was apprenticed to the printing trade in 1846 and whilst learning this trade also completed his training to be a missionary. John Gale arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 1854 as a Methodist missionary (probationary minister). He covered a wide missionary circuit, which included the town (now city) of Queanbeyan in southern New South Wales (NSW).

In conformity with a condition imposed on all missionaries, Gale was expected to remain single during the term of his mission because the cost of paying for the upkeep of a home and a stipend to support a family was more than the church could afford. Gale was never ordained as a minister, however. Hr chose instead to marry Loanna Wheatley in January 1897 at Waggalallah, NSW, which was located a few miles out of Gunning. Loanna was the daughter of an ordained Methodist cleric, the Reverend John Weatley, who was responsible for overseeing Gale's mission.

With the arrival of Annie Mercy, the first of Loanna and John Gale's 11 children, John Gale re-thought his future. Money was needed to provide food and shelter for his family and in order to start a business, and he would need capital to pay for office equipment and the leasehold of commercial premises. Fortunately, Gale's background in journalism and religious instruction provided him with the skills to teach and he soon acquired a paid position. Gale also wrote to his elder brother, Peter Francis, a photographer living in England, and asked if he would emigrate to Australia. He requested also that his brother bring with him a printing press and assist in the starting of a newspaper business in Queanbeyan. Peter Francis and his family obliged, and accompanied by the said printing press, sailed for Sydney, where they were met by Gale and his family. The brothers and their families then travelled to Queanbeyan where, on 15 September 1860, they produced their first newspaper. This publication was initially called The Golden Age after the gold deposits that had been discovered locally, but within four years the gold was gone and in 1864 the paper's name was changed to The Queanbeyan Age.