John Gale (journalist)

He was also an advocate for the Queanbeyan-Canberra area as the best site of a future Australian national capital, for which he is sometimes called the "Father of Canberra" (although that epithet is also applied to Sir Austin Chapman).

However, within a year he was moved to the Gunning section where he covered a wide area 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.

Sunday preaching at Gunning, Jerrawa and Yass, Monday at Parkwood, Tuesday at Queanbeyan, Wednesday at Gundaroo, Thursday at Collector, thence home via Waggalallah on Friday, with Saturday left for preparation for another week's work.

Despite leaving the formal ministry, Gale continued to act as a lay preacher on a voluntary basis for most of his life, serving either the Methodist or Presbyterian Churches in the district.

Fortunately, Gale's background in journalism and religious instruction provided him with the skills to teach and he soon acquired a paid position as a tutor with the Caldwell family at Moonbucca.

Gale later recorded in his newspapers and on page 5 of his valuable book Canberra History & Legends that on Christmas Day 1855, he was riding his horse across the Limestone Plains to Kurrajong Hill (now called Capital Hill where the new Parliament House is built) when he had a "prophetic inspiration": "... with the mountains to the south and to the east and the shimmer from the river, the scene invoked a mental, if not a vocal, exclamation: "What a magnificent site for one of Australia's future cities!"

On 11 June 1900, Gale (with 11 other local men) gave evidence to an NSW Royal Commissioner, Mr Alexander Oliver, proposing that Queanbeyan-Canberra be the site for the Federal Capital City.

[citation needed] On 10 July 1907, Sir John Forrest, former Western Australian Premier, tabled his Report: "An Unique Site for the Federal City", as a formal minute in the House of Representatives in Melbourne.

In 1907, former Australian prime ministers George Reid and J.C. Watson spoke strongly in favor of Canberra's claims to be the National Capital in speeches to the Commonwealth Parliament.

[5] A bronze statue of John Gale, titled "The Father of Canberra", is installed on the corner of Monaro and Lowe streets and Farrer Place, near Queanbeyan Courthouse.