We lost a great man this week. A consummate newsman. A family man. A mentor. A friend.
Terry Gallaway didn’t waste one moment of his 85-year-long life. He never stopped chasing the story, he never ceased to be curious, and his capacity for generosity went well beyond what most of us mere mortals are capable of.
Tez was a journalist for the best part of 70 years. He started (officially) as an apprentice at the Townsville Daily Bulletin when he was just 15 years old.
He later became a police reporter for Channel 7, 2GB, and 2UE in a legendary era when crime reporters like him were the absolute rock stars of the industry. Few had the street smarts or could handle the relentlessness and inherent risk that came part and parcel.
Terry Gallaway on the beat back in the day.
For 23 years, 6 months, and 12 days, we were lucky enough to have him at Sky News Australia. He was the DNA of the channel, and in no way is it an overstatement to say that he was pivotal to our early and ongoing success.
He had an instinct for a yarn and a talent for great Australian storytelling. I’d say it was a God-given gift, but that wouldn’t pay due homage to the hard work and dedication brought to the office every day.
Tezza never saw success as an individual pursuit. He was the ultimate team player, a mentor— to such effect that many of us owe our careers to his tutelage. He was subtle, funny, kind, encouraging, and relentless, but most of all, he made you fall in love with stories and the telling of them.
In 2022, TRG was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his commitment to media.
He was so proud. He didn’t do it for the accolades, though. He’d been writing a memoir in recent months and even embraced the new media of podcasts. That velvety voice as commanding as ever.
Last year, he filed a feature-length piece for the Western Weekender ending on a story he’d first covered 35 years ago: the rape and murder of 4-year-old Lauren Hickson. It haunted him.
Terry loved life. He loved being a newsman but he loved his family the most, his children and his grandchildren. He knew what was important. I’ll never forget the way he spoke to and about his wife, Coral. Theirs is a great love story. He called her The Bride, as if the matrimonial title was never deserve to anyone else. Coral was the love of his life, he told me so on many occasions.
I am going to miss his harping on about the Broncos, the texts about spelling mistakes and tautological script writing in my show and the phone calls if I dared to wear my hair up.
Laura and her children celebrate Terry’s OAM.
Most of all I’m going to miss his friendship. They don’t make them like him anymore. A beautiful man with an enormous capacity to love.
We loved you right back Tez. Vale.
All images courtesy of Laura Jayes