Pride of Australia medal nominee Peter Gallaway a handy man to have around water

PETER Gallaway is the sort of neighbour you need if you are anywhere near the water and last week was another case in point.

PETER Gallaway is the sort of neighbour you need if you are anywhere near the water.

His friends at Berowra Waters - where many properties can only be accessed by water - reckon he needs to get a siren on his old motorboat, such is the number of times he has jumped in it to help others.

Last Tuesday was typical.

Mr Gallaway spent the day in his boat, rescuing three Berowra Waters locals, including a heart-attack victim and a woman in labour.

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At 7am, he carried an 89-year-old man called Harry to his wife Jan's truck. "He was in a bad way," Mr Gallaway said.

"This was 7am, so it was cold and he was just red hot. We brought him up to the truck and off he went to hospital. Then I got this phone call from this fellow Peter Adams who lives round the corner.

"He's at work in town and he says, 'Celine's in labour, she's there by herself. Can you help her?' "

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Mr Gallaway raced over in his boat and organised for another boat to come to the rescue.

A local builder, his selfless volunteer acts have seen him nominated for a Pride of Australia medal in the Community Spirit category.

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But he is modest.

"It's just what you do," he said. "It's part of living in a small community."

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