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GEORGE PALAO: Long-time support of Gibraltar's heritage
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OBITUARY: The Gibraltar Heritage Trust was saddened to hear of the passing away of George Palao, a long time supporter and keen promoter of Gibraltar’s heritage.
George Palao was born in Kensington, London, on the 4th October, 1940 after his parents were evacuated from Gibraltar with most of the civilian population during World War II.
After the war the family returned to Gibraltar and he studied at the Gibraltar Technical and Dockyard School. In 1958 he joined the Public Works Department Drawing Office. Some twelve years later he decided to further his studies and in 1970 enrolled on a two year course at the South East London Technical College where he attended the Department of Building and Structural Engineering.
Since 1965 he had been heavily involved in research into the Rock’s history, pre-history, geology and archaeology. This led him to discover and excavate a great deal of valuable material in the Gibraltar Caves. In the late 1950s and 1960s George Palao led the active Gibraltar Cave Research Group. Many of these finds are now in the Gibraltar Museum.
His profound interest in historical and archaeological matters saw him gain membership of the Royal Archaeological Institute and the Prehistoric Society of Britain. In 1976 his work in this area of research was publicly recognised and awarded the British Empire Medal (B.E.M.) in Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
George Palao wrote numerous articles and delivered countless lectures to societies, clubs and schools on Geology and Pre-history. He was also a keen diver and this saw him involved in a number of underwater excavations along Gibraltar’s shoreline.
Perhaps George Palao’s best known research work are his five books published between 1975 and 1985, entitled ‘The Guns and Towers of Gibraltar’;’ Gibraltar: Our Forgotten Past’; ‘Gibraltar: Our Heritage’; ‘Gibraltar: Genesis and Evolution’;’ Gibraltar: Tales of our Past’. All these books brought Gibraltar’s rich history and heritage to the attention of the general public as never before. His vision and his mission when writing these historical booklets, was ‘to increase the understanding and appreciation of Gibraltar’s vast historical assets by those who live on the Rock and visitors alike’. He can be justly proud that his books have more than achieved their aim.
As well as a researcher he was a gifted illustrator – his simple yet detailed line drawings of representations of events, people, costumes, warfare technologies, monuments and artefacts are to this day still used as a valued resource in a number of local schools. His graphical work includes numerous technical drawings of caves and historical sites in Gibraltar. Lesser known to the general public is his skill as a model maker, something he also excelled at. His illustrations were also commissioned for the book “The Rock of the Gibraltarians” authored by the late Sir William Jackson in 1987 and which is considered to be the most complete history of Gibraltar and her people.
George Palao leaves a rich legacy behind him that stands as a testament to his lifetime dedicated to research work on Gibraltar’s history and archaeology.
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