Marjo Hallowell has been writing as long as she can remember. She is an avid reader and as a child she had pen pals in Japan, Yemen, France, Germany, PNG and Morocco and would correspond with then regularly.  As a teenager she had progressed to writing newsletters for the clubs she was in.

At chance meeting on the street in the 1990s she was asked –“Do you want my job?” That was the start of her career as a journalist. It started as a mere three days a fortnight on the local weekly Picton News and culminated in working on a daily – The Press and Journal in the Highlands of Scotland (2009/10) followed by being the editor of the Arafura Times in East Arnhem land( 2011/12).

Recording what was happening around her, it made sense that she would decide to write the first comprehensive history of the town which she has called home for the last 40 odd years, Bargo.

Bargo – Two Hundred Years in the Making, was launched in November (2022) and is the culmination of years of collecting press cutting (some of which she wrote herself), researching through books and being involved in the local Picton & District Historical and Family History Society. It was at the encouragement of the Society that she took up the baton and set out to complete her work in conjunction with the first land grants two hundred years ago. This amazing history of Bargo is available by emailing the Author for $49.

She has been a member of the National Trust and Historic Scotland for over 15 years and is also a keen photographer, holding annual solo or joint exhibitions between 2000 and 2016. Marjo was the founding president of the Southern Highlands Photographic Society in 2004. All profits from the book will co back into the community and she has been seeking sponsors to cover costs.

Marjo is no stranger to helping others. She has shaved her hair three times raising almost $20,000 in the process. She and her young grandsons have been completing the Great Cycle Challenge every year since 2017 and raised $25,000 in total for the CMRI so far. This is an ongoing challenge for their team kids4kids.

In 2022 Marjo was recognised as the Wollondilly Citizen of the Year and in 2020 she was the inaugural Wollondilly Women in Excellence Award winner of the Patron Award and Woman of the Year.

She recently won the Westwords Living Stories writing prize for Things Unsaid in the Wollondilly Region 18+ section.

I just needed a break from the book and spotted the competition and thought “why not enter?” so I did and was delighted to have been announced the winner. There are a number of projects on the backburner for after the Bargo Book has been completed.