Fitzgerald was a significant figure in the founding of the National Press Club, serving as president for several years. As a journalist, he provided his services to numerous publications and programmes, in both print and radio journalism, including The Herald, The Age, The Bulletin and The Sunday Australian. He also achieved considerable recognition as an author, having developed a niche in which he wrote about Canberran history and culture; "Fitzgerald's Canberra" and "Life in Canberra" are two notable examples of his writing in this area. Fitzgerald had been writing a book on the Irish Australian experience at the time of his death.