A girl thought of considered one of Australia’s first actuality TV stars has died, greater than 30 years after showing on the present that briefly made her a family identify.
And in a tragic twist, it seems her loss of life went unreported by the media for greater than a 12 months after she died in Could 2023.
Noeline Donaher was the star of Sylvania Waters, a fly-on-the-wall actuality sequence that aired for 12 episodes in 1992. The present had an idea that was just about exceptional on the time: Cameras would observe Donaher, husband Laurie and their household as they went about their lives of their residence within the titular south Sydney suburb of Sylvania Waters.
The Donahers allowed a TV crew into their residence for a whole lot of hours, with the footage packaged up as one of many first actuality TV reveals, ever.
Sounds mundane, however the present precipitated quite a lot of controversy, with some critics and viewers complaining Sylvania Waters depicted the household – and subsequently, all Aussies – as “materialistic, argumentative and heavy-drinking” (that quote courtesy of the SMH).
There was additional uproar when the sequence aired within the UK, leaving viewers shocked on the antics of this suburban household down beneath. The Each day Telegraph Mirror dubbed the present “a vicious putdown tailored for British audiences”.
Simply as stunning this week is the realisation that Donaher, such a pivotal determine on Australian tv, seems to have died greater than 12 months in the past with out information of her loss of life being picked up by the media on the time.
Australian popular culture producer Matt Fulton sounded the alarm on social media this week, sharing a Fb publish he’d uncovered dated Could 29 2023, written by Donaher’s son Mick.
An identical announcement was posted a day in a while the web site of NSW Historic Touring Automobiles, a gaggle by which Noeline and Laurie had been each lively.
“Dad has requested me to share with you all of the unhappy information that Noeline Donaher, his associate of over 40yrs, not too long ago handed away,” Mick wrote on his father’s behalf within the Could 30, 2023 publish.
Followers on Twitter had been shocked to be taught Donaher had died greater than a 12 months in the past, one writing “vale the unique Kath Day-Knight” (the Sylvania Waters affect on Kath and Kim is tough to overlook).
“How did we miss this information? I needed to do a deep dive to seek out the information. It actually was not reported anyplace,” wrote Fulton.
Within the wake of her notorious TV stint, Donaher branched out into different areas – releasing a 1993 one-off single known as No Regrets and a e-book known as The Sylvania Waters Diary – earlier than retreating from the highlight altogether.
