my country childhood
AS THE MIDDLE CHILD of five siblings growing up in Rockhampton, journalist, broadcaster and author Anna Daniels has plenty of comic fodder to draw from.
“There was always just so much laughter reverberating through the house,” the 39-year-old recalls. “Even now when we all get together at home with Mum and Dad you sometimes can’t get a word in edgewise for the laughter!”
Anna’s parents, pharmacists Jan and Wayne, taught their daughter and her elder brothers Nick, now 45, and Carl, 41, and younger siblings Sam, 32, and 30-year-old Sally to always look on the bright side of life.
“I think it’s one of the great gifts they gave us, to have a heightened appreciation for the silliness and ridiculous moments in life,” she says.
Anna, who is known for, honed an early love of public speaking by performing at the local Rockhampton Eisteddfod from the age of seven. She did well at school and was college captain at The Cathedral College in Rockhampton. For a time, she considered a career as a physiotherapist.
