FIONA MACDONALD’S EARLY YEARS on a remote sheep property outside Blackall in Central Western Queensland couldn’t have been more different from the career that made her name. In the 1970s and ’80s, she shot to fame as a television presenter on shows such as It’s A Knockout.
When she was five, Fiona’s family sold their property and moved into Blackall. “In drought, the f lat country around Blackall is a carpet of beige and brown cut by dried creek lines, but after rain it springs to life and everything turns magically green,” she says. “I remember Blackall was much greener than the surrounding country because the town used bores to access water from the Great Artesian Basin. The thermal water smells like sulphur – a bit like rotten eggs – but it’s fine to drink.”
After she finished school, Fiona studied
