Narelda Jacobs facts for kids

Narelda Jacobs OAM is a Whadjuk Noongar Australian television presenter and journalist with Network 10 and NITV in Sydney Australia. Her career at Network 10 has spanned more than two decades. Narelda is currently a co-host of Studio 10 and presenter of the one-hour national news bulletin 10 News First: Midday, and a co-host of The Point which airs each week on NITV. She was formerly a news presenter for 10 News First in Perth, Western Australia since 2008. She is the first Aboriginal, and first openly lesbian, newsreader in Australia.

Early life and education

Jacobs, of Whadjuk Noongar heritage, was raised in Perth. Her father, Cedric, was a Uniting Church reverend and her mother, Margaret, was also involved in the ministry. She has said that she was raised in a fundamentalist Christian household, and attended born-again churches until her late teens.

Jacobs was the youngest of five daughters. Her mother was born in Belfast and of Irish and English descent, while her father was a Whadjuk Noongar man and a member of the Stolen Generation. He was active in Aboriginal politics, and journalists would often be at their house or talking with him on the phone. Jacobs and her parents were always interested in what was making the news. Jacobs says she decided in Year 7 that she wanted to pursue a career in journalism. She attended Hampton Senior High School.

After finishing high school, Jacobs applied to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) but was not accepted. She got her first job working at the front desk of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) and soon moved to their media department. Shortly afterwards, at 18, Jacobs became pregnant to her boyfriend of two years. She got married due to family pressure and her religious upbringing but six months after the birth of her daughter, the marriage ended.

With the support of her family, Jacobs returned to work at the NNTT. After working for the NNTT for five years, Jacobs reapplied for WAAPA at the encouragement of her boss. She was successful and began a degree in broadcast journalism at WAAPA.

Career

After graduation, Jacobs began her career at GWN in Bunbury. She joined Ten News in Perth in 2000, eventually becoming their court reporter, and also filling in as weather presenter over summer. In 2008, Network Ten announced that production of their Perth news bulletin would return to Perth from Sydney, and selected Jacobs as the new presenter.

Jacobs is the first Aboriginal, and first openly lesbian newsreader in Western Australia. She publicly supported a "Yes" vote in the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.

In March 2019, Jacobs co-hosted SBS's broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. She co-hosted again in 2020 and 2021.

On 13 January 2020 Jacobs relocated to Sydney, after 20 years at 10 News First Perth, to join the Studio 10 morning talk show as a panellist. However, later in 2020, Jacobs returned to read the Perth edition of 10 News First while juggling with working on Studio 10 following the network-wide cost cutting that saw the bulletin move back to Sydney.

In 2020 and 2021, Jacobs co-hosted the Sunrise Ceremony on 26 January with John Paul Janke. The event was simulcast on NITV, SBS and Channel 10.

In late 2022, it was announced that Jacobs was set to host an all new news bulletin, 10 News First: Midday. She began hosting duties on Monday, January 9 2023. The program follows Jacobs' other hosting position, Studio 10, and airs from 12:00pm to 1:00pm.

Honours

In the 2023 King's Birthday Honours, Jacobs was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to the media, and to the community".

Other roles

In November 2021 Jacobs was appointed to the inaugural National Indigenous Advisory Group of Football Australia. The group aims at supporting and increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in soccer. Narelda was a Legacy ‘23 Ambassador for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Narelda is an ambassador of The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, Motor Neurone Disease Association WA, WA Aboriginal Leadership Institute, The Pinnacle Foundation and Deadly Science, and was a Rainbow Champion for Sydney World Pride 2023.

Personal life

Jacobs came out as a lesbian to her mother at 21. .....

Jacobs lives in Sydney with her partner, Karina Natt. Her daughter, Jade Dolman, is an artist who works under the name JD Penangke.