Sad detail in death of Aussie reality TV legend Noeline Donaher

She was Australia’s first-ever reality star and a household name in the early 90s – but Noeline Donaher’s death went unreported for over a year.

A woman considered one of Australia’s first reality TV stars has died, more than 30 years after appearing on the show that briefly made her a household name.

And in a sad twist, it appears her death went unreported by the media for more than a year after she died in May 2023.

Noeline Donaher was the star of Sylvania Waters, a fly-on-the-wall reality series that aired for 12 episodes in 1992. The show had a concept that was virtually unheard of at the time: Cameras would follow Donaher, husband Laurie and their family as they went about their lives in their home in the titular south Sydney suburb of Sylvania Waters.

The Donahers allowed a TV crew into their home for hundreds of hours, with the footage packaged up as one of the first reality TV shows, ever.

The Donahers (including Noeline, seated at centre) opened their home – and their lives – to the ABC’s cameras.

Sounds mundane, but the show caused a lot of controversy, with some critics and viewers complaining Sylvania Waters depicted the family – and therefore, all Aussies – as “materialistic, argumentative and heavy-drinking” (that quote courtesy of the SMH).

There was further uproar when the series aired in the UK, leaving viewers shocked at the antics of this suburban family down under. The Daily Telegraph Mirror dubbed the show “a vicious putdown tailor-made for British audiences”.

Just as shocking this week is the realisation that Donaher, such a pivotal figure on Australian television, appears to have died more than 12 months ago without news of her death being picked up by the media at the time.

Noeline and partner Laurie.

This Facebook post from last year announcing her death went largely unnoticed.

Australian pop culture producer Matt Fulton sounded the alarm on social media this week, sharing a Facebook post he’d uncovered dated May 29 2023, written by Donaher’s son Mick.

A similar announcement was posted a day later on the website of NSW Historic Touring Cars, a group in which Noeline and Laurie were both active.

Noeline and Laurie became controversial figures due to their groundbreaking reality TV foray.

“Dad has asked me to share with you all the sad news that Noeline Donaher, his partner of over 40yrs, recently passed away,” Mick wrote on his father’s behalf in the May 30, 2023 post.

Fans on Twitter were shocked to learn Donaher had died more than a year ago, one writing “vale the original Kath Day-Knight” (the Sylvania Waters influence on Kath and Kim is hard to miss).

“How did we miss this news? I had to do a deep dive to find the info. It really was not reported anywhere,” wrote Fulton.

In the wake of her infamous TV stint, Donaher branched out into other areas – releasing a 1993 one-off single called No Regrets and a book called The Sylvania Waters Diary – before retreating from the spotlight altogether.

Originally published as Sad detail in death of Aussie reality TV legend Noeline Donaher