杏吧

Did Pembroke open my eyes to many of life鈥檚 infinite possibilities? Arguably, yes. I often wonder if my mere existence would be easier if I knew less. Not in the sense of being clever 鈥� I鈥檓 rarely useful at a pub quiz 鈥� but in the way that the whimsical workings of the world were unravelled and dissected before my hungry teenage brain, propelling me into eternal captivation with what life could show me, if I was lucky enough. My five years in the leafy backstreets of Kensington Park guaranteed that I would never be satisfied with a lacklustre state of being. 鈥淪ometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living鈥� - Jonathan Safran Foer鈥檚 words becoming a simply unmanageable thought. Pembroke gave me so many lives to live.

I was set on being a journalist from an annoyingly young age. An enviable sense of certainty, I know 鈥� there was never any doubt in my mind that it鈥檚 what I wanted to do. Journalism runs in my family, for one. My lovely grandpa Barry Hall had a distinguished career on Adelaide鈥檚 radio waves, presenting on 5DN for more than 20 years. It鈥檚 in my blood. My first foray into television was Year 11 work experience at Channel 9鈥檚 North Adelaide studios, decked out in a flashy new wardrobe from American Apparel and stiff new Doc Martens that I still don today. I felt like my whole life had led to that moment 鈥� perhaps it did. That newsroom affirmed everything for me. I loved what I saw and fifteen years later, I鈥檓 still doing it.

I would鈥檝e been over the moon if my classes at Pembroke were a constant rotation of English and Drama and absolutely nothing else. They brought me genuine joy and an everlasting love for the Arts. Donna O鈥機onnor, Julianne English, Peter Woon and Wendy Lacoon were standout influences for me and undoubtedly shaped both the person I鈥檝e become as well as the passions I still hold. My fondest memories all lie in creaky eastern suburbs theatres, even if I wasn鈥檛 necessarily centre stage 鈥� being in the chorus for the Middle School production of Cabaret, writing scenes for our Year 11 sci-fi creation Loki, or controlling the lighting (then writing a disgustingly long IB Theatre essay about it) for our Year 12 production of When the Rain Stops Falling. I鈥檓 not sure I鈥檇 have the brains nor youthful determination to do anything like it now.

I took a much-needed gap year after finishing school, living downstairs and working upstairs at a British pub. It was expectedly brilliant, and it invoked a significant love affair with life abroad. I reluctantly but sensibly returned to Australia to start a double degree in Journalism and International Relations at UniSA, which included a six-month exchange to the University of Twente in the Netherlands 鈥� only deepening my desire to pursue a career overseas.

I interned at 7 News Adelaide in the final years of my degree. It was an internship that quickly turned into freelance work, and before long I was a full-time reporter and producer for the station; a career dream I never thought I鈥檇 reach so early in my 20s, let alone while still at university. It was a combination of hard work, a little sacrifice and being in the right place at the right time.

The problem with achieving your dreams prematurely is then having to find new ones. For me, that dream became London. At 25-years-old, I threw away my cushy job in Hindmarsh and moved to England鈥檚 capital in 2019 where I鈥檝e since worked for BBC鈥檚 The One Show and Morning Live, ITV's Good Morning Britain and This Morning, as well as Middle Eastern network Al Jazeera. There鈥檚 no better city for this industry, nor to properly grow up in. It鈥檚 the best decision I鈥檝e ever made.

I now spend my working days in central London, just near Chancery Lane, where I鈥檓 a Deputy Content Editor at ITV News鈥� national headquarters. Occasionally I work with our politics team inside the historic Houses of Parliament. No day is the same in news, which is what I love about it. I work on everything from political scandals to major murder trials, from international disasters to the Brit Awards 鈥� whether this is intricately planning our coverage, conducting interviews on the ground, or finalising pieces for the nightly news and online platforms.

Personal highlights from a decade in my annoyingly fun industry aren't in short supply. Producing prime-time bulletins for 7 News, a week of work and play at Eurovision in Liverpool, being a guest at the BAFTAs, launching a now highly-successful BBC morning program during lockdown, being part of the core team outputting Good Morning Britain when the Queen died, working with icons like (cue namedrop) Jamie Oliver, Florence Pugh, Andy Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Daniel Radcliffe and David Schwimmer... And the up-close experiences with some truly incredible creatures as 7 Adelaide's self-appointed 'chief animal reporter'.

My advice is to only make life-affirming decisions if you can tell in your heart of hearts that it鈥檚 something you might love. You don鈥檛 have to be in love just yet, but please don鈥檛 waste such precious years 鈥� and every year is a precious year 鈥� on something that you instinctively know will never be for you. Allow yourself the time to explore, experiment and evolve. You owe it to yourself to take the time to find those lives you should be living.

Maddie Dunne (2011)
Old Scholar