‘Oh my God!’ was the shocked reaction from former Kilkivan and Gympie schoolgirl turned national television host, Lisa Millar on Sunday night, 3 August.
She had just heard the announcement that her ABC TV program “Muster Dogs: Collies and Kelpies” was a big winner at the prestigious 2025 TV Week Logie Awards.
Muster Dogs took out the gong for Best Structured Reality Program at the lavish Star Hotel function in Sydney.
And, true to her unpretentious nature, she really did look shocked as she accepted the award.
Her widely viewed program won from tough competition, including Farmer Wants A Wife on Seven Network, Gogglebox Australia on Network 10, Married at First Sight on 9Network, Shark Tank Australia on Network 10 and The Real Housewives of Sydney on Binge/Foxtel.
“Thank you to everyone who voted for this beautiful show,” she said of the Muster Dogs win.
It is a show which, she said, “is all about authentic people who have told their stories.
“The participants out there, we love you, you are our family, thank you so much.”
A former ABC bureau chief in London and Washington, she returned to Australia to co-host ABC TV’s News Breakfast.
She began her career in Gympie in 1988 and has worked in print, TV and radio.
She won a Walkley Award in 2005 for investigative reporting and wrote a memoir, Daring to Fly, published in 2021.
The book is an account of her life growing up in regional Australia and dreaming of the career she was later to have.
And it tells of struggles to deal with her own fears and the emotional burden of sometimes tragic events witnessed in the course of her work.
Despite travelling the world, she says she still enjoys her memories of Gympie region, particularly her childhood in Kilkivan.
“I am so fond of where I grew up,” she told interviewer Astrid Taemets in an article published last weekend.
“I loved life as a kid in a small town. To have that kind of childhood is a privilege.”
Her other book, Muster Dogs: From Pups to Pros, published in 2023, sits comfortably with her award-winning TV show.
And her other television achievement is Back Roads, also on the ABC, in which she visits some of those Australian small communities, like the ones she remembers so fondly around here.
On top of all that, she was one of seven stars nominated for the Gold Logie, won by Home and Away star Lynne McGranger.
The ABC dominated the awards, with Bluey winning the Best Children’s Program award, Guy Montgomery winning the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent, Australian Story winning Best Factual or Documentary Program and Four Corners winning Best News Coverage or Public Affairs Report.
Its comedy program Fisk won multiple awards, including Best Scripted Comedy Program, cast members Julia Zemiro and Glenn Butcher won Silver Logies for Supporting actors, Aaron Chen and Kitty Flanagan won Best Lead actor Logies.
