“It’s a bit embarrassing to say that you’ve been at a place for 23 years,” Narelda Jacobs says. “But I’ve done a lot different jobs within that time.”
Across the two decades she’s worked at Channel 10, the TV presenter has been a roving reporter, a Perth newsreader, and, now, a part of the Studio 10 and 10 News First Midday teams.
It’s a career that’s kept her busy, but the Whadjuk woman wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve wanted to do this since I was a 12-year-old,” she says. “I was good at telling stories and good at writing and so it just seemed like a natural progression to do journalism.”
Jacobs also regularly appears on NITV, where she co-hosts the weekly Indigenous current affairs program The Point. Last month she also presented the channel’s special 10th anniversary concert, which was broadcast from Uluru. On that trip, Jacobs packed a pair of boots that came to take on a special significance for her. Here, she tells us about them, as well as the stories of a few other important personal belongings.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
My beloved red boots – I’d probably be wearing them as I ran out. I got them because I wanted a pair of shoes that I could dress up and dress down; something that I could wear to the pub or if I had to host events. Ditching heels to be comfortable on stage? Now that’s cool. It was a bit of a gamble choosing red rather than my usual black – fashion statements aren’t usually my strong point – but I’ve found that the red goes with everything.
What really makes them special is that I wore them to Uluru. They’d gotten a bit banged up because I was walking around Uluru in them, so to fix them up I rubbed red dirt into the scuffs. It worked! The boots are the same colour as the dirt. Of course, when you’re on Country, you shouldn’t take anything from Country with you. So it was just the stain of the dirt that I took with me – not the actual dirt.
On that trip, I stayed behind a few days on my own after the NITV event and went to Uluru’s important spots. I sat in those really spiritual places and let them speak to me, which was a really beautiful way to end the year. So when I look at those shoes now, I think of being in the desert.
My most useful object
My moulded earpiece. I carry it with me everywhere and it’s amazing how many times I’ve pulled this out of my backpack when I have to do a live cross. In that moment, I always feel like a professional TV presenter. It’s just way better than having one handed to you by the camera operator, because those usually don’t fit, and you often see people trying to shove them back in when they pop out. But my moulded earpiece never pops out.
A lot of the time these days we use “peanuts”, these tiny little devices that stick in your ear but don’t require a cable. So these particular earpieces are considered a little old-fashioned now in a studio environment – people don’t get them moulded to their ears any more. But one day at work about 10 years ago we had a technician come in to make everyone custom earpieces, and I’ve treasured mine ever since.
The item I most regret losing
A mother of pearl ring that was my mum’s. My mum is still very much alive – she didn’t quite give me the ring, I just really liked it, so I took it out of her drawer and made it mine. I wore it every day for a good five years and it became a real signature piece for me. Mother of pearl is great because it takes on flecks of the colour you’re wearing, so it goes with everything.
But then I left it in a hotel room overseas somewhere. At first mum was really happy that the ring was getting worn, but she was less happy when I lost it. It’s been 10 years now, but I still think about that poor ring.
