How a boy from Balmain made caring cool
Jack's mother is Bundjalung artist, Bronwyn Bancroft.
Growing up in inner-Sydney, he was intimidated by her artistic drive and threw himself into sport, because that was the only way a young Jack thought a man could have influence in the world.
When he was ten the family moved to Bundjalung country to spend time with his mum's side of the family.
The local kids refused to accept that Jack was Aboriginal.
He escaped into fantasy books and wrote long letters home to his dad, Ned Manning, in Sydney.
Jack received a scholarship to St Paul's College at the University of Sydney and vowed to use his opportunity to increase the number of Indigenous kids at university.
The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) was born and Jack has since used his position to forge connections between communities to foster understanding across the world.
Further information
Watch Australian Story featuring Jack and his partner, Yael Stone on iview.
Listen to Jack's dad, Ned Manning, on Conversations in 2022.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
This year's Logie Awards Hall of Fame winner announced
The Logies are almost upon us, with organisers announcing the winner of the coveted Hall of Fame award ahead of this Sunday's ceremony. It's been revealed Magda Szubanski AO will be bestowed with the honour, making her just the fifth female recipient since the first ever awards back in 1984. Szubanski, 64, who has enjoyed a stellar four-decade showbiz career, will be presented with the award onstage at The Star in Sydney. The comedic entertainer, who was born in England but raised in Melbourne, first hit our screens in the '80s on sketch shows including The D-Generation, Fast Forward and Full Frontal, while also carving a career in film with roles in 1995's Babe and its subsequent sequel. But she's perhaps best known for her star turn in the 2000s comedy Kath & Kim, playing the loveable Sharon Strzelecki – a character previously debuted in 1994's Big Girl's Blouse with Gina Riley and Jane Turner. 'With a career spanning nearly four decades, the much-loved Magda Szubanski has helped define Australian comedy, creating some of the country's most beloved and enduring characters,' a statement from Logies organisers read. 'The TV WEEK Logie Award Hall of Fame recognises outstanding and continued contribution and enrichment to Australian television culture by an individual, a group of individuals, or a program. 'Magda's contribution to comedy, literature, activism, and Australia's cultural identity is profound and influential. This induction into the TV WEEK Logie Awards Hall of Fame celebrates not only a remarkable television career but also a lifetime of shaping hearts, headlines, and history, and giving audiences the gift of huge laughs.' Szubanski was previously bestowed with an Order of Australia (AO) in 2019 'for distinguished service to the performing arts as an actor, comedian and writer, and as a campaigner for marriage equality.' The recognition comes amid a devastating time in Szubanski's personal life, with the star announcing her stage four cancer diagnosis in May. The beloved entertainer told fans in a social media post she was battling Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and fast-moving blood cancer. Szubanski confirmed she had begun 'the Nordic protocol' … 'one of the best treatments available' for the disease that was randomly picked up during a recent breast screen. 'Hello, my lovelies. The head is shaved in anticipation of it all falling out in a couple of weeks,' she said at the time. 'I have just been diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive lymphoma. 'It is one of the nasty ones unfortunately. 'The good thing is I'm surrounded by beautiful friends and family and an incredible medical support team. Honestly we have the best in the world here in Australia. 'It's pretty confronting. It is a full on one. But new treatments keep coming down the pipeline all the time … I've just got to (laughs). 'What do you? What are you gonna do?' During the past decade, Szubanksi has increasingly opened up about her private battles. In her 2015 memoir Reckoning, Szubanski documented her complicated relationship with food and her sexuality, something she had guarded for decades before coming out in February 2012. She later admitted it was one of the scariest things she'd done in her life. In her social post this year, Szubanski signed off to her legion of fans with a request: 'If you do see me out and about – don't hug me, kiss me or breathe anywhere near me! Wave enthusiastically from a safe distance and know I love you madly.' The Logies will air Sunday night on Channel 7.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
Magda Szubanksi becomes the fifth woman in more than 40 years to enter Logies Hall of Fame
Almost 40 years after she first appeared on our silver screens, Magda Szubanski will be inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame. Szubanski will become the fifth woman to be awarded the honour, following Rebecca Gibney's induction last year. Despite being born in England, Szubanski has won over the hearts of Australians by creating some of our most beloved characters. The star has won seven Logies over her career and has twice been named the Most Popular Person on Television — in 2003 and 2004. The induction also comes months after she revealed her diagnosis of stage 4 blood cancer. In a video posted in May, the 64-year-old said she had been diagnosed with a "very rare, very aggressive, very serious lymphoma". Szubanski got her start with boundary-pushing sketch shows including The D-Generation, Fast Forward, Full Frontal and Big Girl's Blouse. However, it was the role of Sharon Strzelecki that would make her an unforgettable figure of Australian television. Szubanski played the netball tragic Strzelecki in Kath and Kim from 2002 to 2007. When asked in 2015 how she was able to create such an enduring character, Szubanski said a lot of Strzelecki came from her own "forlornness and that melancholy". "Sharon has those bass notes within her character, and I think that's part of why she appeals to people," she told 7.30. Of her most successful forays into the big screen, Szubanski would team up with Australia's director/producer George Miller for three of them. First was 1995's Babe, followed by Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet Two (2011). Despite Babe's Oscar success (it won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1996), Szubanski once described the set as "bizarre". "It was like making a film in a zoo. It was the most bizarre experience," Szubanski said, reflecting on the children's film in 2020. She also went on to call it a "really beautiful film in every way". Other blockbusters included The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, Memoir of a Snail, The Golden Compass and musical Bran Nue Dae. Beyond the screen, Szubanski became an influential figure for her LGBTQIA+ advocacy. Her work during the Marriage Equality campaign even saw her appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2018. Her award-winning memoir, Reckoning, also saw her tackle the story of her father's life as a Polish assassin. Following her cancer reveal in May, Szubanski was met with an outpouring of love from Australia, including stars such as Rove McManus. "Lots of love and support to you, beautiful one," the television personality posted at the time. While most of the Logie Awards have some kind of public voting component, the annual Hall of Fame inductee is solely chosen by "a panel of independent industry experts". Each broadcaster can submit four people or programs for Hall of Fame consideration. The panel then assesses the submissions against the following criteria: Once the panel makes their selection, it is up to the Logies' discretion if they want to announce the winner before the ceremony. Other female Hall of Fame inductees include Rebecca Gibney, Mother and Son's Ruth Cracknell, Playschool's Noni Hazlehurst and presenter Kerri-Anne Kennerley. The TV WEEK Logie Awards will be held on August 3, on Channel 7.
Sydney Morning Herald
9 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Don't miss this marriage made in heaven
The Marriage of Figaro Opera Australia Sydney Opera House, July 31 Reviewed by PETER McCALLUM ★★★★★ Driven by a minute focus on the follies of human motivation that unsettle the rigid force fields of class, gender and power, David McVicar's 2015 production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro has become a jewel in Opera Australia's repertoire. It is helped in no small way by Jenny Tiramani's design, which incrementally places each act in a closet, a bedroom, a grand hall and the great outdoors, and clothes the characters in the warm drabness of unbleached fabric. At the start and end of each act, female servants run to draw a large fraying curtain, like an aging window drape that doesn't really conceal anything, while the army of prying servants primarily occupy themselves with eavesdropping through the nearest keyhole. It somehow becomes heartwarming that things always go wrong and to see the lies piled upon lies in the great act two finale collapse into joyous chaos. Yet this on its own would not sustain this revival were it not for an equally bejewelled cast in which each character is defined and refined by distinctive vocal fabric. Each number enveloped the listener anew in the bright freshness of Mozart's seemingly endless melodic inspiration. With the single word ' Cinque' ('Five' – he is measuring a bed) baritone Michael Sumuel established a robust, rich vocal presence that immediately caught the ear. His Non piu andrai at the end of act one had well-edged articulation and buoyant rhythmic vigour, and he animated the stage throughout with naturally responsive musical and dramatic energy, as though always on the brink of some new lame idea. As Susanna, Siobhan Stagg was the musical opposite, establishing the character with the simple beauty and attractiveness of her voice. It had ample power when needed but was at its most touching in moments like her act four aria, Deh vieni,sung in front of the curtain, where she revealed hidden soft lights against the orchestra's transparently coloured wind solos. Against such honest straightforward tones, it fell to Kiandra Howarth to find a new sound for the Countess's woe. In her act two aria, Porgi amor, she insinuated a loftier shade, swelling to blushing colour yet always with an immaculately smooth surface, and developed these shades with further depth and nuance in Dove sono in act three.
