Sylvania Waters Star Tells ‘THE SHOW BROKE OUR FAMILY’
DIONE BILSBOROUGH REVEALS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HER IN-LAWS
After her family’s life in a south Sydney waterfront mansion was laid bare in Sylvania Waters – the fly-on-the-wall reality TV series that fascinated Australia and the world back in 1992 – Noeline Baker was forced into hiding.
Now, in an exclusive interview to mark the show’s 30th anniversary, Noeline’s former daughter-in-law, Dione Bilsborough, tells New Idea: “I don’t think any of us really thought about the aftermath.
“I haven’t seen Noeline for many years, but I can’t see that she would have changed. Being the woman that she was, she spoke her truth and if she had an opinion, she would state it. But that was just who Noeline was, I guess.”
SHOCK DEBUT
When we first met Dione all those years ago, she was 21 and living with Noeline’s blondhaired surfie son, Paul Baker, two dogs and a white sulphurcrested cockatoo. Their fibro cottage in Mortdale was just down the road from Noeline and partner Laurie Donaher’s million-dollar mansion.
“Paul and I knew at the time how Noeline was going to be painted during the whole thing,” Dione, now 51, reveals. “It was so obvious to us. The drinking, the smoking and just how Noeline is.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t fare well with viewers at the time.”
Sylvania Waters launched to outrage here and over in the UK (where five million people also watched it), after loud and obnoxiously rich Noeline and Laurie invited the world into a front-row seat to bourbon-fuelled, screaming family arguments.
“I have no idea, still to this day, what possessed Noeline to make that call to 2GB after they put a call out to say the ABC was looking for families for a reality TV series,” Dione says. “And we were really only paid a pittance for having our lives turned upside down. “At the time I guess it was like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re going to be on TV.’ “There were times when it was intrusive and you wanted to be able to speak freely and you had to be very guarded. “Noeline volunteered us and it was made to sound like harmless fun, but it broke the family.”
COST OF FAME
Paul, then 26, and Dione were paid a little over $4000 for their participation in Sylvania Waters, which also featured Laurie’s amateur race-car-driving son Mick and his wife Yvette. Noeline’s then 16-yearold son, Michael, also narrated much of the series.
The blended family provided a snapshot of three different tiers of Aussie life, starting with self-made millionaires, Noeline and Laurie. They were very successful, owned a mansion, and spent their weekends on a luxury cruiser or drinking at a yacht club. Matriarch Noeline was rarely seen without her beloved Winfield Red cigarettes, or a bourbon in hand.
Mick and Yvette, who
‘OUR LIVES WERE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN’