This year served up a never-ending stream of catastrophes – from record-breaking bushfires to a virulent deadly disease – but 2020 also generated a new kind of breakout star. Scientists, public servants and a very sweary man: these are the Australians who rose to prominence in this highly unusual year.
Shane Fitzsimmons
This time last year, the Black Summer was in full swing: 7,373 volunteer firefighters across Australia battled an unprecedented bushfire season, which burned a record 7.7m hectares across all states and territories and killed 33 people, including nine firefighters.
The then commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, became a symbol of the bushfire fight.
Fitzsimmons, who now leads the new crisis agency Resilience NSW, was named the NSW Australian of the Year, with the committee praising his “exemplary leadership and empathetic presence”.
Nat from Nat’s What I Reckon
The enigmatic Nat (no last name), with his metal drummer hair and foul mouth, taught us how to cook – without jar sauces – during lockdown. A comedian by profession, his YouTube channel had existed for 10 years before a few breakthrough recipes (the “Quarantine sauce” and “End of Days Bolognese”) were watched by tens of millions of people on Facebook and YouTube in the depths of March.
Sweary, direct and oddly helpful, Nat’s What I Reckon became a uniquely Australian cult hit. Since then he’s guest programmed Rage and even has a book out. Our love for Nat is the perfect metaphor for that wild period of 2020 – a connection forged over video, seeking comfort in food, mild self-improvement and a desire for human connection. As the Sydney chef Damo told Guardian Australia’s Jenny Valentish: “He feels familiar and we think we’d enjoy hanging out with him.”
Casey Briggs
Before 2020 there was only one person Australia allowed to stand in front of a touch screen and tell us about numbers. That was Antony Green, during an election. In 2020 we begrudgingly added another nerd to the ranks.
The ABC data analyst Casey Briggs began presenting The Curve in March, constantly tracking our new coronavirus cases, R values and 14-day averages. By the end of the year he was also helping with the Queensland, Northern Territory, ACT and US elections.
Briggs, who has a master’s degree in statistics and applied mathematics, has worked for the ABC since 2016 as a news reporter in Brisbane, Cairns and Adelaide. But this year, he was everywhere – including on Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell.
Hahahaha amazing @CaseyBriggs merch on #madashell pic.twitter.com/Bc9U71Xb2Z
— Wes Mountain (@therevmountain) August 5, 2020
Briggs told Guardian Australia the new role had been devised “in a matter of weeks” with the software developer Ryan Kerlin, and he absolutely did not expect this level of prominence.
“Not much of 2020 has gone according to the original plan,” he said. “I didn’t get into journalism for fame, so it has been a little odd to suddenly be more recognisable on the street.”
Briggs will continue covering the pandemic “for as long as necessary” but hopes that won’t stretch too far into 2021. He has also been earmarked by outside observers as the eventual successor to Green (Briggs’ master’s thesis was on voting behaviour and demographics in South Australia), so watch this space.
Chief health officers
It has been a bumper year for the country’s various chief medical and chief health officers.
We saw the then federal chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, nearly every day in March. The deputy chief medical officer Prof Paul Kelly rapidly rose up the ranks of Australia’s many famous Paul Kellys.
NSW’s Dr Kerry Chant, Queensland’s Dr Jeannette Young and South Australia’s Nicola Spurrier found themselves in front of a camera more than they could ever have expected. And Victoria’s Prof Brett Sutton and Prof Allen Cheng are pretty much celebrities now.
Some people got a little too obsessed with our CHO saviours. Sutton attracted an online fan club and his face made its way on to throw rugs and pillows. And an opinion writer in the Sydney Morning Herald declared she had “the hots” for Chant’s “mushroom bob and boxy jackets”.
My friend Ash has turned her Brett Sutton portrait into homewares. Genius really. https://t.co/VM4RAwo56G
— Tamara Oudyn (@TamaraOudyn) July 29, 2020
I've just been informed about the Brett Sutton is HOT Facebook group and the captions are really something. pic.twitter.com/mpYYZdFndI
— Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) August 7, 2020
Melissa Leong
MasterChef was not Melissa Leong’s first television appearance. The food writer actually made her TV judging debut on the 2017 SBS cooking show The Chef’s Line (alongside chefs Dan Hong and Mark Olive). But it was this year, on a rebooted MasterChef, that Leong became a household name.
MasterChef Australia: Back to Win became a ratings juggernaut in April. At a time when many of us had nothing else to do, it was on five days a week, with a diverse cast – including returning all stars like Poh Ling Yeow and Reynold Poernomo – and an aggressively warm, feel-good tone.
Watching a Korean-Egyptian wearing a hijab, explaining what Bulgogi is, in an Aussie accent, is the type of diversity Australian TV needs. #MasterchefAU
— Joe (@Joe__Curtis) May 7, 2020
this looks like a still from a lesbian romance movie #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/H6KK1pojDE
— Jess (@jessxhb) June 28, 2020
Leong’s fellow new judges Jock Zonfrillo and Andy Allen were also well received, but the food writer stood out for her exceptionally good feedback, her knowledge of world cuisine, her style and her ability to perfectly summarise the intersection of the migrant experience and food.
She cried in a memorable family history challenge, cheered an all Asian-Australian episode, and was generally the judge trusted to emote on camera, farewell the contestants and have the final word.
#masterchefau watching Khanh and Reynold tell their incredibly moving and inspiring stories to Mel, an Asian woman, who can directly relate to the struggles and experiences of immigrant families is why representation is so important and why this season of Masterchef is superior
— ALEXANDRA (@alexandrasings4) May 27, 2020
Melissa: The char of the asparagus is finely balanced by the crisp sourness of the green apple.
— Niccy T (@NicReality) May 11, 2020
Andy: yeah bloody oath that Apple has some zing ay!#MasterChefAU
Vincent Namatjira
In 2020 Vincent Namatjira became the first Indigenous artist to win the Archibald prize. In many ways it was less of a breakthrough year for Namatjira – who was already a well regarded artist and a finalist in 2017, 2018 and 2019 – and more a long-overdue milestone for Australia’s most popular art prize.
“It only took 99 years,” the Western Arrernte artist said at the time. “I’m so proud to be the first but I also have to acknowledge all the Indigenous finalists and Indigenous sitters for this year and past years.”
He hopes the historic win – coupled with the Wongutha-Yamatji man Meyne Wyatt winning the Packing Room prize – represents a “turning point” for Indigenous art. It has already introduced a wider audience to Namatjira’s own satirical back catalogue.
Andrew Probyn and Katharine Murphy
Political observers would already recognise Andrew Probyn – either as the ABC’s political editor or the mystery man behind a pot plant.
But for millions of (especially younger) Australians, Probyn is best known now as a disembodied voice, an off-screen object, and a mononym (“Andrew”), like Prince or Cher.
In late March, when press conferences became tense and depressing appointment viewing, Probyn was singled out by Scott Morrison for asking too many questions in a row. Suddenly he became the year’s hottest political meme.
As is the nature of memes, it was an artwork with many makers. TikTok user Brooke Taylor added her voice to the “Andrew” clip, and perfectly skewered Morrison’s combative approach to the press.
11/10 @andrewprobyn content: pic.twitter.com/G9mjrHGf0K
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) March 24, 2020
A few days later, the Triple J hosts Sally and Erica gave it an upbeat dance remix, which pushed it into the stratosphere. It was danced to by many, including, most memorably, Jeff van de Zandt, below.
Probyn for his part, told the ABC he had heard Morrison himself “found it funny”, and said he was grateful if it “encouraged people to watch press conferences” – even if the teens didn’t really know who he was.
This is the only bit of their dad’s “work” that my kids have taken real notice of ... ever.
— Andrew Probyn (@andrewprobyn) March 24, 2020
Sad.
He shared the glory with Guardian Australia’s own political editor, Katharine Murphy, the deuteragonist of the saga. The mythical “Andrew” who enraged a PM, and the patient “Katharine” who “hasn’t had a question” became characters in Australia’s favourite three-person play – a moment of lightness to cope with a collectively traumatic time.
Abbey Hansen
The musician Abbey Hansen – one half of the Melbourne outfit Minorfauna – also spawned countless memes by introducing Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech to a new generation of Australians, with a perfectly synced viral video.
I think I've found my favourite tiktok @JuliaGillard pic.twitter.com/cbHtTjAtwo
— Alexia Mitchell (@lexilegs99) April 2, 2020
Norman Swan
We learned how to do a lot of things differently this year. Much of it was first introduced to us in the Scottish tones of Dr Norman Swan.
A former physician and host of the ABC’s Health Report, Swan was quickly mobilised by the national broadcaster in those early, chaotic days, as a leading source of information on coronavirus. With the health reporter Tegan Taylor, he launched the Coronacast podcast, which became an accessible source of new information about the virus, and later won a Walkley.
Swan also clashed early on with Brendan Murphy about school closures, providing one of the first political talking points of the pandemic. It made him a safe bet for Australia’s pre-eminent journalist surnamed Swan until …
Jonathan Swan
… his own son, Jonathan, a reporter for Axios and formerly the Sydney Morning Herald, upstaged him. All it took was a piece of paper and an extraordinarily open audience with the US president, Donald Trump.
Video of the sit-down interview quickly went viral – mostly because of Swan’s biting questions and perplexed facial expressions.
Swan’s furrowed face became a global meme across popular culture, not just politics. The authoritative source Know Your Meme says the template “Confused Reporter Jonathan Swan (also known as Reporter Reading Paper From Trump)” has been used millions of times, from Star Wars jokes to the “dank memes” subreddit .
Which @jonathanvswan are you today? pic.twitter.com/A347YxH380
— Philip Germain (@Philip_Germain) August 4, 2020
Jonathan Swan is the new Samuel Johnson pic.twitter.com/HnsKeTvalD
— John Self (@john_self) August 4, 2020
It was a redemption of sorts for Swan, who in 2018 was described as a “bootlicker” for smiling too widely in an interview with Trump about immigrant children, in what the New York Times described as “a giddy reaction”.
Miranda Devine
Equally as prominent, and in many ways the inverse of Jonathan Swan, was the News Corp columnist Miranda Devine. Devine, who lived in the US in the lead-up to the election, started writing a column for the Murdoch-owned New York Post and rapidly became a firm favourite of Trump’s.
So much so that the president tweeted out her email address to his 88 million followers after she wrote a piece calling him an “invincible hero”. The tweet was deleted for sharing personal information, and Trump rewrote it with her Twitter handle.
....invincible hero, who not only survived every dirty trick the Democrats threw at him, but the Chinese virus as well. He will show America we no longer have to be afraid.” @MirandaDevine @NYPost Thank you Miranda. Was over until the Plague came in from China. Will win anyway!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2020
Devine also went viral for a segment on Fox News in which she said it was “incredibly selfish of older people” to be afraid of the virus.
"It's incredibly selfish of older people or neurotic people who are timid & afraid & won't come out of their basements to confine children & young people to miss out on the most important part of their lives" - Fox News is now straight up blaming old & vulnerable people for Covid pic.twitter.com/mLhiwDHmrN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 6, 2020
Peter Doherty
In a year of science and medicine, Prof Peter Doherty became a national living treasure. Partly that was for his eponymous Doherty Institute’s work in being the first lab outside China to isolate an example of SARS-CoV-2. Mostly it was because he accidentally tweeted “Dan Murphy opening hours” rather than googling it.
Dan Murphy opening hours
— Prof. Peter Doherty (@ProfPCDoherty) April 27, 2020
The Nobel prize laureate admitted he had simply gotten his platforms confused, and those four words echoed through the national psyche. When Melbourne finally lifted its lockdown, many declared:
Dan Murphy opening hours
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) November 4, 2020
Happy 80th to @ProfPCDoherty, the #legend asking the questions that matter 😂🎉🍻
— Kevin John (@Kev_in_Science) October 15, 2020
Best. Cake. Ever. @danmurphys #theinternetisforever pic.twitter.com/qmjwdnt93b
Honourable mention: the escaped Sydney baboons
They were quite literally the breakout stars of pre-pandemic Australia. Everything started to go wrong the day they were captured. In an alternative timeline, they live on free (and fertile) and nothing bad happened this year.
The baboons have been spotted! Details shortly on #9News. #BaboonWatch #SydneyBaboons
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) February 25, 2020
📸 - Michael Tran pic.twitter.com/Ww7uqc6n2R
