Jo Jarvis

How did you spend your time as a kid?

You grew up in Adelaide, as you say, but by the time you were a teenager, what city were you dreaming about?

In the era that you were a teenager, Don Dunstan was the famed Labor Premier of South Australia.

Was that something you were aware of as you were coming into your young adulthood?

That is a great thing to be remembered for, I think.

That feels such a courageous thing to do as a teenager in that era, Jo.

Like, does it feel crazy brave to you looking back?

You went on to university and at that time helped pay the bills by working as a bike courier.

Was that a good fit for you, that job?

You ended up joining the ABC as a cadet reporter and was sent to Darwin.

What was it like arriving in Darwin back then?

And then as you were making your way in this career in journalism, Jo, you got the news that your younger brother Sam had died suddenly.

What happened?

Did you have any idea that he had been suffering the way he was in the lead up to that?

No, the shock of that way of losing someone is so profound and, you know, people react in different ways.

Some people fall into the loss of it and some people desperately try to distract themselves or look elsewhere.

I mean, what were the months after your brother's death like for you?

Did you bury yourself in work or what role did work come to have at that time?

What role was drinking playing in your life back then?

And that was the better option.