Goodbye Fiona MacDonald; goodbye light
Fiona MacDonald at a Henschke wines event.
I knew Fiona MacDonald for 10 or maybe even 15 years before I knew that Jacki MacDonald was her sister. Jacki was the most famous of the three MacDonald sisters, courtesy of her time at Hey Hey It’s Saturday, but Fiona was a tv star in her own right, courtesy of her time in the 1980s on shows such as Wombat and It’s a Knockout. I knew Fiona MacDonald though because she’s worked for, and loved, Henschke Wines for pretty much my entire professional time in wine. Fiona was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2021 and has since waged an incredible battle. Today, 3 October 2024, Fiona’s family announced that this battle had come to an end, and that her time with us was now over.
I never saw Fiona MacDonald’s battle with MND as brave, even though it no doubt was. I saw it as true. It was true to Fiona MacDonald. It was bubbly, it was honest, it was open, it was generous, it was energetic and it was unifying. It brought people together, and it brought out the best in them. If you want to know why Fiona MacDonald has been the go-to publicist for Australia’s premier wine family, the Henschkes, over all of these years, then Fiona’s journey with MND provides all the answers and more. You never needed a spotlight to illuminate the work of, or the person, that was Fiona MacDonald. She carried her own spotlight inside, and shed it everywhere she went. She was a carrier of the light. Put simply, Fiona MacDonald made every room and every one brighter. The Australian wine industry will miss her dearly, one and all, as indeed will Australia at wide.
Fiona’s final message to the world, posted on social media by her sister Kylie, finished with the words: “I carry your love and laughter with me.”
I knew Fiona MacDonald for 10 or maybe even 15 years before I knew that Jacki Macdonald was her sister, as I say. I found out one cold afternoon while sitting in the back seat of a chauffeur-driven car, on my way to Henschke. I was rhapsodising on how good Fiona MacDonald was at her job, and how good she’d been for Henschke. A colleague, sitting beside me, looked at me and said: You know who her sister is, right?
The answer was that no, until that moment, I didn’t. I didn’t have to. Fiona MacDonald, I later found out, was immensely proud of her older, more famous sister. Immensely proud. But Fiona MacDonald was a star human being in her own right, and for this and for all the light she cast on us, not to mention the gorgeous sound of her own laughter, she will be remembered.
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Fiona MacDonald’s incredible It’s A Big Lap for MND raised – and continues to raise – funds to support research into MND, with the goal to find a cure. So far over $220,000 has been raised. Donations can be made here. In October 2023 the ABC’s Australian Story ran a feature on Fiona MacDonald. It’s worth watching.
