Namila Benson is an Australian radio broadcaster, podcaster and television presenter.

Early life

Benson was born in Australia of Papua New Guinean parents. She is a Tolai woman from

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

in the

East New Britain Province East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely d ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, and was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. Her father, Warium Benson, worked as a broadcaster for 36 years with

Radio Australia ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in Tok ...

, between 1975 and 2011.

Career

Since starting in radio at Melbourne community broadcaster 3CR in the mid-nineties, Benson spent two and a half decades working across a number of media platforms, including as a field reporter on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC) television arts show, ''Art Nation'', as a producer and presenter on

's Pacific Service and presenter on

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

FM radio. Between 2017 and 2019, she worked as a producer on the

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

mornings program, ''

Life Matters ''Life Matters'' is a radio program that has been broadcast on Radio National by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 1992. The first presenter was Geraldine Doogue, and Hilary Harper and Michael MacKenzie present the program. Histor ...

''. In 2019, she moved across to presenting and co-producing the national visual arts program, ''The Art Show'', on ABC

. Between 2021 and 2023, she hosted a weekly arts show on ABC TV named ''Art Works'', with 100 episodes aired over the three seasons. In November 2023, the ABC announced that Benson will host a new TV arts show from 2024, named ''The Art Of...''

Other activities

Jack Charles and Namila Benson at the Melbourne Spiegeltent

Benson has acted as a mentor to help young people get into media in Australia and abroad. She has run workshops at radio stations 3CR, SYN,

PBS 106.7FM PBS 106.7FM (call sign: PBS FM), also known as the Progressive Broadcasting Service, is a cooperatively owned community radio station in Melbourne, Australia, that broadcasts on 106.7FM, Digital radio and online. PBS celebrated its 40th year ...

and

. In 2015, she worked in Papua New Guinea, running media training with producers, presenters and journalists from the

National Broadcasting Corporation of Papua New Guinea The National Broadcasting Corporation of Papua New Guinea (NBC PNG) is Papua New Guinea's state owned broadcaster. Its head office is in Boroko, Port Moresby, and has approximately 20 locations around the country. It operates two national radi ...

(NBC). In 2019, Benson hosted talks with Jack Charles and various special guests at the Melba Spiegeltent in Melbourne. She hosted conversations with singer

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalu ...

, and renowned First Nations elder, actor and activist Jack Charles, at the Stories of Song and Resilience Event on 4 December 2017 at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. In 2019,

Wil Anderson William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster. Early life William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...

featured benson on episode no. 151 of his podcast, ''Wilosophy''. In 2023, Benson hosted the annual Semi Permanent design festival, interviewing speakers including:

Sinéad Burke Sinéad Burke (born 1990) is an Irish writer, academic and disability activist, popular for her TED talk 'Why design should include everyone'. She is the Director of consulting organisatio'Tilting the Lens' working to raise the baseline standard ...

, wani toaishara, Samuel Leighton,

Mona Chalabi Mona Chalabi is a British data journalist and writer of Iraqi descent, known for her publications with FiveThirtyEight and ''The Guardian''. She was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award in the category ''New Approaches: Arts, Lifesty ...

, Mikaela Stafford, Megha Kapoor, Liam Young, Jazz Money, Bijan Berahimi, Jordy van den Nieuwendijk, Filipe Carvalho and Megha Kapoor.

Publications

In 2019, Benson authored the memoir of Jack Charles: ''Jack Charles: Born-Again Blakfella'', published on 18 August 2020 by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Australian Book Industry Awards The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...

as the 2020 Biography Book of the Year.

''Art Works'' season 1

Benson hosted 33 episodes of the ABC Television show ''Art Works'' in 2021. ''Art Works'' aired on ABC TV and

ABC TV Plus ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment prog ...

, and continues to be viewable on

ABC iView ABC iview is a video on demand and catch-up TV service run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Currently iview video content can only be viewed by users in Australia. As of 2016, ABC iview attracts around 50 million plays monthly and ac ...

''Art Works'' season 2

Benson hosted 37 episodes of the second season of ABC Television show ''Art Works'' in 2022 which began airing on ABC TV on 16 March 2022.

''Art Works'' season 3

Benson hosted and/or appeared on the following episodes of the third season of ABC Television show ''Art Works'' in 2023:

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian television presenters