Original host of Channel Nine's Getaway Bettina 'Tina' Dalton dies following a short illness

Bettina 'Tina' Dalton, one of Getaway's original presenters and a trailblazing documentary producer, has died. 

Dalton passed away on the Sunshine Coast on Monday, with the sad news confirmed on Tuesday by WildBear Entertainment, the production company she helped establish.

Dalton was among the original presenters when Getaway premiered on Channel Nine in May 1992, joining the program during its first season.

She remained with the travel show through 1993 before moving into documentary production and natural history filmmaking.

Catriona Rowntree has since been the longtime presenter on the travel show. 

Dalton returned to Getaway in 2023 for a special appearance, retracing her early television career with a trip to Antarctica.

Getaway's former executive producer John Walsh said in a statement that Dalton would be 'greatly missed by the Getaway family'. 

'Very saddened to hear of the passing of Bettina 'Tina' Dalton one of the original cast members of Getaway in 1992,' he said. 

'Tina was a very engaging presenter with a deep love of nature and an effortless communication style that really made you lean in and listen.

'She went on to become a celebrated wildlife filmmaker and returned to Getaway in 2023, 31 years after her debut, for a multi-part series on Antarctica.'

Dalton's death comes six years after the death of her long-term partner, Sydney businessman and prominent art collector John Schaeffer AO. 

They are survived by their daughters, Pnina and Chana. 

Dalton grew up in Bli Bli on Queensland's Sunshine Coast and developed an early fascination with wildlife.

She later studied Rural Techniques at the University of Queensland before working as a park ranger with Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service.

That experience led to her first television appearance as 'Ranger Tina' in the 1988 documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.

She subsequently worked on Sir David Attenborough's The Trials of Life before making the leap to Getaway.

After leaving the program, Dalton shifted her focus behind the camera and became a significant force in Australia's natural history production industry.

She co-founded Absolutely Wild Visuals with Gary Steer in 1998, building a substantial wildlife footage library, and later established Wild Fury with producer Veronica Fury.

In 2014, Wild Fury merged with Bearcage Productions to create WildBear Entertainment, where Dalton became a principal and executive producer.

Her later producing credits included the acclaimed documentary Playing with Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story, which premiered at Sundance in 2021, as well as Every Little Thing and Rachel's Farm.

Sally Aitken, who directed Playing with Sharks and worked closely with Dalton, remembered her as a woman of 'extraordinary passion, grace, integrity, and curiosity'.

Aitken said Dalton was a champion of women and the natural world who believed in the power of a good story to create change.

The CEO of WildBear Entertainment, Michael Tear, also issued a statement praising her 'passion for social and environmental issues' following news of her passing. 

'Our collective knowledge base about the planet is so much richer because of her work,' he said.