Courtney's father, Michael, was a journalist and editor of
The Examiner. She grew up in
Launceston, Tasmania, and attended the
Launceston Church Grammar School from 1977 to 1982. She then studied politics at the
University of Tasmania, where she resided at
Christ College and graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts in 1986. In 1993, Courtney joined
Landline, where she met cameraman
John Bean during her first shoot; they married on 28 January 1999. On 18 August 2011, Bean, television journalist
Paul Lockyer and pilot Gary Ticehurst died in a helicopter crash while filming at
Lake Eyre in
South Australia. In 2011, Courtney received the Star Prize for Broadcast Journalism from the
International Federation of Agricultural Journalists for her
Landline report, "Pipe Dream", about the
coal seam gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, she received
Clarion Awards for her reports "Horns of a Dilemma" and "The Big Dry", respectively. ==References==