Simply one of the best in the industry.
Hard to think of many others who nailed it so early in their career as she did.
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You probably wouldn’t see a metropolitan network have a lead news presenter on at that age these days?
I think even all the on-air reporters (let alone presenters) are mostly in their 30s and older here in Sydney these days, so presumably Melbourne would be similar.
Plenty of reporters in their 20s in Melbourne.
Also I seem to remember reference to Natarsha Belling reading for ABC Darwin before she was 22.
Edit: 21. https://www.platinumspeakers.com.au/Speakers/Natarsha-Belling.aspx
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6 February 1967: Divorce Court, the first drama series to be produced at Nine’s Willoughby studios, debuts at 1.30pm on TCN9. The show re-enacts divorce stories in a court room setting and is produced by a production company part owned by Bobby Limb. The show lasts one season.
6 February 1968: ATN7 premieres The Flying Nun starring Sally Field. The Sydney Morning Herald describes the “whimsical, fresh, funny, engaging” show as “the best thing to happen to the screen for months” and “a sure fire hit”.
6 February 1984: The A Team premieres with a two hour episode at 8.30pm on TEN10. Future episodes of the show are scheduled to run at 7.30pm. Concerns are raised about the level of violence in a series that is sure to attract a young audience. Melbourne viewers see the premiere on 13 February.
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IIRC it featured a young lawyer named Bronwyn Bishop
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7 February 1965: Professor Julius Sumner Miller returns to television in a new series for children when Great Moments in Science debuts on TCN9.
7 February 1977: The Mike Walsh Show airs for the first time on Nine following Walsh’s controversial departure from Ten where the show had been on air since 1973. The show will be seen on a record 61 stations across Australia from day one on Nine.
7 February 1994: Derryn Hinch becomes host of Midday following the departure of Ray Martin to A Current Affair. Nine had decided to stick with the more serious tone of the show, established by Ray Martin, instead of appointing Kerri-Anne Kennerley who had been considered front runner for the role.
Nicky Buckley replaces Joh Bailey as hostess on Sale of the Century on the same day.
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Jo Bailey; Joh Bailey is that hairdresser friend of KAK’s 
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8 February 1978: TEN10 airs one of the early The Love Boat made for TV movies on which the series is based. Nine held a promotional launch aboard a liner in Circular Quay for the series which is scheduled to air on TCN9 later in the month. Nine is not amused Ten cashed in on the promotion by airing the movie.
8 February 1984. Seven airs a delayed telecast of early events taking place at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics ahead of the opening ceremony the following evening.
8 February 1987: ALF and Valerie premiere on Seven. The Sunday night comedy double manages to threaten the dominance of Nine’s 60 Minutes in the 7.30pm timeslot for the first time in years.
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Always enjoyed ALF.
Remember watching the repeats on 7TWO back in their “comedy” phase.
I loved the first two series of Valerie almost as much as I loved ALF. It always disturbed me how quickly those ungrateful kids moved on after the death of “Mom”. Valerie Harper was fired following a salary dispute and replaced by Sandy Duncan in the role of “Aunt Sandy” It was unprecedented to see the star of a sitcom fired from the starring role and killed off so ruthlessly.
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8 February 2008 ABC rebrands to ABC1 with ABC1 next to the iconic ABC logo. ABC2 also gets a new look as well as a new on-air presentation. News presentation remained the same from 2005.
After a week of speculation that the ABC worm logo was to be removed, then-MD Kim Dalton a week before the rebrand said it will remain on the network and in the entire ABC.
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9 February 1981: Seven takes an expensive gamble with a new comedy-game show involving practical jokes, pranks, whacky stunts, treasure hunts and gallons of custard. Catch Us If You Can begins on Seven at 6pm. Nine had passed on the pilot the previous year. ATN7 gets an initial ratings boost but it fails to overcome TEN10’s news in the timeslot. The show runs for 30 episodes.
9 February 1987: TEN10’s new look Eyewitness News debuts with Steve Liebmann and W.A. import Robyn Johnston fronting the bulletin in place of Tim Webster and Ann Sanders. The promos are shot in the Melbourne newsroom with the Sydney newsroom still under renovation. As part of the revamped service a joint Sydney-Melbourne Eyewitness Report airs each morning at 11.30am with Sean Flannery reading in Sydney and Jo Pearson reading from Melbourne.
9 February 1992: Nine’s on air presentation gets an overhaul. It includes the introduction of this ident:
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Didn’t know this. How did the run down work?
I did see a clip of Jo Pearson reading a national bulletin out of Melbourne awhile back.
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I remembered this ident well. Each city would have its skyline shown on the glass panels behind the Nine logo.
Ahh yes, admittedly I’ve been wondering for a while now exactly when Nine relaunched their On-Air Presentation for 1992! 
It (and the 1993-94 updated version with a more glossy/dusk look) was a pretty good Ident as well, even though I’ve only ever seen it via old recordings of course.
Don’t recall but I don’t think it lasted long.
Featuring Deborah Gray, who only a few years earlier had been baring all in Number 96, and Grant Dodwell a few months before he became far more famous on A Country Practice.