Aussies know this woman’s voice but have never seen her – until now

Millions of Australians have heard Taylor Owynns’ voice – but few would recognise her in the street if they saw her.

For the last 20 years, she has been the iconic voice of NSW trains and trams. 

Melbourne-born Taylor, who now calls Sydney home, first got into acting in her twenties – but never expect her most famous line to be ‘mind the gap’.

She recently stumbled across a viral Facebook post about her role in transport announcements and was touched by the public’s fondness for her voice.

‘I love this job, I really do. I was blown away by what it meant for people. I’m incredibly touched,’ she told FEMAIL. 

‘When I record announcements, I always have the people in mind because I know what it’s like when you’re on a platform.

‘There’s distractions, there’s a lot of other noise going on, you may not speak the language, it may not be your first language. So I’m always mindful of that.’

In her younger years, Taylor moved to New York where she didn’t know a soul and only stayed for a year after realising how ‘tough’ it was. 

Taylor then relocated to London where she thought she’d stay for the rest of her life, only to move back to Australia two years later. 

Throughout her career, she has voiced hundreds of radio adverts and audiobooks, but the NSW transport job is the one closest to her heart. 

She even briefly provided the voice for Melbourne‘s Flinders Street Station. 

Passengers from across NSW will be familiar with Taylor’s soothing voice reminding them of safety rules and which train is arriving next. 

‘Like all the opportunities in my life, it came about absolutely from left field. But I’m so glad it did. At the time they were wanting to change the voice from a man to a woman,’ she explained. 

Most of the time Taylor prefers to maintain a low profile, but on a rare occasion she – or at least her voice – is recognised in public. 

‘I’m asked to take the odd selfie on occasion. Most of the time strangers say, “I know your voice from somewhere,” but they can’t pinpoint where exactly. So I feel compelled to confess and might give a live impression,’ she said. 

Once she was in the middle of the French countryside and met a German man who had lived in Sydney and recognised her voice.

Taylor said the the technology of public transport announcements was ‘very different’ when she was first hired for the job.

The full sentences heard over the PA system are in fact separately recorded words and phrases strung together, known as concatenated speech.

Her recordings had to be consistent in pitch and tone because ‘it all had to blend as though it was one sentence even though it was actually a combination of several’. 

Before landing the job with NSW Transport, she starred in the popular ’90s children’s show Bananas in Pyjamas, in which she played Lulu the teddy bear.

Ms Owynns held the role for 12 years and said it was physically challenging at times due to the size and weight of the costume.

She described it as a ‘very different job’ compared to her train announcements work, allowing her to ‘be a kid again’. 

‘It’s like we were playing like little children. The teddies were supposed to be eight years old I think. It was a fabulous team of people,’ she said. 

‘The suit was heavy. The feet were built around running shoes and were very large, the hands had four fingers, and I could only see through the nose cone.’

Transport for NSW also shared images of Taylor on Facebook, prompting commuters to flood the comments with praise.

‘I just LOVE the way Taylor announces Leppington and Edmondson Park. She makes them sound like magical places where unicorns roam. Always a highlight of my day and gives me a smile,’ one Sydneysider wrote. 

Another called her a ‘national hero’ while a third said she was an ‘Australian icon’. 

‘Good to put a face to that iconic voice,’ another wrote. 

Surprisingly many confessed they thought the voice was TV presenter Gretel Killeen.

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