Jessica Lane, 22, of Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia has made history. She is the first ever beauty queen from Oceania to win Miss Earth, which is based in Metro Manila, Philippines and owned by Carousel Productions.

Currently, Lane is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and creative writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast on the Sunshine Coast. On March 21, 2024, she became a certified scuba diver.

On August 11, 2024, Lane competed against 10 other Miss Earth Australia 2024 candidates at the Bryan Brown Theatre in Sydney and won the title. Also crowned were Miss Earth Australia Air 2024 Keisha Ann Nicole Tungol, Miss Earth Australia Fire 2024 Claudia Kuper and Miss Earth Australia Water 2024 Sarah Tute.

Miss Earth 2024 results

On November 9, 2024, Lane represented Australia at Miss Earth 2024 and competed against 75 other candidates at the Okada Manila in Parañaque, Metro Manila. She won the title.

The elemental queens were Miss Earth-Air 2024 Hrafnhildur Haraldsdóttir, 20, of Iceland, Miss Earth-Water 2024 Bea Millan-Windorski, 21, of United States and Miss Earth-Fire 2024 Niva Antezana, 20, of Peru. The runners-up were Jasmine Jorgensen, 19, of Cabo Verde, Tamara Aznar, 25, of the Dominican Republic, Bianca Caraballo, 22, of Puerto Rico and Ekaterina Romanova, 22, of Russia.

Including Lane, five candidates are from Oceania. The others are Ashlin Alveena Prasad, 18, of Fiji, Angela Rowson, 22, of New Zealand, Heavenly Divine Pangelinan, 18, of the Northern Mariana Islands and Anna-Li Pisa Tanuvasa, 21, of Samoa.

Rowson finished in the Top 20. Prasad, Pangelinan and Tanuvasa were all unplaced.

Priscilla Meirelles of Brazil, Jamie Herrell of the Philippines, Karen Ibasco of the Philippines and Mina Sue Choi of South Korea, who won the Miss Earth crown in 2004, 2014, 2017 and 2022, respectively, served as judges. They were joined by Jimmy Yim of Singapore, Lorraine Schuck of the Philippines and Matthias Gelber of Germany.

This is the 24th edition of Miss Earth. Except the elemental queens, none of its first 23 winners is from Oceania.

Miss Earth Australia

On September 14, 2014, Dayanna Grageda and Nadine Roberts competed against 10 other Miss Earth Australia 2014 candidates at the Sydney Town Hall in Sydney. Grageda won the title while Roberts, who ranked fourth, was crowned Miss Earth Australia-Fire 2014.

On October 9, 2014, Roberts was appointed Miss Earth Australia 2014 following Grageda’s dethronement under questionable circumstances while Roselyn Singh was the national director. Roberts was unplaced when she represented Australia at Miss Earth 2024 at the theater of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on November 29, 2014.

Carousel Productions later found out that Singh had unfairly treated Grageda. As a result, Singh lost the franchise, which was given to Kelly Louise Maguire, Renera Thompson and Peter Sereno.

On September 26, 2015, Grageda competed against 15 other Miss Earth Australia 2015 candidates at the Novotel Manly Pacific in Manly, New South Wales, Australia and won the title. Also crowned were Miss Earth Australia Air 2015 Lyndl Kean, Miss Earth Australia Water 2015 Genie Koulaeva and Miss Earth Australia Fire 2015 Tahnee McGann.

On July 30, 2016, Kean won Miss Earth Australia 2016 at the Cell Block Theatre at the National Arts School in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, besting 24 other candidates. The elemental queens were Miss Earth Australia Air 2016 Charlotte Rose, Miss Earth Australia Water 2016 Roanne Rose Lombard and Miss Earth Australia Fire 2016 Laura Smolej.

Rose later gave up her title so Lombard became the new Miss Earth Australia Air 2016 and Smolej became Miss Earth Australia Water 2016. The Miss Earth Australia Fire 2016 title was given to Louisa Brown.

Australia in Miss Earth

Australia is one of the countries represented in all of the 24 editions of Miss Earth. Lane’s coronation is the country’s sixth placement in the competition.

On October 28, 2001, Australia and 41 other countries and territories were represented in the inaugural edition of Miss Earth at the University of the Philippines’ theater. On October 24, 2004, Shenevelle Dickson of Australia finished in the Top 8 at Miss Earth 2004 at the same venue, marking Australia’s first Miss Earth placement.

On December 5, 2015, Grageda was crowned Miss Earth-Air 2015 at Marx Halle in Vienna, Austria as the runner-up to Miss Earth 2015 Angelia Ong of the Philippines. It was the first time Australia made it to the Top 4 of Miss Earth.

Representing Australia, Nina Robertson and Sheridan Mortlock were also crowned Miss Earth-Air in 2017 and 2022, respectively. Representing the Oceanian country, Kean finished in the Top 16 in 2016.

It was Drita Ziri of Albania who won the Miss Earth 2023 crown, making her the first ever Miss Earth from Albania. Also crowned were Miss Earth-Air 2023 Yllana Marie Aduana of the Philippines, Miss Earth-Water 2023 Đỗ Thị Lan Anh of Vietnam and Miss Earth-Fire 2023 Cora Bliault of Thailand.