Auctioneer Todd Donaldson knocks down an item during yesterday’s charity auction
INDUSTRY stakeholders dug deep for a much-loved cause yesterday, raising an incredible $404,501 for the Dolly’s Dream program at the Australian Agricultural Co’s annual long lunch and charity auction held in Brisbane.
More than 400 people from across the beef industry gathered for the annual event, which has grown from an intimate gathering of a few dozen supporters back in 2021, to an enormous event that carries a long attendance waiting list today.
Guests enjoyed AA Co Wagyu beef cheeks and porterhouse steaks, before getting down to the real business at hand.
AA Co station staff themselves raised $70,000 through local events held in recent months, and when combined with the ten donated charity items put up for auction yesterday and raffles of donated goods and services, the tally went past a blistering $400,000. One of the 40 tables in the room, alone, yesterday forked out $15,000 on raffle tickets.
The same event last year raised $255,000.
$1m raised in five years
A major milestone was reached when the accumulated fundraising tally from similar Dolly’s Dream long-lunch events held for the past five years went past $1 million yesterday.
The five-year Dolly’s Dream fundraising tally at the knock-down of the final sale item yesterday has now reached $1.273 million.
AA Co was not able to share the complete list of names of this year’s winning auction bidders without prior approval. However for reader interest we can still identify the charity auction items and what they made yesterday.
Beyond the audience of 400 attending the Long Lunch in Brisbane, there was an additional 60 stakeholders logged-on and bidding on the auction via the Stocklive platform.
The ‘big ticket’ item this year proved to be a CAT 226 Open Cab Skid Steer donated by Hastings Deering, which attracted 30 bids before being knocked down for $70,000 to Australia Food & Fibre’s Joe and Tim Robinson.
Other auction items to sell yesterday:
- Custom Honda CRF 300F Dolly’s Dream Motorbike – $20,000
- Wallabies Platinum Matchday Experience -$11,000
- Cape York Dirt Bike Tour – $13,000
- 20” Brahman Stella Edition Smoker – $10,500
- AAM Bective Station Experience – $13,000
- 2026 Toyota AFL Grand Final Experience – $17,000
- Gold Coast 500 VIP Supercar Experience – $14,500
- Grand Slam Tennis Experience Melbourne – $20,500
- AA Co Station Adventure – $42,500.
Sebastian Banks, left, representing donor Hastings Deering, with successful bidders Joe and Tim Robinson from Australian Food & Fibre who paid $70,000 for the skid steer painted in Dolly’s Dream blue, with auctioneer Todd Donaldson and AA Co’s Sam Graham
Auctioneer Paul McCormick from Elders plucks bids from the crowd, like trout from a well-stocked stream
Successful bidders for the Melbourne Australian Open Tennis Experience Hayley and Tim Ison from Ison Haulage, Chinchilla with auctioneer Todd Donaldson and AA Co’s David Harris.
Dolly’s parents Kate and Tick Everett, centre, took part in a panel session focussing on the need for education about speaking out about bullying during yesterday’s lunch
The Gold Coast V8 supercar experience package was bought by Elders, represented by John Molenaar and Dee Devonshire, pictured with auctioneer Paul McCormick.
This custom Honda CRF 300F Dolly’s Dream Motorbike was knocked down for $20,000.
Congratulations to all involved, the generous sponsors, the successful bidders, to a very worthwhile cause.
Special mention must go to Dolly’s parents, who have, through their horrendous experience, shone a light on this terrible recent scouge on our younger generation.