The Mooch + Wombat DUSTillery

It has been a couple of months and the dust (pardon the pun) has finally settled on what was a whirlwind of an experience for the Mooch and Wombat DUSTillery. An experience that needs to be documented and put into words as it touched our hearts more than we could have ever imagined. The summer of 2019 will go down as one of the best and I really hope that it will be a time that the kids will always remember.

We get asked the question “How did this even happen” A LOT and to be honest, we are still processing that too. The only way we can explain it was that it was Aussies doing what Aussies do best. Over the few weeks, we saw the most selfless, gorgeous, kindest and most generous people come and support the Mooch + Wombat, but ultimately, the Australian bush kids. There is always bad press about the huge divide between city and country, which we had been feeling throughout the drought too, but this my friends, this just blew us away.

But let’s start at the very start…..

To give you a bit of an idea, we have been experiencing the “Worst Drought in History” for the past 2 years on our farm situated near Goondiwindi, Queensland. In good times, we are grain farmers who grow wheat, sorghum, the odd chickpea and sometimes some barley on our 10,000 acres of country. However in this drought, we haven’t been able to plant anything decent for 2 years now. The drought has been absolutely relentless, truly terrifying and on some days, purely soul destroying. However, one of the worst parts of the drought is hands down, the goddamn dust. Dust storms come raging in with such ferocity and anger that you actually wonder if this is the apocalypse that they have been warning us about. The wind makes the house rattle and dust seeps through no matter how tight you try to lock up your house. Then the storms disappear and leaving you with a mess that makes even the strongest person feel defeated…..and we were having those dust storms upwards of three times a week. With each dust storm, we felt our bravado weaken and it was just around October that I would just cry as I vacuumed the house and cleaned up the mess…..and the kids hated seeing me so sad that they would grab the vacuum first. It was then we realised how much this was affecting them too, in a different way, but still affecting them nonetheless.

Summer holidays had began and I had declared that I was taking 6 weeks off work to reconnect with these little people of ours. We would go on adventures, escape the dust if we needed to, read books and just spend time with each other without the daily distractions of school, work and life. Heathrow would still work but we would still find time for family time! It was only on Day 4 of the holidays, I said how I thought it would be funny if they bottled up the dust (after yet another f%^&ing dust storm) and sell it. The kids thought it was a great idea, Heath grabbed some beer bottles and off they went in the 40 degree heat to fill up a few and see if they could sell them. Heath + I did that parent look (you know the one) between each other that said “they’ll be flat out selling 4” and then told them that they could start their own holiday fund but had to donate 50% to a charity for Christmas.

It was a conversation I’ll never forget. They suggested the kids in Africa….and Heathrow suggested that maybe they should focus on the kids in Australia. The air was thick with smoke from the bushfires and after a beautiful conversation about what was happening in our country, the kids decided to buy presents with their 50% proceeds for the bushkids who were doing it tougher than them with the drought. Again Heath + I looked at each other and without saying anything we said “4 bottles at $5 equals $20. $5 each for the kids and a $10 present. Too easy.” And then the universe laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more because what happened next was nothing short of INCREDIBLE. The kids wrote out their labels, thought they were hilarious with their #superdry, we took a photo and I put it on my Facebook account showing our support for the Mooch + Wombat DUSTillery.

As predicted, we had orders come in from their grandparents and Aunty. Then, everyone started sharing and commenting and this is when we say it started to go viral? What does viral even mean? But I think we can say it went viral.... Within 12 hours, they had raised $400 in sales.

Within 24 hours, they had raised $1,000....and within not so long we couldn't even keep up with the orders, emails and phone calls!

We had people from all over Australia buy 1, 2, 6 and even buy carton’s of DUST only to donate the 23 bottles back for the BushKids.

Some people didn’t even want the dust, they just wanted to donate for the BushKids.

I’ll never forget the time when we were reading all of these comments to the kids and e-mails, and messages - and Heath + I were just sitting there crying, totally overwhelmed with the kindness and support for these kids we get to call ours.

We made a decision from that moment that the kids would only get $100 each from this venture….and the rest would be donated to the BushKids. Our kids didn’t need anything and they agreed with us that it meant they could buy more presents for bushkids which was what it was all about. Meanwhile, our minds were racing at 'how they hell are we going to make this happen!'.

So they had all this money…..but we needed names of kids! We needed nominations and with Christmas looming….we needed them FAST. We spoke to a gorgeous journalist from Queensland Country Life that shone the light on this great initiative of the kids and we whipped up a quick video to send out into the socials asking for people to nominate any gorgeous, resilient and brave bushkids that could do with a random act of kindness this Christmas. We dodged and weaved the TV News stations (more time spent on that was less time doing what was important….plus Wombat on TV made us nervous) and we got busy….

Within a few days the orders were still rolling in and we were upwards of $5,000 in orders and donations. The kids spent their days writing labels, replying to emails, filling dust bottles and just generally being the little legends that they are.

The names started to trickle in and we had slowly set up a plan to do both a QLD and NSW trip but we needed to do it within only a few days so we could catch the NSW school before they finished for the year, do the QLD leg of the trip and get home with a week to spare before Christmas. As I write this, it sounds CRAZY - and it was….but we didn’t have a clue what was ahead of us. Not a single clue!

So now with HUNDREDS of names of children coming in from all over QLD and NSW, we decided to do all of our shopping for the children in Goondiwindi. Our beautiful hometown was struggling and feeling the effects of this drought, so we couldn’t think of a better way to help than inject this money back into the community and businesses. We did countless trips to town (nearly 100km round trip!) to prepare for the QLD + NSW trip, purchased hundreds and hundreds of presents, endless rolls of wrapping paper and a whole heap of love. The business owners helped us endlessly even when they are going through their own hardships with donations, wrapping presents and so much more.

We prepared for our NSW trip with donations also for the bushfire affected families, school supplies for the Wytaliba kids (as their school burned down), and boxes and boxes of presents. We realised early that they were never going to all fit in our car so we hooked up to a trailer (thanks to our gorgeous friends) and we set off.

The Wombat + Mooch DUSTillery travelled 700km in one day visiting Northern NSW from Deepwater - Emmaville - Wytalliba (via Glen Innes as all the children are displaced) - Inverell - Gravesend. The Mooch + Wombat completely blew us away on this trip and I don’t think Heath and I will ever forget how proud we were.

They walked into each and every school with a friendly smile and a confident handshake. They stood in front of entire small schools, teachers, children and principals and told their story about what they have done. They told them how they have worked really hard bottling their dirt and with the money, they actually got presents for EVERY SINGLE KID IN THE SCHOOL. It was met with gasps, squeals and total disbelief from everyone in the room. Some kids even went on to say “I bet they aren’t for us though”….and when Mooch or Wombat called out their names, they just couldn’t believe it. Teachers became emotional. Principals just couldn’t believe it. Kids were just totally overwhelmed and probably a bit confused BUT yet so so grateful for this random act of kindness. Some kids told us how they have been watching YouTube dreaming of having that toy, one boy was so overjoyed he just kept yelling oh my god over and over. We watched as kids piled outside to kick their footies, or throw their rockets, or play cricket with their new bats, or unwrap their unicorns, or play with their play dough….and we watched as the kids treated Mooch + Wombat like long, old friends. Like they have an understanding between each other that they have each other’s backs - and that was hands down worth every single late night that we had to make the trip a huge success.

It was after we had completed the QLD trip - Meandarra - Glenmorgan - Surat - Roma - Muckadilla/Mitchell/Morven (via elves) - Wallumbilla - Jandowe - Dalby ( and in Roma we stayed overnight and we delivered bottles off to a Roma Cafe - The Tasting Co - for them to use as table numbers and stayed with the most glorious Schutts at Roma Motel) that we asked the kids what they thought would have been the best part of this whole journey. It always went back to meeting the kids, seeing their reaction and getting to experience the true emotion of being able to GIVE. This is something that Heath + I as parents can’t teach and we still get emotional thinking about what this whole DUSTillery experience has changed us all.

1,491 Bottles Sold

1,310 bottled donated back for re-sale

Donated $9,000

307 presents purchased

1,640 km travelled

Sales to every single state in Australia

We have been connected with some of the most incredible people all over Australia. The kids even are now penpals with a grandma in the USA and 80 year old farmer from SA who sends them e-mails.

They have 307 new friends - and Heath + I have made some incredible connections with amazing people too.

One of the major things that blew us away was being contacted by Redlands Tigers Cricket Club (Hi James!) telling us that they wanted to donate $1,000 to the cause. We just couldn’t believe it! If that wasn’t enough, Jimmy Peirson, the wicket keeper for the Queensland Heat BBL wanted to raise even more awareness for Mooch + Wombat so he put a sticker of these kids of ours on his bat. We were blown away by the kindness of Jimmy and the entire cricket community who really taught our kids by doing this that even though you might be small, you can still do really amazing things.

The craziness started to slow down and I declared shutdown for the kids over Christmas as the tiredness started to creep in. The kids still spent this time preparing for our own Christmas and they were like little elves wrapping random presents for their family from all over the house. I remember asking them what they were doing…..and they loved the feeling of GIVING so much, that they wanted to keep doing it for their family. Their cousin got an old barbie, their Pa got a wrapped up candy cane, their uncle got a book of handwritten vouchers to cash in on, I got handmade perfume and Heathrow got a block of chocolate (that was actually his but that’s beside the point!). Never ever underestimate how much you can teach a child about how they can make someone else feel and essentially how it will actually make them feel in return, without receiving a physical gift. It’s a profound thing to be able to watch the effect of what has happened over the past few weeks on the kids and I honestly had never felt prouder of these little humans who we get to call ours.

We spent January wrapping up the last of the orders, ensuring the kids remained humble in between all the incredible things that were happening, started to get ready for school and tried to resume normal life again! We received a letter with even more news that blew us away…..that the kids had been nominated for the “Australia Day Awards”. I cried. Heath cried. We all were pretty overwhelmed and a bit nervous that everyone thought that the Mooch + Wombat were these perfect children and expected that of them at all times. Because as much as they are perfect - they are also loud, wild, colourful, emotional and incredible humans who make mistakes like all kids do. It was when someone said to me “Han, they are being recognised for doing an amazing thing” that it clicked for me. They weren’t being awarded for being exceptional people….but yet, they were being awarded for “Being ordinary people doing EXCEPTIONAL things” and that was a big deal!

Before Australia Day, we headed off to watch our hero Jimmy Peirson in the BBL and much to our delight, he came to find us in the crowd so he could meet the infamous Mooch + Wombat himself. Even with people all over him asking for signatures and selfies, he stopped it all to shake hands with the kids, have a chat for ages and give them all the attention. We literally could not believe it - and could not have met a nicer guy, sportsman and hero for the kids to idolise.

Australia Day rolled around and if you couldn’t shock us any more, well, the Mooch + Wombat were awarded the “Young Citizens of the Year” Australia Day Award for 2020. Yes we cried. Yes we cheered. Yes we laughed as they realised they had to make a speech. What an experience for these 2 little bush kids who had been through their own gut wrenching journey through the drought but to realise that bringing happiness to others is maybe what the secret of life actually is. They stood up there on the stage, shook everyones hands and made us realise that we could never stop being proud of these two.

It was a journey that we will never ever forget and I feel like it has been forever etched in our hearts. I wrote this so that one day Mace or Will might read this and remember the time that we told them how proud we were of them so often that Wombat actually replied “Ummm…can you stop? I’m just trying to remain humble”. The summer of 19 will be high on the list to beat and even though we didn’t read the books, watch the movies or do whatever else we had planned to do - we didn’t even care. We got to know more about each other than we realised, spent so much quality time singing, chatting and bonding over the nicest Australians we got the pleasure to meet and we walked away from this experience knowing that we are better people because if it. The biggest thing we learned was that the world was in fact not broken. Even with the climate change, the drought, the fires, the wars, the coronavirus and the lack of toilet paper…..I promise you, that we aren’t broken. Instead of looking at the disaster, look at the people, for I promise you that humanity is alive and well and the biggest Christmas present we could receive was being able to experience that ourselves.

A huge thank you to everyone that supported our Mooch + Wombat. We will never forget your kindness, generosity and friendship. x