DHI

Spontaneous fundraiser on Dirk Hartog Island raises $22,000 for WA Flying Doctor

Date published

07 Oct 2021

A massive thank you to the Wardle family who hosted a long table lunch on Dirk Hartog Island which raised a whopping $22,000 in support of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Western Australia.

DHI fundraiser

Director Kieran Wardle, who has lived on the island with his family for more than 25 years, said funds were spontaneously raised for the RFDS by generous guests at a long table lunch held annually to promote the island and the food from the region.

Dirk Hartog Island is a remote paradise located 700km north of Perth and is Western Australia’s largest and most western island.

Kieran said knowing the RFDS is just a call away offers guests on the Island and his family important reassurance that help will arrive should they ever find themselves in a medical emergency.

In March this year, time was of the essence when Kieran’s son Will suffered burns to his hand, thigh and leg while using an incinerator on the Island and required urgent transfer by the RFDS to the Fiona Stanley Hospital burns unit in Perth.

“We chartered a small plane and flew Will and my wife Tory to Denham to wait at the Silver Chain post. He had an amazing nurse who looked after him and managed his pain until the RFDS arrived,” Kieran said.

“Without the assistance of the RFDS, the outcome would have been very different.”