Telethon 2016

The people of Western Australia raised a record $26,290,154 across the weekend of October 15 & 16 in 2016 which Telethon will distribute far and wide back into the WA community.
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From the moment the annual tv broadcast kicked off with Jessica Mauboy, Rob Mills, music legend Marcia Hines, Anthony Callea and former X Factor contestants Matt & Jess and 2015 winner Cyrus, plus new singing sensation Missy Lancaster in front of 2,500 people at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, the crowd and viewers across W.A. were determined to break last year’s record of $25.8 million over the 26 hour marathon tv show that was broadcast on Channel 7 Perth and GWN7 across the entire state of Western Australia.

Over the past 49 years, the people of Western Australia have donated over $232 million to Telethon. $232 million!   The marathon Channel 7 tv show wrapped up with a donation from Sophie of $100 which took this year’s total to a record $26,290, 154.

The 2016 Telethon weekend kicked off to a sold out audience along with thousands watching the live broadcast in Perth, around the state and indeed around the world. Jessica Mauboy, Rob Mills, Missy Lancaster, Taylor Henderson, Cyrus plus Jess & Matt entertained the audience and helped get us off to a cracking start. Marcia Hines came from the Lexus Ball to give a surprise performance, while The Black Sorrow’s brought some rock and roll to Saturday night’s entertainment.

Telethon stars Hailey Ardagh (7) and Cody Colmer (6) who will be the face of Telethon 2016, pictured at Lake Monger, Leederville, Perth.

Little Telethon Stars, 6 year old Cody Colmer and 8 year old Hailey Ardagh stole our hearts with their entertaining stories as they visited the Bendigo Bank Kids Carnival, The Sunday Times Call Centre and the set of Telethon at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The marathon 26 hour TV broadcast went live across Channel 7 Perth and across W.A. on GWN7. Plus it was streamed nationally via the telethon7.com and thewest.com.au websites.

The team at Channel 7 Perth and The West Australian led an army of volunteers, plus more than 250 TV production crew, 600 entertainers and 1,000 volunteers to make this Telethon weekend the most successful ever.

There were plenty of major donations from Telethon’s famous Million Dollar Partners, but as always it was the generosity of the people of Western Australia that shone through raising a record breaking $26,290, 154.

BHP Billiton kicked off the weekend with a donation of $4 million dollars as part of a $20 million five year commitment from them. Wesfarmers also continued to donate with a further $1.25m. Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation contributed $1 million, by matching all of the donations phoned through to The Sunday Times Call Centre in the first few hours of Telethon on Saturday night.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop donated of $1.5 million from the Federal Government. The Lexus Ball raised an outstanding $1 million from the generosity of their guests, which included some massive donations from individuals totalling $336,000 to fund an important Autism research project at The Telethon Kid’s Institute.

Premier Colin Barnett handed over a cheque for $500,000 from the State Government on behalf of all West Australians.  Perth businessman, Tim Roberts generously donated $1.5 million this year.  Malcolm, Tonya and Carolyn McCusker generously donated $1 million from the McCusker Charitable Foundation.  The Telethon Adventurers raised over $500,000 during the year including a generous $250,000 from Bill Beament on behalf of Northern Star Resources.  Ramsay Health Care donated $1 million and Chevron were welcomed as a new Million Dollar Partner.

James Tobin & Fat Cat at The 2016 Telethon Home auction

On Sunday, Weekend Sunrise weather presenter James Tobin joined Rick Ardon at the 2016 Eden Beach Telethon Home built by In-Vogue which sold at auction for $750,000.

7 Network personalities from Home & Away, 800 Words, Sunrise, The Chase Australia and Secret Daughter got into the spirit of Telethon with Mark Gibson. They competed in some very funny, and often very messy, live challenges to see how much money they could talk Crown Perth into donating. It ended up being a whopping $2.5 million. Crown has now donated over $13.1 million to Telethon.

The Flight Centre telethonauction.com.au which ran throughout the weekend raised an amazing $103 280.

Mix 94.5 on air personalities Dean, Matt & Kymba handed over $315,000 which was raised in Mix 94.5’s Kids Appeal.

West Australian Regional Newspapers and Redwave Media raised over $82,000.

Little Telethon Star Cody Colmer’s local community of Albany also threw their support behind Telethon with an Everyday Hero fundraising page. They hoped they could raise around $3000, they banded together and smashed that target, raising more than $15 000.

For the 5th year Hawaiian Property Group held The Rob Broadfield Dinner at Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa in Broome and donated $500,000. Plus Hawaiian also hosted 7 personalities and artists from Sony Music at Claremont Quarter throughout the weekend.

Other large donations included;

Telethon Community Cinemas – $565,000;

Bankwest – $100,000;
Perth Airport – $100,000;
The Rhonda Wyllie Foundation – $100,000;
Budget Rent a Car – $100,000;
Westrac – $67,000;
Woolworths – $500,000;
Government of Western Australia – $500,000;
Coles – $336,000

Matt Fuller, Josh Catalano and Soa The Hulk moments before the challenge began

Ex-rugby player, Matt Fuller, UFC champion Soa “The Hulk” and Chef Josh Catalano spent months preparing for a 24 hour challenge that saw them stay on ergo-grinders and a bike for 24 hours straight across the weekend at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Peard Real Estate donating $40,000 towards their efforts, and an additional $36,000 in fundraising. The Spud Shed’s Tony Galati arrived at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday afternoon to support his good friend Soa “The Hulk” and generously handed over a cheque for $50,000.

In the closing stages of the broadcast, Executive Chairman of Seven Group Holdings and Chairman of the Channel 7 Telethon Trust, Mr Kerry Stokes AC generously contributed $1.5 million on behalf of his private company Australian Capital Equity.

Telethon CEO, Steve Mummery was ecstatic with the result from the weekend.

“W.A. is going through some very tough times economically, so we really appreciate the effort that people have made this year in digging deep, not only for this weekend, but right across the year in helping Telethon reach this special amount. My thanks go out to all of the mums and dads and their kids, who have helped raise money for Telethon over the past 12 months.” he said.

The cast and crew of Telethon 2016

A huge line-up of 7 Network personalities flew in from around Australia including Benson Jack Anthony (Arlo Turner), Michelle Langstone (Fiona), Emma Leonard (Tracey) and Melina Vidler (Shay Turner) from 800 Words; Brydon Coverdale (The Shark), Issa Shultz (Super Nerd) and Matt Parkinson (Goliath) from The Chase Australia.

Charlie Clausen (Zac Macguire), Isabella Giovinazzo (Phoebe Nicholson), Jackson Heywood (Brodie Morgan), Scott Lee (Hunter), James Stewart (Justin Morgan), Lynne McGranger (Irene Roberts ), Penny McNamee (Tori Morgan), Pia Miller (Kat ), Orpheus Pledger (Mason Morgan) from Home and Away; Carolyn Burns-McCrave, Wendy Moore and Joe Snell from House Rules, Kylie Gillies, Peter Ford and Karen Ledbury from the Morning Show; Candice Dixon and Teigan Nash from Saturday Disney.

Rachel Gordon (Susan Norton), Jordan Hare (Harriet Norton), Matt Levett (Jamie Norton), Jessica Mauboy (Billie Carter), J.R. Reyne (Dan Delaney) and Jared Turner (Chris Norton) from the Secret Daughter; Steve Pennells, Melissa Doyle and Rahni Sadler from Sunday Night; Natalie Barr, David Koch and Sam Mac from Sunrise; Gigi Falanga from Zumbo’s Just Desserts and James Tobin from Weekend Sunrise.

Local West Australian My Kitchen Rules contestants Anna and Jordan plus Nev and Kell also joined in on the fun!

They were joined by 7’s Perth stars – Rick Ardon, Susannah Carr, Basil Zempilas, Matt Tinney, Geof Parry, Adrian Barich, Alexis Donkin, Blake Johnson , Ryan Daniels, Jessica Paige, Kate Smithers, Amelia Broun, Rebecca Marsh, Rebecca Picton-King, Jordan Cutts, Rob Scott, Samantha Jolly, Jamie Freestone and Grant Wynne from Seven News Perth & Sunrise, plus Today Tonight’s Monika Kos, Mark Gibson, Graeme Butler, Cassie Silver, Mark Readings and Syan Dougherty. Plus many of Perth’s radio personalities from Mix 94.5 hit 92.9, Nova 93.7, 96FM, 6PR and 6iX.

Social media again played a huge role in connecting celebrities with their fans across the Telethon weekend, with loads of personalities taking to the Telethon Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds to interact live with more than 2 million users. This year #telethon7 also had massive support from around the world including from the United States, Canada, France, Morocco, Norway, Germany, Italy and South Africa. In the always competitive River competition, South this year defeated North for the area with the most donation.