Toukley Charity Fundraising Event

In December the Beachcomber Resort at Toukley (New South Wales Central Coast), was host to an historical event – the gathering of seven of the cast and crew of the original Mad Max movie, an icon in Australian film making history.

The Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne), Johnny the Boy (Tim Burns), Roop (Steve Millichamp), Cundalini (Paul Johnstone), Captain Fifi (Roger Ward), as well as stunt co-ordinator Grant Page and stuntman Terry Gibson joined an enthusiastic crowd of 150 guests and shared their experiences of being a part of the Mad Max movie 25 years ago.

The event was organized by the Toukley Neighbourhood Centre to raise funds for the Centre as well as to celebrate the movie's 25th anniversary. A group of Japanese fans travelled from Japan especially to attend the event and went home not only with numerous autographed memorabilia items, but also with lasting memories of being part of a rare experience of meeting seven of their "heroes" from their favourite movie.

The response from the guests was overwhelming, with posts on the internet as soon as the next morning expressing sentiments such as "the night was a Mad Max dream... just to get together with these guys, in such an intimate setting, sharing their memories, will stay with me forever... the event of the decade... 100% mind blowing..."

The highlight of the auction segment run by renowned auctioneer Tony Fountain was the sale of the Wyong Shire Community-built replica Mad Max car Big Bopper. Autographed by all the stars who attended, the car sold for $9000 to a family from Nelsons Bay, who were elated to be the new owners of the movie replica.

Co-ordinators of the Event and the Big Bopper Build, Veronique Moseley and Ross Beckley were thrilled with the results. "To gather seven of the stars from the movie at a public event to raise money for charity was a world first. To build a community-built replica of the Big Bopper was a world first. The auction, including Big Bopper, raised over $16,000 with funds supporting Toukley Neighbourhood Centre's many projects. A brilliant result in many ways."

(source: The Windmill News, Toukley, Feb/March 2005)