Pictured at the Parkes Coachman Hotel Motel on the far left in a PMJRL guernsey is Dusty Langby, alongside PMJRL junior players and Club President Parkes Jason O’Brien. Right: Dusty pictured meeting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albenese upon his arrival to Parliament House Canberra.
Dusty Langby is a 12 year old boy, who has this week, completed a 540km walk from Warren to Canberra with the aim of raising $1 million for Little Wings so they can fly more paediatricians out to the bush. Dusty and his team left Warren on 30 August, and after five days and 184 kms of walking, Dusty arrived in Parkes on 3 August where he had already raised approximately $270,000.
While in Parkes, we caught up with Dusty and his team, which included his mum Sarah, who is a nurse, and fellow nurses Nikki from Little Wings and Chris from Warren.
We learned Dusty was actually only 11 years old when he came up with the idea to walk to Canberra.
Dusty, who lives on a farm in Warren, one afternoon noticed his mum Sarah had had a hard day, and said to her, “Come on mum lets go out the back, I’ll get you in the dam to have a swim and get you a ‘lemonade’ from the coolroom.”
It was then, that the pair got talking and Dusty stated he wanted to do something to help support Little Wings, saying, “Well I’ll walk.” Mum Sarah replied, “How far will you walk? Where will you walk?” To which Dusty responded, “Parliament House.” When his mum asked how much he would raise he confidently said, “One million dollars.”
Dusty completed his walk and arrived in Canberra on 15 August, meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who confirmed, “We’re matching Dusty’s fundraising dollar for dollar and backing Little Wings so they can keep flying and supporting regional families”.
Dusty absolutely smashed his goal of raising $1 million dollars, but the Dollar for Dusty fundraising account will be open for approximately one month post walk, so you can still donate at: www.givenow.com.au/dollar-for-dusty