We have said it plenty before, but Hamish McLachlan is the master of master\u2019s of ceremonies in getting our wealthy, our deep-pocketed magnates and our well-heeled, with a champagne or ten under their belt, to part with their hard-earned \u2014 well in some cases \u2014 cashola.<\/p>\n
All for a good cause of course, and none is more so deserving than Melbourne\u2019s biggest fundraising event, the annual Million Dollar Lunch at Crown on Friday.<\/p>\n
Raising money to go toward the Children\u2019s Cancer Foundation, every year the lunch boosts yet more funds (largely thanks to McLachlan working the room hard \u2014 he opened with \u201cyou arrive looking fabulous, mostly healthy and all unbelievably wealthy and you leave, well a little less wealthy\u201d). <\/p>\n
With Melbourne\u2019s most generous woman Heloise Pratt not in attendance this year, much of the doling out went to Jayco Gerry Ryan and his family. Son Andy Ryan, who is on the Million Dollar lunch committee, and Gerry were first to put their hands up to start off the pledges, gifting $50,000 before entrees had even been served.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, none other than disgraced former Carlton prez Luke Sayers made an appearance \u2014 nothing like the Swans saga this week to give you cover to rear your, er, head up at a public event and avoid the headlines \u2014 with his new flame Alexandra Elms \u2014 and former partner of V8 Supercar driver James Courtney \u2014 by his side sitting with property group Bonleaf. While Sayers was hoping to avoid any flashing lights he was happily seen chatting to Blues faithful and AusGP boss Martin Pakula.<\/p>\n
Later there wasn\u2019t a dry eye when former Victorian minister Jaala Pulford, took to the stage, bravely telling the room about her daughter\u2019s terminal cancer journey. Now the chair of the Children\u2019s Cancer Foundation she encouraged the room to dig deep to help raise funds for people to have access to the latest and most advanced cancer treatments in Australia.<\/p>\n
Which is exactly what the crowd did with an eye-watering $100,000 going to an auction prize of a David Bromley piece he painted as the crowd munched through their slow-braised Macedon Ranges lamp and green pea tartlet lunch with truffle jus.<\/p>\n
To cap off the proceedings Professor Brendan Murphy, chair of the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health, pulled a Pratt by donating back the premium raffle prize of a Lexus Luxury SUV valued at $63,806.<\/p>\n
All up the garden party themed Crown Palladium lunched raised a whooping $2.3 million, and the Lexus Blackburn dealership has a whooping new Bromley to hang somewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have said it plenty before, but Hamish McLachlan is the master of master\u2019s of ceremonies in getting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[116163,116180,116139,116181,116136,116154,5859,36933,42369,116153,116150,116147,116129,116183,53710,42510,116169,116151,116135,21187,116158,116142,116182,116132,5950,116126,116168,116165,32199,4212,50373,116155,116138,38150,68325,116149,9715,116148,48271,116166,116134,116179,1849,116177,40616,37416,116162,39815,116141,28744,116175,116128,260,116172,96110,116174,116161,116173,3121,7350,116160,116170,116130,61333,116131,42559,47734,47378,116137,74446,55391,116144,116140,116176,116164,110025,116157,116143,116159,116178,116127,44682,41762,42399,116156,78213,116152,48140,116145,116146,38964,39096,116133,116167,116171],"class_list":["post-77439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-heeled","tag-cashola","tag-s-biggest-fundraising-event","tag-s-cancer-foundation","tag-s-money-makers","tag-s-terminal-cancer-journey","tag-5859","tag-36933","tag-42369","tag-a-champagne","tag-a-david-bromley-piece","tag-a-dry-eye","tag-a-good-cause","tag-a-lexus-luxury-suv","tag-a-little","tag-a-pratt","tag-a-public-event","tag-a-whooping-2-3-million","tag-a-whooping-new-bromley","tag-access","tag-an-appearance-nothing","tag-an-auction-prize","tag-an-eye-watering-100","tag-any-flashing-lights","tag-attendance","tag-ausgp-boss-martin-pakula-later","tag-australia-which","tag-blues-faithful","tag-ceremonies","tag-chair","tag-crown","tag-disgraced-former-carlton-prez-luke-sayers","tag-entrees","tag-every-year","tag-former-partner","tag-former-victorian-minister-jaala-pulford","tag-friday","tag-friday-raising-money","tag-funds","tag-gerry","tag-green-pea-tartlet-lunch","tag-hamish-mclachlan","tag-health","tag-heloise-pratt","tag-her-daughter","tag-his-family","tag-his-new-flame-alexandra-elms","tag-his-side","tag-jayco-gerry-ryan","tag-kids","tag-master","tag-mclachlan","tag-melbourne","tag-million-dollar-lunch","tag-none-other","tag-our-deep-pocketed-magnates","tag-our-wealthy","tag-our-well-heeled","tag-part","tag-people","tag-professor-brendan-murphy","tag-property-group-bonleaf","tag-sayers","tag-some-cases","tag-son-andy-ryan","tag-ten","tag-the-headlines","tag-the-children","tag-the-annual-million-dollar-lunch","tag-the-chair","tag-the-crowd","tag-the-doling","tag-the-garden-party-themed-crown-palladium","tag-the-latest-and-most-advanced-cancer-treatments","tag-the-lexus-blackburn-dealership","tag-the-lunch","tag-the-master","tag-the-melbourne-academic-centre","tag-the-million-dollar-lunch-committee","tag-the-pledges","tag-the-premium-raffle-prize","tag-the-proceedings","tag-the-room","tag-the-stage","tag-the-swans-saga","tag-the-winner","tag-their-belt","tag-their-hands","tag-their-hard-earned","tag-their-slow-braised-macedon-ranges-lamp","tag-this-week","tag-this-year","tag-truffle-jus-to","tag-v8-supercar-driver-james-courtney","tag-yet-more-funds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}