Variety, the Children’s Charity will celebrate its 50th year of operations in Australia in 2025,
and over that time distributed over $200m in grants to support children who are sick,
disadvantaged or live with a disability.
The highlight of this anniversary will be staging the first ‘National’ Variety Bash in 10 years
whereby every Variety Bash route will be coordinated to be in one place to acknowledge the
collective achievement. Traditionally, a National Bash is staged every 5 years however with
the Covid restrictions in place the 2020 event was cancelled.
In 1985 famous Australian entrepreneur, aviator and businessman Dick Smith invited his
mates for ‘a drive in the bush’ to raise funds for Variety. The Variety Bash was born and
quickly became an incredibly successful fundraising event.
Through the support of the South Australian Government, SA has been crowned as the
Official Destination Partner for the iconic National Bash in August next year.
In the first two weeks of August 2025, around 650 cars with over 1600 Bash entrants from
across Australia will venture to South Australia to celebrate this momentous milestone and in
the process inject over $2M in economic benefit into the SA economy. This economic benefit
is magnified as the Bash entrants will travel through regional and remote parts of our State as
they journey in and return home.
As well as its fundraising, which aims to exceed $8M nationally, the National Bash event will
also bring in much-needed economic benefit to remote and regional areas of South Australia
through food and beverage provision, fuel, accommodation, repairs, personal experiences and
more. This is on top of the individual and community grants made along the way.
Variety, the Children’s Charity has offices in all States and territories and all stage a Bash as
their major fundraiser of the year. They will travel many thousands of kilometres to be all
together for the ‘National Bash Party’ on Friday 8 August 2025.
Most major regions of South Australia will benefit through Bash route visitation including
Eyre Peninsula, Riverland, Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley, Fleurieu Peninsula, Clare Valley,
Barossa, Limestone Coast, Flinders Ranges and the Adelaide metropolitan area. The routes
and towns have been coordinated to maximise the benefits and to ensure in some instances
that the capacity of limited resources can cope with the influx of guests.
The National Bash Party will feature VIP guests, headline entertainment and all entrants will
be encouraged to wear their famous Bash themed outfits making it a memorable and visually
unique spectacle.
South Australian Minister for Tourism, Zoe Bettison welcomed the National Variety Bash
celebrations to South Australia in 2025.
“This iconic event is set to not only inject an expected $2 million into our economy but it will also
showcase the very best of our regions to visitors from across Australia. From the Eyre Peninsula to the Flinders Ranges, the Bash participants will experience the warm hospitality and stunning
landscapes that make South Australia a must-visit destination,” Minister Bettison said.
“The winter timing of the National Bash will provide a welcome boost to our tourism industry
during the traditionally off-peak season. We look forward to hosting this colourful convoy in what
will be a milestone anniversary for Variety and its incredible work for children across Australia.”
Variety SA Chair Sally Paech said that one of the highlights as they travel through the regional
towns and outback stations will be meeting the kids and families of the bush”
“For SA and the other Variety offices the Bash remains our flagship fundraiser, which helps us meet the ever-expanding demand of our grants for SA kids in need, their families, other children’s
charities, schools, hospitals and community groups. Speaking for Variety SA, in the past year alone, Variety SA has positively impacted the lives of over 88,000 children in South Australia through 244 grants totalling $6.23 million which underlines the need in our community”.
About Variety – the Children’s Charity:
International
Variety – the Children’s Charity was founded in 1927 by a group of eleven men after finding
an abandoned baby named Catherine at the Sheridan Square Theater in Pittsburgh, United
States. The little girl, who became the inspiration for our international children’s charity, was
named Catherine Variety Sheridan, her middle name for the club and last name for the
theatre she was found in.
Inspired by Catherine’s story, many other people wanted to get
involved and the members were soon inundated with help, far too much for one child, and
thus other disadvantaged and orphaned children became beneficiaries of Catherine’s
“adoption” by the Variety Club members.
In 1928 the Variety Club charity began, which today is known as Variety – the Children’s
Charity. From the inspiration and motivation of a single child, one of the world’s greatest
children’s charities grew—all across the globe.
National
In 1975, under Chair Paul Hogan, Variety in Australia was founded in Sydney. Between 1980
and 1988 regional committees were founded in each capital across Australia expanding the
reach of positive impact for children in need.
