When I attended the Humpty Dumpty Foundation’s Melbourne wine dinner the other week, I expected to drink some excellent wines. With my colleague Katrina Butler, General Manager and Head of Tasting at Halliday Wine Companion, guiding us through the glasses, that felt like a fairly safe bet. I hadn’t expected to finish the evening blinking back tears alongside much of the room.
Although, knowing what the Humpty Dumpty Foundation does, I probably should have been more prepared.
"Humpty", as it was affectionally referred to as throughout the evening, helps hospitals and health services across Australia obtain essential, often lifesaving medical equipment, with the aim of giving sick babies and children access to the care they need, wherever they live. Through its Wish List, donors can fund equipment requested by hospitals and assessed by its Medical Program Advisory Committee.
It’s a practical approach that found a generous ally in James Halliday around two decades ago. And it all began with a phone call.
Back in 2007, Humpty founder Paul Francis OAM wanted better wines for the foundation’s fundraising dinners. He’d been reading the Halliday Wine Companion and decided to approach James Halliday for help. They’d never met. Calling one of Australia’s most respected wine authorities was certainly one way to get a recommendation. As Sandra Lee recounts in Humpty’s Good Egg Book, Paul delivered his pitch and endured what felt like an extraordinarily long silence before James replied: “Well, here’s what I’ll do for you”.
James subsequently sourced 19 wines for a 2007 dinner overlooking the Sydney Opera House, where 13 guests enjoyed eight courses prepared by Peter Doyle. They went on to raise more than $400,000 for two Retcam Shuttles, used to help prevent and treat blindness in babies. A fairly productive dinner, by anyone’s standards.
James’s involvement became a regular commitment. He guided wine selections for the Balmoral Burn and Great Humpty Ball, donated bottles from his own cellar and hosted experiences at his Yarra Valley property.
The Halliday Wine Companion also helped Humpty identify highly rated wines and approach wineries for donations, which could be assembled into Ultimate Cellar auction packages. Those auctions became an important part of its fundraising: the Humpty team explains that a 300-bottle cellar can fetch around $25,000 at a major event. Suddenly, donating a bottle or two looks rather powerful when enough wineries join in.
By June 2025, Humpty credited James’s support with helping raise about $8 million. As Ray Martin, who served as the foundation's patron for three decades, wrote, “He’s become one of Humpty’s greatest friends.”
That longstanding connection continued at The Wine Room at Marvel Stadium on 23 October, with Katrina and Humpty patron Johanna Griggs AM bringing warmth and personal reflections to the evening. Between courses and Katrina’s wine introductions, we heard from Luce Shep, a young mum sharing her experience with an at-risk pregnancy, and Dr David Tran, who explained how access to the right medical equipment changes lives.
Hearing those perspectives made the requests in the program feel much closer to home. On the night, guests funded a cough assist device for Monash Children’s Hospital and a phototherapy system for Sunshine Hospital’s newborn services, supporting children with respiratory difficulties and babies needing jaundice treatment.
As the evening drew to a close, a generous couple also fulfilled the Founder’s Wish: a $37,000 transport incubator for Kilmore and District Hospital. Replacing equipment at the end of its service life, it will help premature and critically ill newborns travel safely between hospitals for specialised care. When the donation was announced, doctor David and Johanna started crying, the donors were tearing up, and glistening eyes around the room showed how deeply the moment had landed. Over the course of the evening, over $70,000 worth of equipment had been funded.
I left thinking about how many people had contributed to that lifesaving outcome, from the doctors and nurses first and foremost, to James and the Halliday and Humpty teams, and to wineries and individual donors. As Katrina reflects, “Our partnership with Humpty Dumpty celebrates the relationship between our founder James Halliday AM and Paul Francis OAM, which was built on generosity, connection and shared purpose two decades ago. Carrying forward James’ legacy is something we are deeply passionate about, and this next chapter honours the bond he established with the charity. Wine has an extraordinary ability to bring people together, and we’re committed to sharing that joy while making a difference to a cause that matters.”
For wineries that want to get involved in future, either through wine donations, auction packages or fundraising experiences, please reach out to Humpty's Head of Events Penny Johnston. Individuals can help make a wish come true, too, through Humpty’s Wish List.
