Kay’s story: A Camden and Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea legend 

After hosting her first Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea in 2001, Kay was ready to pass on the mantle in the community after 15 years. However, no one else in her community in Camden was willing to fill the boots that were the size of her heart. So, Kay continued on, not wanting to leave a hole in the vital funds she had been able to contribute to support people affected by cancer.  

Like all Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea hosts, Kay has a unique and personal connection to cancer that drove her to get involved with Cancer Council’s fundraiser.  

“In May 2000, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 50, which then spread to her brain. That’s when I said to her daughters, ‘Why don’t we host an Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea?’”  

Kay’s nephew was also diagnosed with a very rare skin cancer and died at a young age. A friend of hers is also now in remission, after receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 

From humble beginnings in 2001… 

At the first morning tea she hosted back in 2001, Kay recalls having 105 people come up her driveway, helping to raise nearly $1,600.  

“After the first year, everyone said to me ‘You’ve got to do this again!’”, Kay remembers.

“I had an awful lot of help, people were coming here at six in the morning bringing bread and sandwiches, pot plants and more for me to sell. I get so many people coming up to me even today saying ‘I remember you, I came to your first Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.’ Everyone seems to know who I am!” 

Kay’s sister passed away in 2004, which is the reason for her commitment to continue to make a difference for all those who are affected by cancer.

“I keep coming back to host so I can help support cancer research. I look up in the sky every so often and think, If you hadn’t got cancer, what would I be doing?”  

…to 25 years of hosting Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea 

Fast forward 25 years, and Kay has now raised over $372,000 raised for Cancer Council across her involvement with Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, Relay For Life, The March Charge and donating half of the money she makes through selling her own jam in the community.

2025 will be Kay’s last morning tea, marking the end of an era in Camden.  

With a quarter of a century worth of experience under her belt, Kay’s advice to others considering hosting their own Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is simple: “Get out there and raise money for a great cause.”

Kay also thanks the Camden community for their invaluable support over the years. “So many people have just been so generous”, Kay says. “People were walking up the driveway with all this food and would also leave so much stuff for us to sell or auction, so we’d host a garage sale the same week to raise more money for Cancer Council.” 

For more information, visit our breast cancer page and if you, or someone you know is living with cancer call us on 13 11 20. 

You can still register at biggestmorningtea.com.au