Victorian family winery Tahbilk is giving one Australian family separated by distance, time or life’s pressures the chance to reconnect.
After reading countless stories, Tahbilk has selected Barbara Burgess, a retired paediatric nurse from Toowoomba, Queensland, as the recipient of its inaugural Long Lost Lunch on Thursday.
Barbara’s family is scattered across the country – from Adelaide and Roxby Downs in South Australia, to Caboolture and Brisbane in Queensland.
It’s been years since they were all in the same room and for that time chronic illness and the financial strain it brought made something as simple as seeing family feel out of reach.
The Burgess story begins in Hungary.
Barbara’s father fled communist rule and arrived in Australia as a migrant before eventually making his way to Radium Hill as Australia’s first uranium mining town.
He met Barbara’s mother, an Australian Inland Mission nurse, sent from a dairy farm near Toowoomba.
Barbara’s father and his brothers went on to hand-dig 39 holes in the South Australian Outback before striking opal.
Barbara’s grandmother, mother and Barbara herself all became registered nurses and midwives as four generations of women in medicine.
“I am sure my parents would have been so proud of all of us,” Barbara says.
After 16 years of battling an undiagnosed illness later identified as toxic mould syndrome, the financial and physical toll made staying connected with family feel near impossible.
“Catching up with my cousins became too difficult,” she says.
“It’s so exciting to think we might all be able to get together to share a meal and our love.”
Tahbilk is now bringing Barbara’s family together – flying relatives in from across the country to reunite over a long lunch amongst the vines.
Fourth generation Tahbilk custodian Alister Purbrick says, “When we read Barbara’s story we knew immediately she was our family.
“A Hungarian migrant father who hand-dug for opal, four generations of nurses and a family pulled apart by circumstances entirely outside their control –- it is exactly the kind of story this lunch was made for.”
Tahbilk’s Long Lost Lunch will be co-hosted by Saroo Brierley, whose 25-year journey to reconnect with his family inspired the internationally acclaimed film Lion.
“Reuniting with my family was the most powerful moment of my life,” says Saroo.
“After years of searching we finally found each other again and that sense of relief and peace is something I want another family to feel.”
“Barbara’s story moved me.
“The resilience, the distance, the years of just wanting to be in the same room as the people you love – I understand that more than most.”
True to her Hungarian roots, Barbara knows the power of a table full of food and family.
Her uncle Victor had a saying she has never forgotten: “You don’t have to be hungry to eat.”
Barbara’s story is one shared by countless Australians.
Tahbilk hopes that by bringing her family back together, it will inspire others to prioritise the moments and the people that matter most.
Photo: The Tahbilk family. The winery was established in 1860.
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