It is the traumatic incident more than two decades ago that continues to haunt Wallabies legend Phil Kearns — when he accidentally drove over his 19-month-old daughter at their Sydney home. Andie Kearns still playfully reminds the hooker, who played 67 Tests for Australia, about the time 'you tried to kill me.'
Kearns, now 58, laughs off the banter, but deep down, it still hurts. At the time of the incident — October 23, 2005 — Andie survived due to hospital equipment purchased by the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. The funds were made available thanks to the success of the Balmoral Burn – a fundraising event started by Kearns four years earlier.
The Balmoral Burn: A Lifesaving Legacy
Fast forward to 2026, and the Kearns family will be at Awaba Street in Mosman for the latest staging of the community event on Sunday, May 24. It is a challenging 420-metre climb that is not for the faint-hearted. Kearns is immensely proud of the Balmoral Burn, pointing out that the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has raised a reported $36.5 million for equipment used in over 500 hospitals across Australia.
'The intent was to raise $10,000 in that first year when we raised $70,000 – so it has exceeded all expectations from day one,' Kearns told News Corp. 'It's amazing – and who knows how many lives have been saved because of that equipment?'
Life in Orange: A New Chapter
These days, the father-of-four resides with his wife Julie in Orange, located in Central West NSW. Life is very different for the man inducted into the Australian Rugby Hall of Fame in 2018, but he is relishing his surroundings. Kearns, a member of Australia's World Cup winning teams in 1991 and 1999, also has a new hobby — tending to bees, which he uses to sell jars of honey.
'There's less traffic, there's less people, but the opportunities are fantastic,' he said of daily life in Orange. 'I never would have thought in a billion years that I'd have bees... it is fascinating and new, I love it. Also, our honey is unbelievable.'
