Since taking office as the US ambassador to Australia in July 2022, Caroline Kennedy – the only surviving child of late US president John F. Kennedy, has been busy nurturing diplomatic ties, pitching at local baseball matches and attending Summernats — Canberra’s infamous annual car festival.
One day in 2022, during a visit to the sausage sizzle stand at a Bunnings store in Canberra, she learned about the Shitbox Rally — an annual charity event that sees cars worth less than $1500 drive from Adelaide to Perth to raise money for cancer research.
This year, Kennedy has signed up for the Autumn Shitbox Rally, where she will travel for more than seven days across unsealed roads in a decaying Ford Falcon.
The Shitbox Rally was founded by James Freeman OAM in 2009, after he lost both his parents to cancer within a year. As the largest privately organised fundraiser for the Cancer Council in Australia, it has raised more than $40m for cancer research since it began.
Each two-person crew act as fundraisers for the Cancer Council, and must raise at least $5,000 to participate. The cars, albeit a bit beat-up, must be roadworthy and registered.
The rally, which takes place in April, attracts roughly 500 participants each year. This year, the 3000km route will begin in Adelaide before travelling up the Oodnadatta Track to Uluru, then past Kata Tjuta and off towards the Gibson Desert, down the Great Central Road to the Southwest and finally, to Perth.
Participants arrange their own tents and camp overnight at each stop.
On Sunday, donned in an Akubra hat and flipping sausages, Kennedy returned to the original barbecue-ers at a Canberra Bunnings.
“I’m so happy the people who first told me about Shitbox, who I bought my first sausage off two years ago are here as well,” she said.
“We’re really excited. Our car is going to be called ‘Moonshot’ in honour of president (Joe) Biden’s cancer moonshot (initiative), and president Kennedy’s race to the moon.”
“We do these things because they’re hard,” Kennedy continued, invoking the words spoken in 1962 by her father when he explained why he wanted the US to put a man on the moon.
“I’ve met so many inspiring scientists here in Australia, who are working to cure cancer and have a lot going on with colleagues in the United States … [and] having met the people I’ve met, I could not be more hopeful.”
With teams already raising over $1.3 million, this year’s fundraiser aims to amass $2 million in total. Freeman said he is “extremely proud and excited” about Kennedy’s participation in the rally this year.
“Being able to take Ambassador Kennedy into the Australian Outback with another 498 incredible people will be a true honour,” he said.
“[She] will participate in the same manner as everyone else with fundraising for cancer research, driving a shitbox and camping under the stars. The rallies are such incredible experiences so who knows, maybe this will be the start of Ambassador Kennedy rallying with us yearly!”
“Teams not only pull together to help each other through the challenges associated with driving a $1,500 car on these remote outback tracks, but also help and support each other through openness, mateship and camaraderie from people who have gone through similar hardships with their own cancer stories.”
Since arriving in Australia in 2022, Kennedy has already attended the annual Summernats car festival in Canberra twice.
She has also attended commemorative events both in Australia and abroad, including a visit to the Solomon Islands less than a month after she began her post as US Ambassador to Australia.
Prior, she served as US Ambassador to Japan from 2013 – 2017, and founded the International Poetry Exchange Project in 2014. The initiative connects students in Japan, Korea, the Philippines and the Bronx to create and share poems and art.
Last May, she participated in talks with a cross-party delegation of parliamentarians who sought an end to the pursuit of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.
Beginning her post as US Ambassador to Australia in July 2022, she said she was looking forward to learning about Australia’s First Nations people, multiculturalism and snacks.
“[I am committed to] individual freedom, the rule of law, and economic opportunity,” she said in a YouTube message. “I’m honoured to carry [my father’s] legacy forward in my own small way.”
“I look forward to working closely with prime minister Albanese and foreign minister Wong in the government to advance our shared democratic values, strengthen our commitment to a health, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific and advance the transition to a green energy world.”
“I hope to make friends and learn from as many people as I can, especially young people who deserve the strongest voice in their future.”
“So please come up and say hello, if you see me. What we do together in the next few years will determine the future of the region and the planet, and I can’t wait to get started.”