Mel, 30, created A Girl, Her Car and a Guitar and has since raised over $30,000 for beyondblue and Love Your Sister. 

She was invited to play at a function in Parliament House on February 14 by Darwin MP Luke Gosling, after she had lpayed for his brother, Dan.

She said Mr Gosling also spoke about her in Parliament. 

“He gave a 90 second speech about me and the two causes I am fundraising for in Parliament - so that was a great plug,” Ms Yeates said. 

She said she had eclipsed her original goal of raising $20,000 in 20 months and had now raised $30,000.

“So I am setting my sights to raise $100,000,” she said. 

“I met lots of pollies and made connections with Alice Springs MP Warren Snowdon who has asked me to look him up when I am there. I also got to sit in on Question Time and watch them all yell at each other. It was great.” 

Ms Yeates said she was heading to Sydney and after a short break would be playing gigs in the Blue Mountains, Orange, Parkes, Dubbo and Newcastle.

She said she had had a few ups and downs while busking around the country. 

“Someone stole some money out of guitar case in Albury, but I put a post about it on Facebook and in 24 hours I got $700 to replace it,” she said. 

“The community got behind me there - one lady gave me $400, so my story seems to be touching people’s hearts.”

Her story so far is – that she is busking her way around Australia soon in a bid to raise more money for the causes – beyondblue and Love Your Sister. 

She has been propelled to such action by personal tragedy.  In year nine, two of her friends were killed on a Duke of Edinburgh hike when a huge tree fell on their tent. 

“I was absolutely devastated by the loss of these two beautiful girls. It was a downhill spiral from there. I lost all interest in school. I shut down from my family, and I became depressed,” she said. 

At that time, her cousin was also diagnosed with leukaemia. She decided to shave her hair off to raise money to help and raised $4,500 for the Leukaemia Foundation.

“I heard about Love Your Sister, a charity started by the actor Samuel Johnson to help his sister, Connie who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer,” Mel said.

“Hearing that Sam was giving up so much for his sister got me thinking - what could I do to help? How could I raise some money?”

A guitarist, Mel decided to busk her way around Australia and So A Girl, Her Car, and Her Guitar was born. Mr Johnson assisted her by posting on his Facebook page, asking his followers to help Mel and over $13,000 was raised in one week. Her original goal to raise $20,000 in 20 months was smashed in less than six months.

GoodFellows’ rental Company has also donated her the use of a car for a year to assist. 

For more info, Mel’s Facebook page is www.facebook.com/gcgmy and people can donate at www.gofundme.com/gcgmy. To hear her playing and singing go to https://soundcloud.com/mellsie