Australia's Country Music Hall of Fame

	A detailed plan for Australia's Country Music Hall of Fame has been announced *Salute to Smoky & Dot Dawson*

Home Ambassadors Become a Foundation Supporter Foundation Supporters Hall of Fame CD McKean Sisters Salute Rick & Thel Salute Smoky Salute The How The Look The What The Why This website will be progressively developed to detail plans for the Hall of Fame, news and other information abour fund-raising. For further information in the meantime, email us or telephone 02 6766 9696 so we can send you a brochure	A special dinner was held in Tamworth in January 2006 paying tribute to Australian country music legend Smoky Dawson and wife Dot. Organised by the Australian Country Music Foundation (ACMF) the Smoky & Dot Dawson Salute was the first major fund-raiser for the proposed new Country Music Hall of Fame in Tamworth, Australia’s Country Music Capital. Smoky is renowned as one of the earliest pioneers of country music in Australia. But for a commitment to the band he was performing with at the time (the early 1930s), he might have been the first to record original Australian country music. As it was, Smoky made his first recording in 1941, just five years after Tex Morton and two after Buddy Williams. But in the following six decades, Smoky was to become a household name in Australia, even making an impact on Nashville in the early development days of the American country music industry. Smoky was, in fact, the first artist to record for the famous Acuff-Rose Hickory label in the States and performed on the Grand Ole Opry in the early 1950s. After returning home from America, the now famous Smoky Dawson Show debuted on Australian radio running for the next 10 years. Smoky was elevated to the Country Music Roll of Renown in 1978 and was awarded an MBE for services to country music in 1983. In 2004, Smoky and Dot celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. This year's Tribute Dinner was a great success, and it is now proposed that the function become an annual event paying tribute to our country music pioneers. For those who attended the 2006 dinner, a special page is being set up with photos taken, and donated to "the cause" by John Arnold which will be available for purchase shortly. Please note, a username and password, which is being provided to all attendees, will be required to access this part of the site. Click here to access the page. Details about next year's dinner will be posted on this site as soon as details are finalised. For any further information in the meantime, email info@acmf.org.au or telephone 02 6766 9696. A report from the Smoky Salute follows... ACMF Tribute Dinner success The first Tribute Dinner staged by the Australian Country Music Foundation (ACMF) has been hailed a great success. Held in Tamworth, Australia's Country Music Capital, during the 2006 January Festival, the inaugural dinner paid tribute to Australia's best loved country music couple, Smoky and Dot Dawson. Tributes flowed during the night from the likes of Jim Haynes (who also compered the evening), Mary and Rita Schneider (who performed a musical tribute with Mary's daughter Melinda), this year's Roll of Renown inductee and the latest country music identity to receive an Order of Australia Medal, Reg Poole, and one of the main driving forces behind the establishment of Tamworth as Country Music Capital (among many other achievements), Max Ellis. A special audio-visual tribute prepared by one of the Foundation's major supporters, Southern Cross Ten, was also shown for the first time during the night. The Foundation presented Smoky and Dot with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In accepting the award, Smoky, in turn, paid tribute to the country music fraternity and his "true love" Dot. Those present at the dinner roundly applauded Smoky and Dot in a standing ovation. The other main activity at the dinner was a silent auction, conducted, with the dinner, to raise money to go towards establishment of Australia's new Country Music Hall of Fame. "It was most appropriate that we saluted Smoky and Dot at our first tribute dinner," said ACMF President Bob Kirchner. "Smoky was one of the inspirations behind establishment of the Foundation which has a predominant objective of setting up a national country music archive in Tamworth. "This is a job we are doing quite well at the moment, but more can always be achieved, especially with the proposed development of a new Hall of Fame. "That will provide us with the space and resources we need to continue doing what we are doing and much, much more," Bob said. The tribute dinner is planned to become an annual event, with next year's honouree yet to be announced.