Slim Dusty, the Australian country music singer-songwriter, performer, and Aussie icon, was one of Australia’s most awarded entertainers. He dedicated his career to recording bush ballads that captured Australian life, releasing over 100 albums and touring the country alongside his wife and songwriter-singer, Joy McKean. Slim Dusty entertained people from all walks of life and from all corners of Australia. He won 37 Golden Guitar Awards and was inducted into the Australian Country Music Hands of Fame in their inaugural year in 1977. In 2000, he performed to millions worldwide, singing “Waltzing Matilda” at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

Slim Dusty was born in Kempsey in 1927 and by the age of nineteen, he had already completed a four-month tour of northern New South Wales and Queensland. After marrying Joy in 1951, Slim and Joy embarked on their first Slim Dusty Show, traveling in a car named Betsy and a caravan. By the 1960s, Slim and his crew would travel up to 50,000 kilometers on tour, often leaving home in February and returning around Christmas.

In addition to his distinctive music, Slim Dusty was recognizable by his attire, which typically included a grey stockman’s hat, moleskin trousers, elastic-sided riding boots, and a Western shirt. Slim had a preference for well-worn hats, stating, “My hat is just an ordinary grey felt stockman’s hat. I like to keep them for about three or four years. I don’t like new hats.” Interestingly, without his hat and with his reading spectacles on, he could go anywhere without being recognized, and he often did!