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Slim Dusty Enterprises

Slim
Dusty

Australia’s King of Country Music, 1927–2003

Nearly six decades on the road and in the studio, more than a hundred albums and over seven million records sold. Slim Dusty Enterprises looks after his music, his name and his story.

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Slim Dusty in an Akubra hat and blue shirt, playing an acoustic guitar

From Nulla Nulla Creek to the closing ceremony

David Gordon Kirkpatrick grew up on the NSW mid-north coast. He was eleven when he started calling himself Slim Dusty and eighteen when he made his first recording.

In 1951 he married Joy McKean, whose songs, among them “Lights on the Hill”, “Walk a Country Mile” and “Indian Pacific”, became some of his best known. Their children, Anne and David Kirkpatrick, are singer-songwriters too.

Slim won 38 Golden Guitars. His 100th album, released in 2000, made him the first artist in the world to record 100 albums with the same label. Later that year he sang “Waltzing Matilda” to 114,714 people at the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony.

An old timber farmhouse among gum trees, with dry grass in the foreground and wooded hills behind
Homewood, near Bellbrook NSW, Slim’s childhood home.
  1. 1927

    Born David Gordon Kirkpatrick on 13 June at Nulla Nulla Creek, NSW.

  2. 1938

    Aged eleven, takes the name Slim Dusty.

  3. 1946

    Signs his first recording contract, with the Regal Zonophone label.

  4. 1951

    Marries singer-songwriter Joy McKean.

  5. 1957

    Releases “A Pub with No Beer”.

  6. 1970

    Appointed MBE for services to music.

  7. 1988

    Inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

  8. 1998

    Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.

  9. 2000

    Releases his 100th album and sings “Waltzing Matilda” at the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony.

  10. 2003

    Passes away in Sydney on 19 September, aged 76.

  11. 2015

    The Slim Dusty Centre opens in Kempsey.

A Pub with No BeerSlim Dusty, 1957
The first Australian single to go gold, and the only 78 rpm record ever awarded a gold disc.
Joy McKean and Slim Dusty in western hats, smiling, holding a baby in a lace bonnet
Slim and Joy McKean.

The records

Slim recorded more than a hundred albums. These are some of the landmarks.

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Lees Hotel in Ingham, with a life-size horse and rider on the awning and a banner reading Slim Dusty's famous Pub With No Beer
Lees Hotel in Ingham, Queensland, which bills itself as the original pub with no beer.
  1. 1957

    A Pub with No Beer

    Single

    Written by Gordon Parsons from a poem by Dan Sheahan. The first single by an Australian artist to enter the British charts, where it reached number three.

  2. 1975

    Lights on the Hill

    Album

    Title song written by Joy McKean.

  3. 1979

    Walk a Country Mile

    Album

    Title song written by Joy McKean.

  4. 1980

    Duncan

    Single

    A number one single.

  5. 2000

    Looking Forward Looking Back

    Album

    Slim’s 100th album, all with the same label. Reached number three on the ARIA chart.

  6. 2004

    Columbia Lane – the Last Sessions

    Album

    Released posthumously.

Licensing and enquiries

Slim Dusty Enterprises handles requests to use Slim’s name, image and music. Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll point you to the right people.

  • Music for film, television and advertising
  • Use of Slim’s name, image and likeness
  • Media and interview requests
  • Events, tributes and exhibitions

Get in touch

  • Contact details to come.