I am so pleased and happy that the long awaited Slim Dusty Centre and Museum is officially open at last. I am also very, very happy and indeed relieved, to hear the constant refrain from visitors: “It is so much bigger, and so far ahead of my expectations! I had no idea what it was like!”
So come and see for yourself, please do.

By the way, some people do not know the origin of the café’s name, “Slim’s Dinner Camp Café”. Ringers and stockmen of all kinds will relate to the name, because when they are out in the mustering camp away from the station homestead, they try to head for their campsite around midday for a billy of tea and a meal before they get back on their horse or into the bullcatcher to get on with the job. Slim would have smiled if he’d been here with us, because in the Dinner Camp Café, a pot of tea arrives at the table in a little red enamel teapot similar to the one he carried on tour for years.

I think of him, and what he might have said about all this…Slim would have been excited too, I believe, but he would have been amazed and grateful, as Anne, David and I are, to see the results of the dedication and hard work and support from people everywhere in Australia.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make Slim’s dream come true.