Eight bronze busts stand in Tamworth’s Bicentennial Park recognising some of Australia’s greatest country music artists.
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On Saturday, Chad Morgan will become the ninth, and also the first living artist to see a bronze bust of himself unveiled.
Since the busts started being erected in the early 1990s, it has been an honour bestowed on artists who have passed away. Until now.
“It is now a real attraction in the park,” said Lorraine Pfitzner, who has been involved with the fundraising for nearly all the bronze busts.
“The first one I was involved with was Tex Morton,” Mrs Pfitzner said, recalling the 1991 unveiling which honoured Australia’s first country music star who had died almost a decade earlier.
This week she has been busy ensuring everything is ready for Saturday’s ceremony. While on the phone to Talkin’ Country, she had a knock at the door, which turned out to be the plaque being delivered which will be placed beneath the Chad Morgan bust.
Tex Morton’s was the second bust in the park, following the Buddy Williams bust, which was erected six months before Tex, in January 1991.
The two pioneers were the only busts in the park until the late 1990s.
Then after Stan Coster died in 1997, fundraising started for the park’s third bust, and since then it has become almost constant as more busts have been unveiled following a fundraising effort.
In 1999 the Stan Coster bust appeared in the park, followed by Gordon Parsons in 2003, Barry Thornton in 2008, Shirley Thoms in 2011 and Reg Lindsay in 2013.
Last year, Jimmy Little was the most recent bust, following three years of fundraising.
Sculptor Kate French, who also completed the Reg Lindsay and Jimmy Little busts, will be in the park on Saturday morning for the unveiling.
Mrs Pfitzner said the most recent bust has been thanks to a lot of help with Allan Caswell running a concert in Sydney to support it, while Chad himself collected donations on the road, and the Australian Bush Balladeers kicking in a big donation.
Another concert in Wauchope 12 months ago, organised by Marcia Armfield, raised almost $1700.
While the bust has not been unveiled yet, the Country Capital Bronze Bust fundraising committee has already started work on the next one.
That will be for Frank Ifield, and the first fundraising concert will be held next month.
