Ashcroft and Kayler Legacy Collection finds permanent home at Tamworth's Australian Country Music Hall of Fame

The Ashcroft and Kayler Legacy Collection has been gifted to the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame, building on the already comprehensive collection of country music history.

"Eventually it would have just been passed on, and put in a garage somewhere, but I thought Johnny is a part of Australian country music history," Gay Kayler told the Leader.

"So, I decided that I would put it together into a collection and gift it to the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame.

"When I look back at all of this career memorabilia, it is really a story of Australian country music and Australia."

The collection includes over 35 recordings, posters and autographed articles, alongside Johnny's Medal of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the arts, entertainment industry and Indigenous social justice.

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There will also be a special presentation of Johnny's 1935 L7 Gibson guitar by grandson Matthew Ashcroft, which will be put on display at Tamworth's National Guitar Museum.

The selection of memorabilia is one of the most comprehensive to be gifted in the Hall of Fame's history.

Tamworth Country Music Festival co-founder Max Ellis said the collection is very important, from a period without a lot of documentation.

"Johnny was a very prominent artist, he had toured with Slim [Dusty] and is a very well-known person through his very famous Little Boy Lost song which turned into a movie," he said.

"He also had a close relationship with us at 2TM in those days and also had been involved in discussions about whether we could turn Tamworth into the country music capital."

He said Johnny was always focused on Australian material and Australian heritage, which is a big part of the foundations of Tamworth.

"We're not just about music, we're about Australian music and how the heritage of Australia is recorded in that music and preserved, and hopefully promoted," he said.

Both Mr Ashcroft and Ms Kayler are significant names in country music history, boasting lifelong involvement as individual artists and collaborators.

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