Dobe Newton OAM (born 14 July 1948) is an Australian musician and member of folk and country music group

the Bushwackers The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promoti ...

from 1973. He co-wrote the patriotic song "

I Am Australian "I Am Australian" (or "We Are Australian") is a popular Australian song written in 1987 by Bruce Woodley of the Seekers and Dobe Newton of The Bushwackers (band), the Bushwackers. Its lyrics are filled with many historic and cultural references ...

" in 1987 with

Bruce Woodley Bruce William Woodley (born 25 July 1942) is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. He was a founding member of the successful folk-pop group The Seekers, and co-composer of the songs "I Am Australian," "Red Rubber Ball," and Simon & Gar ...

. For his service to the performing arts as an entertainer and advocate he was appointed to the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Career

Dobe Newton was born on 14 July 1948 in Sydney. During the 1960s he acquired a lagerphone and

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

after hearing Irish folk group

the Dubliners The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...

. He joined Australian

bush band A bush band is a group of musicians that play Australian bush ballads. A similar bush band tradition is also found in New Zealand. Instruments In addition to vocals, instruments featured in bush bands may include fiddle, accordion, guitar, ...

the Bushwackers (initially the Original Bushwhackers and Bullockies Bush Band) in 1973 on vocals and lagerphone. As the group's longest-serving member he became their leader during the 1980s. In 1987 he co-wrote "

" with

the Seekers The Seekers were an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were ...

. Outside of performing Newton ran workshops and seminars on music in both Western Australia and Victoria. He was the CEO of the Western Australian Music Industry Association in the 1990s, before he relocated to Victoria where took a similar role at the Victorian Rock Foundation. For 18 years he was a member of teaching staff at North Melbourne Institute of TAFE (

Technical and Further Education Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

) running a course on Music Business. In 2013 he also became President of

Country Music Association of Australia The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry. As the peak national industry body, its activities include organisation, promotion and stagin ...

(CMAA) replacing John Williamson. As of March 2022 he still held that position. He was awarded an

Medal on Australia Day, 2013 for "service to the performing arts as an entertainer and advocate." Along with fellow Bushwhacker Roger Corbett, Newton was added to the Australasian Country Music Roll of Renown in 2021.

References

External links

The Bushwackers official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Dobe 1948 births Australian musicians Living people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia