Tamworth's claim as Australia's country music capital traces to 1973, when local radio announcer David Kirkby organized the first formal festival, deliberately modelling it on Nashville. The event has since grown into the Southern Hemisphere's largest country music gathering, which gave the Royal Australian Mint justification enough for a commemorative issue nearly five decades on.
The gold-on-silver proof format — fine gold plating over .999 silver — has become a recurring production technique at the RAM for festival and cultural commemoratives, where the contrast serves the colorwork often applied to such pieces.
Tamworth's claim as Australia's country music capital traces to 1973, when local radio announcer David Kirkby organized the first formal festival, deliberately modelling it on Nashville. The event has since grown into the Southern Hemisphere's largest country music gathering, which gave the Royal Australian Mint justification enough for a commemorative issue nearly five decades on.
The gold-on-silver proof format — fine gold plating over .999 silver — has become a recurring production technique at the RAM for festival and cultural commemoratives, where the contrast serves the colorwork often applied to such pieces.