Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Clarence Valley has produced Olympic athletes and some of the country's leading businesspeople, but we also entertain and sing to the world. I would like to acknowledge two international acts today. Firstly, 10-time Golden Guitar and two-time ARIA award winners the McClymont sisters are from Grafton, and Troy Cassar-Daley, who has two ARIA awards for best country record and Golden Guitar Awards, is a Clarence Valley boy.

The McClymont sisters, Brooke, Samantha and Mollie, are celebrated by our community. Their mother, Toni, and father, Peter, or 'Porky', McClymont, tell how their daughters were like any other sisters—fighting and never out of bed early. But, of course, that changed once they discovered music. Brooke, the eldest, started entering talent shows at the age of 11, and Mollie and Sam followed. Mollie started competing at the age of six, while the youngest, Sam, waited until the ripe old age of nine. While still at Grafton High School, the girls performed at many local events. By 2015, the sisters were celebrated, being awarded the highest selling Australian album of the year and achieved 52 weeks in the ARIA top 40 country album chart. Interestingly, their music teacher, Leonie Hayes, was also the music teacher for Troy Cassar-Daley.

Troy's love of music started when his cousins Melissa and Carmen French taught him a few guitar chords when he was just a youngster. Troy lived at Halfway Creek in the Clarence Valley with his mother, Irene. As a kid, Troy started his first band, Little Eagle, along with Andrew Hegedus, Carl Daley, Michael Hatgis, Andrew Blackadder and Anthony Manahan. He was looked up to by many, and with the help of his mother, Leonie, he mentored many young Indigenous boys who were in hard times. Whenever he performs, Troy always pays tribute to his traditional country of Gumbaynggirr and the mighty Clarence River that runs through the heart of the valley and gives it life. Our community salutes both Troy and the McClymont sisters, as indeed, does our country.

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