South Australian Music Hall of Fame finds a fitting home at the Adelaide Town Hall

The South Australian Music Hall of Fame exhibition found a worthy high-profile home in 2025 on two levels of Adelaide Town Hall, open to the public Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm until July 1, 2026
The hall of fame concept started rocking and rolling from 2009 from Adelaide radio legend David “Daisy” Day, who’d collected more than 40 years of rock and pop music memorabilia. Day’s concept of the hall of fame came from conversations with fellow Adelaide DJ and music personality John Vincent. After Vincent (2009) and Day (2015) died, their shared passion and dream was carried on and their faces were on the medals awarded to each hall of fame inductee. The hall of fame’s journey started modestly in August 2010 with a small exhibition at the Kentish Arms Hotel in North Adelaide.

In 2014, the hall of fame moved move to the Goodwood Institute in the inner Adelaide southern suburb. Gary Burrows of the Australasian Performing Rights Association Limited (APRA) introduced David Day to Enrico Morena who’d returned from decades in England. Morena had started the Adelaide Music Collective (AMC) of Adelaide music industry professionals with national and international experience. Headed by Morena and a committee, the collective members encouraged each other and shared knowledge and resources to drive Adelaide being recognised Adelaide as a musical hub. The vision was to brand Adelaide and give it the stature of Austin, Nashville and Seattle.

With Day, Morena worked to create the AMC Sessions that also helped the hall of fame’s goals. The venture was supported by volunteers especially Enrico Morena, Gary Burrows, Victor Marshall and David Day’s wife Annette. Peter Tee took photos for the Adelaide Music Collection and the South Australian Music Hall Of Fame’s photos from the start.

Together, the two organisations worked to identify and induct Adelaide’s most celebrated musical identities into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame. The AMC Sessions became popular with events partially funded by state government grants and supported by the Music Development Office.

Early hall of fame inductees included members of legendary bands like The Angels, The Twilights, The Masters Apprentices and Redgum, The music hall of fame later expanded to inducting live music venues with the support of Ian Horne and the Australian Hotels Association.

The hall of fame’s influence soon stretched beyond state borders. In 2015, a partnership with the State Library of South Australia led to a highly successful exhibition in the institute room, previously home to the Sir Donald Bradman Collection, on North Terrace, Adelaide city. This exhibition coincided with Adelaide’s bustling Fringe Festival, culminating in Cold Chisel’s trackside induction during the Adelaide 500 race. That year, the hall of fame achieved its first international induction, honouring Robert Stigwood at Australia House in London.

By 2017, the hall of fame’s rapid growth meant another change of scenery. The German Club on Flinders Street, Adelaide city, stepped up to host the next series of inductions and artists like Beeb Birtles (of Zoot and Little River Band) and Barry Smith (of The Town Criers) donated their performance earnings to the hall of fame.

The music hall of fame in 2019 secured a larger space within the St Paul’s Creative Centre in Pulteney Street, Adelaide city, and consolidated there until the South Australian government decided not to renew the lease on the church-turned-nightclub in 2023. That year, SA Music Hall of Fame partnered with Music SA to make inductions at the annual South Australian Music Awards, having them recognised by a wider audience and honouring luminaries like Paul Kelly and Guy Sebastian.

In 2024, its exhibition found a temporary residence at the newly renovated Her Majesty’s Theatre in Grote Street, Adelaide city until 2025, when the music hall of fame found another home at Adelaide Town Hall.