his father Parker was prone to heavy drinking and violence, he repeatedly ran away from home after his beatings. Once he was nearly choked to death, ran off and, after being caught, he was chained in a dog's tent by his father. From the age of eight or nine he was "making up little ditties" which soothed him. At about nine-years-old, Dawson was so severely beaten that he ran away from home again. He travelled to his mother's family, the Muirs, in Melbourne and was sent, by a court order, to live for three years at the St. Vincent de Paul Boys' Orphanage, in South Melbourne. It was administered by the Catholic Church's Christian Brothers, and Dawson was baptised in that faith and took the confirmation name, Aidan. For school holidays he was sent to a farm in Eurack near Colac, run by the Carews. He had learned to sing at the orphanage and Jack Carew taught him to play the harmonica and piano accordion. At the age of thirteen Dawson left the orphanage to join his older brother, Peter, working on a farm at Stewarton (about from Goorambat). Each Saturday night he would sing at the local town hall with a repertoire that included "Funiculi, Funicula", "Little Brown Cottage" and "Good Morning, Good Morning". Music and performing career In 1932 Smoky Dawson worked at a tannery and on weekends he played a lap steel guitar in a duo, The Coral Island Boys, with his younger brother, Ted, on Spanish guitar. Both sang lead vocals, with Ted's singing described by Dawson as "a much richer voice than mine. He had more depth in his voice". They performed then-popular songs, such as "Gee But I'm Lonesome for You Caroline" and "Southern Moon Keep on Shining". In 1934, Dawson formed a Western group with an accordionist, a bass guitarist, and Malcolm on violin; which cut a test acetate at Fidelity Records with Jack Murray recording. It was the first professional use of Dawson's nickname, "Smoky" – he had tried pipe smoking when living at Stewarton but it had sickened him. The recording led to sponsorship by Pepsodent – a toothpaste company – and so the group were named, Smoky and the Pepsodent Rangers. In 1935 they were the first Western group to be broadcast live on an Australian radio station, 3KZ, and by 1937 Dawson had his own radio show. His show