• Stepping in time: Noelene’s a ‘Country and Western Hour’ star

    Stepping in time: Noelene’s a ‘Country and Western Hour’ star

    ‘Circle left, do si do, and swing your partner, round we go!’

    Resthaven Paradise resident, Noelene Hawker with her Square Dancing memory bookResthaven Paradise resident Mrs Noelene Hawker remembers the thrill and exhilaration as she followed every square-dancing call with precision and delight as one of the eight dancers on Channel Nine’s Country and Western Hour in the 1960s.

    Led by caller Colin Huddleston, who would go on to become one of Australia’s most well-known square dance callers, the show featured a barn-style set with hay bales, fences, riding gear, and other farming implements. Colin called square dancing live on the program, often with at least two squares of dancers, while the live band played, sometimes accompanying local and interstate artists.

    Noelene was chosen to appear on the show after joining Colin’s square-dancing club at Glenelg a few years earlier.

    ‘It actually all began at the Palais on North Terrace,’ Noelene says. ‘Jim Vickers-Willis had come from Victoria to South Australia to promote square-dancing. I went along with some friends and just loved it! Colin started his own club, and we would go every week.’

    For the Country and Western Hour, Noelene and a fellow dancer, Rosemary, made many of the dresses for the show.

    ‘We both loved sewing, so we made the frocks,’ Noelene says. ‘We sewed taffeta frocks in green, blue and pink, as well as beautiful blue ones with lace panels. Of course, the show was always broadcast in black and white, but they were gorgeous to see in person.’

    The show was recorded on a Monday in the Channel Nine Adelaide studios in Tynte Street North Adelaide and was broadcast nationally on Saturday nights from 1960 on. It was a hit and even had a large write-up in The Australian Women’s Weekly.

    Noelene left the show after a time, but continued dancing with her husband for many years – enjoying the friendship, creativity and fitness that square dancing brought into their lives.

    ‘I made some wonderful friends through square dancing,’ Noelene says. ‘And I have some wonderful memories of that time.’

    Noelene’s time on the Country and Western Hour remains a highlight of her square-dancing journey.

    Thank you for sharing your story, Noelene, and reminding us of this vibrant era of Australian television.