AUSTRALIAN SONGWRITER SLIM DUSTY'S COFFIN IS CARRIED OUT OF STATE FUNERAL IN SYDNEY, 2003-09-26 (photo)

Australian country and western singer Slim Dusty's hat sits atop his coffin as it is carried out of a state funeral service in Sydney September 26, 2003. Dusty's most famous song 'The Pub with No Beer', an iconic lament about a hot and dusty traveller who arrives in a remote outback hotel only to find it has run out of beer, was sung by the congregation which included Prime Minister John Howard, during the service. Dusty made his name travelling across Australia's vast inland, peforming in tiny settlements as well as big rural hubs. His often ironic lyrics delivered with a distinctly Australian nasal twang earned him respect among the ordinary Australians he championed, a respect often compared with that of the late Johnny Cash. REUTERS/David Gray DG/TW