Six Australian music acts inducted into ARIA Hall of Fame

Kate Ceberano is one of four Australian artists to have top-10 albums in five consecutive decades. (ABC News: Isabella Ross)

Gurrumul, Jenny Morris, Kate Ceberano, Spiderbait, The Living End, and Vika and Linda Bull were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Sydney.

Thursday night's honours included a posthumous gong for Indigenous icon Gurrumul, who died in 2017.

Ceberano, whose career has stretched more than 40 years, said it was "phenomenal to link arms" with some of Australia's finest performers.

Six Australian acts who have shone over decades-long careers have joined ARIA's Hall of Fame as it celebrates 40 years of music.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains an image of a person who has died.

Australian music greats are reflecting on their journey to the top of the charts as they take in their immortality.

Six artists — Gurrumul, Jenny Morris, Kate Ceberano, Spiderbait, The Living End, and Vika and Linda Bull — were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night.

ARIA, which typically inducts one artist a year, elevated six to top-tier status as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations.

The Living End frontman Chris Cheney (centre) says the recognition forces him to look in "the rear view mirror". (ABC News: Isabella Ross)

For Melbourne rockers The Living End, the honour signalled a rare moment to stop thinking about what's next and instead take stock of what the band had achieved in its decades-long career.

It set The Living End on the path from rockabilly cover band to Aussie rock legends

"We don't spend a lot of time in the rear view mirror, but this has forced us to do it," frontman Chris Cheney told AAP.

"It's a pretty amazing journey from when we were 15 years old.

Renowned for the classic track Prisoner of Society, The Living End are viewed as Australia's biggest rockers of the 1990s and boast six ARIA awards.

Singer-songwriter Kate Ceberano, who turns 60 in November, was similarly reflective.

Along with AC/DC, Midnight Oil and Kylie Minogue, Ceberano is one of just four Australian artists to have top 10 albums in five straight decades.

"It was a struggle … every venue, RSL, pub, club, you had to travel from Sydney to Melbourne three times in a car in a month … fuelled entirely on passion, your muse and the willingness to be amongst it," she told AAP.

"[Hall of Fame] places you in a small percentage of those who've worked really, really hard and have contributed a lot to culture.

Gurrumul,