Roy Dawson, one of Queensland's and Australia's most famous racehorse trainers has died aged 84.

Dawson, one of the big four in Brisbane training ranks along with Jim Atkins, Jim Griffiths and Bruce McLachlan in the 1960-80s, was inducted into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame in November.

His son Paul Dawson said his father died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday after being in and out of hospital for the past two months.

"Dad had been unwell for a while but continued to fight on," Paul Dawson said.

Top jockey Chris Munce and former star hoop Shane Scriven, who both rode many winners for Dawson, paid tribute to Dawson as a leader in his field for decades.

Dawson is estimated to have trained about 2500 winners including top level performers Scomeld (VRC Oaks and T J Smith Classic), Dual Control (Doomben Cup), Asapalita (QTC Oaks), Regal Adventure (Queensland Sires), and Faustina (Queensland Sires).

He was the only Queensland trainer to complete the Wakeful Stakes-VRC Oaks double with his filly Scomeld.

He also bred and part-owned Bon Tient who won the 1975 AJC Metropolitan when trained by Tommy Smith.

A dual winner of the Brisbane trainers' premiership, Dawson was also in the top five trainers in the state on nearly 30 occasions.

Dawson trained for many years for one of Queensland's biggest owners, the Lambert family, which had a string of good horses beginning with the word "Regal".

He had a long association with the Wattle Brae Stud on the Darling Downs and many of his winners were bred by the stud's owners, the Turkington family.

Plans for a private funeral will be finalised on Friday.