Ruby Hunter & Archie Roach commemorate pilliars

Ruby Hunter 
Totem  - Pelican / NO:RI

31st October 1955 – 17th February 2010

RUBY HUNTER was an acclaimed songwriter and performer who through her music campaigned for the rights of Aboriginal women and children.  A nurturing soul, she rose above the tragedy of being a member of the Stolen Generations to give a voice to the vulnerable and offer strength to those in need.

A proud Ngarrindjeri / Erawirung woman Ruby was born in 1955 on a billabong situated near the banks of the Murray River at Renmark.  Ruby was the last traditional baby born on an island and when she was born her grandfather rubbed her with warm ashes and lifted her up to the moon.

Ruby was eight years old when her four siblings and herself were taken from their family. Ruby remembered that the Government Authorities simply arrived one day in a big car, promising their grandmother that they were taking the children to the circus. At the time they were living with their grandmother on the Coorong at Meningie.

Sadly, Ruby was soon separated from her sister and brothers and was taken to the Seaforth Children’s Girls Home in Adelaide. At the age of 16 Ruby was released to make her own way in the world and with no idea of where to go she made her way onto the streets of Adelaide.

While homeless Ruby met Archie Roach, also a member of the Stolen Generations, who had drifted to Adelaide from Mildura across the Victorian border. They met at a Salvation Army drop in centre as they were both living on the street. Forming a unique friendship during their time together on the streets of Adelaide, they formed an enduring bond that would last for the rest of Ruby’s life.

Ruby nurtured and encouraged Archie as he began to translate his experience of despair and homelessness into music that would eventually resonate across the nation and the world. Ruby also drew on her childhood experience in caring for vulnerable children and young people as well as in her own music.

Ruby and Archie moved back to Victoria where Ruby acquired a job at the Marg Tucker Hostel for Girls which provided accommodation for homeless Aboriginal girls and women.

Ruby and Archie together cared for 14 children in a family house group home run by the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. Later they made their own home a welcoming haven for homeless and disadvantaged young people.

Ruby was also a strong advocate against domestic violence, and a voice for the stolen generations, and between them Ruby and Archie raised many foster children with their own two boys. Ruby was a remarkable woman who touched many lives, not just those of her own people.

Ruby became the first Aboriginal woman to be signed to a major record label and in 1994 released her first album ‘Thoughts Within’ and then in 2000 released her second album ‘Feeling Good’ earning her ‘Best Female Performer of the Year’ followed by a presentation of the ‘Deadly Awards’ in 2000.

Ruby was also a member of the Black Arm Band. It was her dream to encourage Indigenous Australians to perform on the big stage, and for the next generation to access sponsorship, classes and workshops to enable them to build a career in the entertainment industry.

Ruby passed away in February 2010 leaving a legacy that endured in her music, her beloved family and the countless others whose potential she recognised and encouraged. She is buried alongside her sister and brothers in Gerard Cemetery.

Archie Roach 
TOTEM Eagle / Wuldi / Bunjil

Born 8th January 1956

The music of singer-songwriter Archie Roach AM has given voice to the pain, hope and pride of a generation and earned him a place among the most treasured musicians this country has produced.

A proud Maar Nation and Bundjalung man, Archie was born in Mooroopna, Victoria on the 8th January 1956. Archie's family lived on the Framlingham Aboriginal Mission near Warrnambool in southwest Victoria. He is one of the Stolen Generations, forcibly taken as a two year old from his mother, Nellie, a Kirrae Whurrung woman, and father, Archie, a Bundjalung man from New South Wales.

Archie passed through several foster homes before being settled with the Cox family, who he acknowledges as having looked after him well. He learned the basics of keyboard and guitar from his foster-sister, Mary Cox. Too young to understand his situation, he was told his biological parents had died.

The truth about his forced removal from his family was discovered when he was a teenager, in a letter from a sister he didn't know he had. It brought news of the recent death of his mother, Nellie. The revelation triggered an identity crisis that manifested itself in over a decade of alcoholism and periods of homelessness.

While living on the streets in Adelaide, Archie met Ruby Hunter, a Ngarrindjeri / Erawirung woman from South Australia. He credits her as his saviour. Ruby was also of the Stolen Generations and a talented musician. The two became soul mates and embarked on a journey of healing through music. Years later, when they were married with a family of their own, their house would remain open to disadvantaged young people in need of the support they themselves had found in each other.

Archie caught the attention of musician Paul Kelly and his Messengers' band mate, Steve Connolly, in 1989, with his song, ‘Took the Children Away’. Its plaintive account of the removal of Aboriginal children from their families resonated across Australia and internationally. Many identified closely with Archie's searing lyrics; many more could not help but be moved by them.

In 1990, Archie released his debut album, Charcoal Lane. Kelly and Connolly were producers. The album took its title from a laneway in Fitzroy — the heartland of Melbourne's Aboriginal community — where Archie had, in more troubled times, idled away the hours drinking. Charcoal Lane won two ARIA awards, a place among the US Rolling Stone's top albums of 1992, and a Human Rights Achievement Award for ‘Took The Children Away’. It was the first time the award had been presented to a songwriter.

Archie’s career as a recording artist spans ten albums, numerous soundtracks and a number of compilations of his work.  He was inducted into the ARIA hall of fame in 2020 and made a Member of The Order Of Australia in 2015 for his lifetime contributions to music and activism. Beyond these honours, Archie's music has won countless awards including seven ARIAs. His breakthrough debut album Charcoal Lane (1990) maintains a lasting resonance today.

The album’s iconic song “Took The Children Away” was the first song to win an Australian Human Rights Award and has been added to the National Film & Sound Archive.

Archie’s autobiography Tell Me Why, (2020) introduced him as an author. The award winning memoir details Archie’s extraordinary odyssey as a stolen child, removed from his family at the age of two, whose journey to reconnect with his people and understand his identity shaped the artist, activist and leader we know today. Archie’s activism, always a companion to his creative career, continues through The Archie Roach Foundation, dedicated to nurturing meaningful opportunities for First Nation artists.

Throughout it all, Ruby remained a constant in Archie's life until her sudden death in 2010. They often collaborated, and Ruby received her own acclaim when she became the first Aboriginal woman to sign a major recording deal. They regularly toured together, everywhere from Europe and the US, to the remotest regions of outback Australia. More recently, they were among the founding members of the Black Arm Band, while Ruby's beautiful illustrations featured in a children's lyric book of Archie's iconic song, ‘Took The Children Away’.

In prose and song, Archie has made telling the stories of his people, of this land and of the human condition his life’s work. His voice, uniquely Australian yet unquestionably universal resonates with audiences everywhere. Archie now lives southwest Victoria close to the Framlingham Aboriginal mission where he was taken from his family all those years ago.