TOOK THE CHILDREN AWAY
Archie was born in Mooroopna, in Victoria, Australia. He was of aboriginal heritage. He was an epileptic.
Mooroopna means ‘bend in the river’ in Aborigine (First Nation) language.
Archie’s mother was Nellie Austin and his father was Archie Roach Senior, nicknamed ‘Snowball’, a talented amateur boxer.
Whilst Archie was still a tiny baby, his family and the rest of the tribe were ‘relocated’ to Rumbalara.
Archie always had the family nickname of ‘Butterboy’ after smearing himself with butter whilst a small child.
From Rumbalara, the family moved to his mother’s hometown of Framlingham.
When Archie was just three, he, along with his brothers, was forcibly taken from his home by the Australian authorities and put into an orphanage.
When he grew older, he was told his parents were dead.
He was fostered out on two occasions, having absolutely awful experiences.
It was third time lucky for Archie. He was fostered by Alex and Dulcie Cox, Scottish immigrants living in Melbourne. Alex was a storeman and Dulcie a housewife.
The Cox family were lied to and told Archie’s parents had died in a house fire. Archie said later of Alex and Dulcie, “They are blameless as far as I’m concerned – They were used.”
They had a daughter called Mary, who was a professional musician. She taught Archie how to play both the guitar and the keyboards. He loved the music played in the local church and vowed that he would become good enough to play there.
Alex also had a large collection of Scottish music. Archie said, “Alex was a big influence on me – a good influence. I’ll love him to the day I die.”
When Archie was fifteen, his real sister, Myrtle, contacted him by letter, to say their mother had died. He did not even know Myrtle existed. She told Archie that he had seven siblings. She also explained their father had died in prison and told him how he had fought desperately for his sons, when Australian officials came to take them away.
Archie was devastated by the news. He immediately left the Cox household, taking his guitar with him, to search for his brothers and sisters. He took to the streets, where he lived for the next fourteen years.
Dulcie was in floods of tears when Archie left. Alex said to him, “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Archie reflected later, “I never saw them again. It makes me sad to think of it. They were devastated. I was too, in a way.”
He moved from city to city, living in the open or in empty buildings, becoming an alcoholic and drug user. He was arrested and charged with vagrancy and spent time both in hospital and in prison (seven months for stealing a car – a crime he didn’t commit), and had a failed suicide attempt.
Archie had both drug and alcohol counselling.
During this period, Archie worked as a salt shoveller, a blacksmith, in an abattoir, as a tent boxer (with the nickname ‘Kid Snowball’ as a tribute to his father) and even as a flower arranger.
One day, he had to decide where to travel to next, so he flipped a 20-cent coin. “Heads Adelaide, Tails Melbourne.” It was heads.
In Adelaide, his life changed when he met his future wife, Ruby Hunter, at a Salvation Army drop-in centre in the city, known as the ‘People’s Palace’. She was getting out of a lift as Archie was getting into it. Ruby was just sixteen and was another child of the ‘Stolen Generations’.
“Few men have ever gained so much from a simple coin flip – there was a girl waiting for me there.”
Ruby had seen Archie before. As a child she had watched a TV programme ‘The Happy Hammond’. Young Archie had been in the studio audience. Ruby turned to her foster mother and said, “That’s the boy that I’m going to marry.” And she did!
The couple went on to have two sons, Amos and Eban. After the latter was born, Ruby told Archie she would leave him if he didn’t give up drinking. He never touched alcohol again.
Ruby and Archie formed a band called ‘The Altogethers’ in the late 1980s. They performed with other First Nation musicians and moved to Melbourne.
Their first song, ‘Took the Children Away’, was performed on a Melbourne community radio station.
This led to an appearance on an indigenous current affairs television show.
Well-known musician, Paul Kelly, heard Archie and invited him to appear in an open-air concert. It was 1989.
Archie’s performance of the song stunned the crowd into silence – followed by a rousing standing ovation. “Silence – and then the clapping started. It sounded like rain that starts with a pitter-patter and builds up and becomes a downpour. It was the most amazing experience I ever had.”
He always remembered how the security officer, a white man, came up to him afterwards and vigorously shook his hand.
In 1990, with the encouragement of Paul Kelly, Archie released his first solo LP, entitled ‘Charcoal Lane’.
It won two awards at the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) music awards, where he performed ‘Took the Children Away’.
In 1990, the song won the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission award – and it was declared a song of national importance.
His next LP, ‘Jamu Dreaming’, saw Archie partner Ruby again, and it charted well. By now, she had a very successful solo career. She was the first First Nation’s woman to release a solo LP.
To celebrate Archie’s third LP, ‘Our Home Our Land’, Archie toured the USA and Canada, followed by the UK and the rest of Europe.
In 1996, Archie appeared before a Human Rights Commission, investigating the ‘Stolen Generations’ – the aborigine children taken from their parents. As well as giving his testimony, he sang his famous song.
His next album, ‘Looking for Butter Boy’, was recorded on aboriginal land in Southwest Victoria. It gave him his biggest hit, ‘Hold on Tight’. It won many awards, including Australia’s ‘Best LP of the Year’ (1998).
Archie then went on a world tour, supporting Tracy Chapman, and wrote the score for the film ‘Tracker’. At various other times, Archie supported Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Patti Smith and Joan Armatrading. He once collaborated with Paul Simon.
His most successful record with Ruby was called, ‘Songs From the Kitchen Table’.
In-between performing and recording, Ruby and Archie taught young people music.
At their house in Fitzroy, Ruby and Archie had an open-door policy for homeless and disadvantaged young people. They also fostered three children, Terence, Krissy and Arthur.
They had become the public face of the traditional peoples of Australia and were known by the aboriginal community as ‘Uncle Archie’ and ‘Auntie Ruby’.
His next project was working with the Australian Art Orchestra to create ‘Ruby’s Story’ – a music and spoken word performance. It received outstanding reviews and led to him selling out Sydney Opera House.
In 2008, the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made a public apology for the treatment of the Aborigines. Archie stood behind him and after Rudd finished speaking, he sang ‘Took the Children Away’.
Ruby and Archie also worked with ‘Black Arm Band’, a multi-cultural music project. They performed at the Womad Festival in the UK in 2009.
Success after success followed. The 2010 LP, ‘Into the Bloodstream’, earned Archie a ‘Lifetime Award for his Contribution to Healing the Stolen Generations’.
Then, Ruby died suddenly of a heart attack, aged just 54.
Two days after her funeral, Archie was scheduled to play at a folk festival. Friends tried to persuade him not to perform but he was determined to go ahead.
He went on stage with an empty chair and microphone next to him – for Ruby.
Almost immediately afterwards, Archie had a stroke.
The following year, 2011, Archie was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was given just six months to live. One of his lungs was removed.
This led to him stepping back from music for a couple of years.
He returned in 2013 with a 4-disc LP, a tour of Australia and a performance at the Boomerang Festival. In 2015, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, Archie was made a Member of the Order of Australia.
Despite being in poor health himself, Archie donated one of his kidneys to his brother Lawrence.
At the same time, Archie was in negotiations with the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, about the return of tribal lands to the native people.
Archie was given an ‘Outstanding Service to Australian Music’ award in 2017, and the following year he sang at the closing ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
He wrote an autobiography entitled, ‘Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and Music.’ By now, Archie was seriously ill with chronic pulmonary disease.
In 2020, he released the Archie Roach Stolen Generations Educational Resources, a free package of educational support material designed to teach young Australians about the history of its indigenous people.
The same year, there was a tribute to Archie at the ARIA music awards and he was inducted into their Hall of Fame. He was taken to the awards by ambulance. His tune, ‘One Song’, was sung by various artists.
To the end of his life, Archie remained close friends with Mary Cox, who had taught him to play music.
In 2021, a documentary about him was released, called ‘Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow’.
Two weeks before Archie died, he released a career anthology called ‘My Songs’.
In his career, Archie released nine studio and two live albums.
Ruby and Archie insisted that after their deaths their names, images and music could be used freely, “So that his legacy will continue to inspire.”
The Australian government paid for a memorial to both Archie and Ruby to be erected in Fitzroy. It is called ‘Partners in Life, Partners in Music’.
A friend, Bhiamie Williamson, said of Archie, “He gave us – and all of Australia – an image of an Aboriginal man, tender and humble, throughout his life.”
RIP – Representing Indigenous People
