Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Vale Archie Roach. Australia and the music world have lost a legend, and I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Archie's family. Archibald William Roach AM showed that music matters to who we are as a nation and that songs are about the stories that we tell ourselves and to others across the land—deeply personal stories of how they took the children away, of how two-year-old Archie was forcibly taken from his mum, dad and family at the Framlingham Aboriginal mission in south-west Victoria. They are songs that speak of a bitter truth but also celebrate the enduring love and the sweetness of a family reunion. It's a song of the stolen generations but also a story of our nation. When the song was performed for the first time amidst the protests at the bicentenary celebrations in 1988, his performance, to a mainly white audience, was first met with stunned silence. But the applause that followed and the acclaim that grew throughout Archie's musical career showed the transformative power of art. For all that was taken from Archie and so many others, it was the gift of his songs that we are so grateful for.

He will be remembered as one of the early Aboriginal artists to bring First Nations music into the mainstream. He really did set the pace and inspire others, like Yothu Yindi and other great First Nations artists, to sing their songs of their heritage and their culture. His mentoring and nurturing of the next generation of storytellers is also part of his great legacy and his gift to this nation. It showed how revered Archie was by contemporary artists, and how relevant his message is today.

If anyone had cause to be bitter or angry with the card that life had dealt them, it was Archie Roach. But he never lived his life with that anger, with that bitterness, with that regret. His life and his songs were a message of forgiveness, of compassion, of love, but, more importantly, of the power of looking ahead to a brighter future while telling the truth of the darkness of the past.

Archie's death is a huge loss for our nation, and his songs will live on forever. And those truths that he spoke of will always be part of the Australian story. Rest in peace, Archie Roach.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 12 : 11

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