Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Archie Roach was a musician and storyteller with the most generous of thought. He managed to have all of us know and think about First Peoples' lives and the hardship which they have endured. He put stories and histories of generations of unfairness and generations of tragedy before each of us so gently that change was possible, so gently that we could all believe that further change is possible. Archie Roach opened up possibilities of reconciliation and possibilities of a fairer Australia. He showed us that songs share stories and that songs and stories can change nations. He let us know what could and should be done—never in a harsh way, but in a way that opened up the hearts of all of us.

He was born in 1956 in Victoria. Just a few years into his life, he was forcibly removed from his family and taken to life on a mission. Placed in foster care, he was told he was an orphan. Eventually he found a home with Alex and Dulcie Cox, a family of great enthusiasm for music. His foster-father would sing traditional Scottish music. His eldest sister from that family, Mary, taught the basics of guitar and keyboard. Archie said of his foster-father:

He was a big influence on me—a good influence. I'll love him to the day I die.

I think we all recognise that that influence gave us that amazing sharing of story through song, which gave us the Archie Roach that we are celebrating the life of today.

He received a letter when he was about 14 years old telling of the fact that his biological mother had passed. This is when the reality of what happened in Archie Roach's early life struck him. He was enraged. He left his foster home with nothing—no money, no possessions; just a guitar and, understandably, some anger—on his search for his parents and the story of his life. In that search as a teenager, he met Ruby Hunter. They would later marry, form a band and start a life in Melbourne.

That life gave us the song that has been so celebrated in this place, 'Took the Children Away'. It tells us so painfully, but also with much hope, of the story of the stolen generation and his experience of having been removed from his family. One of the first times he performed that, and one of the largest early audiences he performed that song to, was during the protests of the bicentenary celebrations in 1988. That performance, to a mainly white audience, was at first met with complete silence, which I think shows that silence is not always a sign of disapproval but a sign of emotion and people learning afresh. Paul Kelly shares the story:

He finished the song and there was still dead silence.

… Archie thought he'd bombed, that everybody hated it, so he just turned and started to walk off stage. And as he walked off, this applause started to build and build and build. … people were so stunned at the end of the song that it took them a while just to gather themselves to applaud.

That is one of the nation's great storytellers, Paul Kelly, telling us about one of our nation's other great storytellers, Archie Roach.

He released Charcoal Lane in 1990, which featured that song. He was nominated for ARIA breakthrough artist in 1991. He won a human rights achievement award. He released nine albums, including collaborations with none other than Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Tracy Chapman, Patti Smith and so many more—I couldn't name them all. He was honoured in 2015 on the Queen's Birthday Honours as a member of the Order of Australia for his services to music and, equally, for his role as a campaigner for social justice. In 2020 he was named Victorian Australian of the Year.

While his life was in Victoria, he was loved by Western Australians. He came to Western Australia so many times over the years. He came to open the Perth Festival, he's performed in Broome and at the Nannup Music Festival, and he performed with Paul Kelly at Optus Stadium, just to name a few. Always doing more than performing songs, always sharing stories, always sharing insights, and always leaving people with a greater and deeper understanding of the true history of this country, Australia. He was set to perform at the Perth Concert Hall earlier this year in May and sadly postponed for health reasons.

However, I am so fortunate that I got to see Archie, his band and many others perform in 2017 when my dad, Ron Gorman, organised a family outing to the Astor Theatre in my electorate in Mount Lawley. Dad was insistent that we all go as a family to this concert. It was to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bringing them home report, the inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. We had Sealin Garlett provide a welcome to country. We had footage screened to us of Lang Hancock's statement about 'fixing the Aboriginal problem'—an appalling statement then, as it is now. We had a screening of the apology from Prime Minister Rudd. And we had many stories shared between the audience and Archie.

I'm going to use a few words from my father, Ron Gorman, who is the person I know who has seen Archie Roach perform more than anyone else, both in Victoria and in the West. Ron Gorman says: 'Being in his presence, you knew that the time with him was special, not just a great gig but a moment of enlightenment'. His legacy lives with all of us as we reach out for his desire to have complex issues known and to have a voice. As an artist and creator, I always thought of Archie as a national treasure. That treasure is now in our hearts and minds.'

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to pay tribute to one of Australia's most treasured performers, Indigenous musician and song-writer Archie Roach. I just want to acknowledge the lovely tribute from the member opposite, the member for Perth, who saw Archie Roach many times. Colleagues on both sides have spoken about Archie's life and career, a survivor of the stolen generation who battled with both alcoholism and homelessness. Archie's was no easy life. Yet, when he met the love of his life, Ruby Hunter, another child of the stolen generation, he said she changed his life forever.

With Ruby by his side, Archie went on to write music that in turn changed the lives of Australians. Archie attributed his love of music to his foster family, the Coxes. He used to flick through his foster-father Alex's vinyl records. But it was his need for healing that inspired his deepest passion for music. It helped him heal from the trauma of his youth. If Roach's melodies came from a place of suffering, his lyrics gave voice to the thousands of Indigenous Australians who'd been removed from their families as part of the stolen generation.

I was privileged to witness one of Archie's last performances at Reconciliation Australia's Indigenous Governance Awards in June It was actually the very first event I attended as the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians. I want to thank Reconciliation Australia's CEO, Karen Mundine, for holding that memorable event; and Andrew Meehan both for his work in pulling the event together and for his assistance in reminding me of some of the songs Archie played that night.

When Archie stepped forward to perform, it was clear he wasn't well. He took a while to start. He was dependent on the oxygen, which had been a feature of his life in recent years. But, when he did start, the room had anticipated the music; they'd anticipated his voice, with his deep soulfulness and raspy voice. The simplicity of his profound lyrics was mesmerising. With a captive audience, Archie performed three songs from his repertoire: 'One Song', 'Small Child', and 'Old Mission Road'. 'Old Mission Road' touched me deep. It's a blues song about losing your parents. Seeing him as sick as he was, singing the song evocative of the pain and loss of a member of the stolen generation, really got to me.

The words would move anyone who had experienced the loss of a parent. If I can take the indulgence of the House, I'd like to take a moment to read the lyrics for the benefit of the House:

Oh I wish I had grown

With my mother back home

Cause I miss her sweet kisses and her smile

And when I'm alone

I wish I had known

My mother for just a while

Won't you walk with me, darling

Just a couple of miles

Won't you tell me the stories

Of when I was a child

I'd be so happy

As the stories unfold

Won't you walk with me, darling

Down that old mission road

Oh I wish I'd gone fishing

With my father, I'm still missing

And the touch of his strong, gentle hands

Now I'm gone from the mission

Cause someone's decision

Kept me away from that man

Won't you walk with me, darling

Just a couple of miles

Won't you tell me the storiеs

Of when I was a child

I'd be so happy

As the storiеs unfold

Won't you walk with me, darling

Down that old mission road

So kiss your mother goodnight

Hold your father tight

And keep your family near

Or else one day they might

Slowly fade out of sight

Just reflections in those tears

Won't you walk with me, darling

Just a couple of miles

Won't you tell me the stories

Of when I was a child

I'd be so happy

As the stories unfold

Won't you walk with me, darling

Down that old mission road

I extend my deepest condolences to the Roach family: to Archie's two sons, Amos and Eban, and to Archie's three foster kids, Kriss, Arthur and Terrence. May his memory be a blessing. Australians will continue to be inspired by Archie Roach's musical legacy for generations to come.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I heard the news of Uncle Archie Roach's passing on the weekend, my heart broke a little, and I expect that was a feeling shared by many, many thousands of Australians. That's why I'm really honoured to be able to rise in this Australian parliament today to both remember and honour the extraordinary life and legacy of that great songman Archie Roach.

He passed away last week aged just 66. That's a young age in Australia these days, but it came after a long illness. I want to acknowledge the lovely tributes from the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians and my colleague the member for Perth, with his great tellings of his family's experiences of going to those concerts in the early days in Perth.

Of course, Uncle Archie Roach's career spanned almost four decades, so there's a lot to tell if you want to track through each of those different stages of his life. He fell in love with gospel and country music. As a young man, he survived, as we've heard, periods of great trauma, of homelessness and dependency on alcohol. But the trauma of being separated from his family really was such a strong theme and an important part of his project of healing in this nation throughout his life.

His debut album was an ARIA-award-winning album: Charcoal Lane back in 1990. The anthemic track on that album is the one we all refer to today: 'Took the Children Away'. That really defined and helped shape Archie's career and introduced him to a very large audience in Australia. He went on to record nine studio albums. He also did a film soundtrack and lots of compilations and live albums as well. His November 2019 album Tell Me Why was his very first to reach the national top 10, and that was a pretty amazing achievement. Those very powerful songs from Archie Roach tell his story of really heartbreaking loss but also love and healing. That was a journey he took through song and music and so generously gave to all of us in this nation.

He shared his life with his life partner and creative soulmate, Ruby Hunter. As the Goanna frontman, Shane Howard, who was a longtime friend of Archie and Ruby, said earlier this week:

It's very raw. It's very real. It's a lot to lose, but I think Ruby might be calling him home.

Uncle Archie was a very proud Gunditjmara and Bundjalung senior elder. He was a musician, an author, a poet, a philosopher, a human rights campaigner and, as we've heard from many of the speeches, a member of the stolen generations. Whilst he was born in Mooroopna, Victoria, Archie was just three years old when he was forcibly removed from his family. He was placed in foster care and, like so many from the stolen generations, was told he was an orphan. He didn't know he still had a family to track down. The member for Perth very eloquently told that story and told of that heartbreak.

There was an editorial in The Age on Archie's passing which recalled the time at the very beginning of his music career when, in 1989—and he was still pretty much unknown to a mainstream Australian audience then—he was invited to perform live at the Melbourne concert hall by Paul Kelly and the Messengers. This was the concert that the member for Perth just referred to where Archie ended that relatively short set that he was given as a support act on the evening with some pretty heart-wrenching recollections of his experiences of the Stolen Generations. He led with that song 'Took the Children Away', which includes the words:

The welfare and the policeman

Said you've got to understand

We'll give them what you can't give

Teach them how to really live.

Teach them how to live they said

Humiliated them instead

Taught them that and taught them this

And others taught them prejudice.

You took the children away

As Paul Kelly, that other great Australian storyteller, would later recall, the audience sat there stunned:

He finished the song and there was still dead silence ... Archie thought he'd bombed, that everybody hated it, so he just turned and started to walk off-stage.

And as he walked off, this applause started to build and build and build. It was this incredible reaction. I'd never seen it before—people were so stunned at the end of the song that it took them a while just to gather themselves to applaud.

Archie Roach toured the world, headlining and opening shows for some of the great storytellers and songwriters: Joan Armatrading, Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega and my much-loved Patti Smith. That would have been my dream come true, to see Patti Smith and Uncle Archie Roach perform together. I've seen them both separately, but that is something I missed, and I deeply regret that. But certainly the legacy Archie Roach has left us is immense.

I remember some of my very early education in challenging the stories I might have been told about my nation when I was growing up as a young child schooling in Newcastle and Bermagui. It was songs from musicians and bands like No Fixed Address and Warumpi Band—my introduction to early Indigenous contemporary music—that really made me think about the stories of nationhood. It was those songs, and then songs of people like Uncle Archie Roach that came later, that really alerted me to an unsettled business in this nation. They were stories about land rights, sovereignty, kinship, trauma—and ultimately healing. They were great, great gifts to our nation.

Archie Roach's strength and courage in sharing his own story was crucial to establishing really great initiatives like having a Stolen Generations Redress Scheme. He never gave up on seeking justice. His generous gift of song and music to this nation is one that so many Australians have now taken to heart. Archie Roach changed lives. He's helped change our nation, and for that we shall always be forever indebted. He showed us the power of music, not just as a healing agent but also as a tool to seek justice.

At this time, I'm really thinking of his two sons, Amos and Eban. I send my heartfelt condolences to them and to all the family during this sorry time. Please take some comfort in knowing that there are thousands of Australians mourning with you today.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to join parliamentary colleagues from all sides of the House to pay tribute to the extraordinary life of the late Archie Roach.

The arts offers a way to tell stories, to share and process experiences, to reflect pain and to send a message of hope. Archie Roach used his music to do all this and more. Aboriginal people, of course, have an extraordinary artistic and cultural tradition. It is a culture which goes back over 60,000 years and has a central place for dance, for music, for painting, for storytelling and for many other artistic forms. There are many outstanding contemporary Aboriginal musicians, and Archie Roach stands out amidst that remarkable company.

It's really no surprise that, while all Australians feel immense pride in this extraordinary country in which we live, the inheritors of that 65,000 years of culture have a particular gift for stunning and insightful portraits of our nation and the lives we lead within it. So, as shadow arts minister, I want to acknowledge and pay tribute to the remarkable contribution and life of Archie Roach. As we've heard, he was a multi-award winning Australian musician, a campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians. He was just three years old when he was removed from his family. After several foster homes, he settled with Alex and Dulcie Cox, where he was surrounded by music, which ignited his passion. He became a clear and strong voice of the stolen generation. Both he and his wife, Ruby Hunter, were survivors, and the songs they wrote together became a soundtrack for Indigenous Australians. He first became known for the song 'Took the Children Away', which featured on his debut solo album, Charcoal Lane, in 1990. This single won an international human rights achievement award—the first time one was ever awarded for a song—and the album was certified 'gold' and won two ARIA awards. Charcoal Lane featured in the top 50 albums from 1992 of Rolling Stone magazine. He and Ruby Hunter co-founded the Black Arm Band, a collection of Aboriginal artists. He recorded 10 studio albums, two live albums, one soundtrack album and four compilation albums, including the soundtrack for TheTracker, and has won five ARIA awards.

In his later years in particular, Archie Roach collected a rich array of awards recognising the remarkable contribution he had made as an Australian, as an Aboriginal man and as a musician. In 2011 he was one of the first people inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll. In 2015 he was honoured in the Queen's Birthday honours list as a member of the Order of Australia for services to music as a singer songwriter, a guitarist and an activist for social justice. In 2020 he was named the 2020 Victorian Australian of the Year. Amongst the other nominations and awards he received was a Deadly award for a lifetime contribution to healing the stolen generations, in 2013. At the 2020 ARIA music awards, held on 25 November 2020, Archie Roach was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Archie Roach contributed in a range of ways going beyond his extraordinary musical contribution. The establishment of the Archie Roach Foundation was intended to nurture meaningful and potentially life-changing opportunities for First Nations artists. Archie Roach wrote this in the statement for the foundation:

The Foundation is a way for me to give back and pass on what's been given to me from people I've met on my journey who have pointed me in a different direction to a better way of life and understanding, to freedom.

Apart from being a musician and author, Archie worked in a range of jobs throughout his life and brought to bear that very diverse experience in his music. At different times he worked as a drug and alcohol counsellor, worked floral arranging, salt shovelling, blacksmithing and in an abattoir and even spent a short period as a tent boxer. He's collaborated with a long list of great musicians and artists, including Paul Simon, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Paul Kelly, David Bridie, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra, and he's toured extensively throughout the US, Canada, the UK and Europe with artists of the stature of Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, Patti Smith and Joan Armatrading.

In his 2019 memoir, entitled Tell Me Why: The Story of My Life and My Music, Archie Roach told Australians about many aspects of his life in a very raw and authentic way. His memoir was awarded the Victorian Premier's literary award in February 2021. In his acceptance speech, he had this to say:

We need to understand and write about the First People's experience and history as well [as migrants' experiences] because they're both connected, they're intertwined.

And that is a powerful insight.

Archie Roach enjoyed tremendous success in his artistic career, but throughout his times of great success he never forgot the challenges he'd experienced at different times of his life. He was known for his humility, for his sense of generosity, and even as his health deteriorated he continued to perform, particularly for Aboriginal audiences.

A distinctive feature of Archie Roach's approach was that, despite the traumas that he'd experienced, he lived his life with hope, and that informed his approach as a storyteller and as a truth-teller. He had this to say:

You can reach the darkest point in your life and come back, and come good, even better.

So using his art, using his music, he told stories of very difficult times for him and others, but also sent a message of hope. As he once said, 'Songs outlive people,' and his body of work, the songs that he wrote, the songs that he performed, is a profound legacy that he leaves to all Australians, together with the inspiration of the way he carried out his life and work.

I join with other members of this House in expressing deep condolences to Archie's family and friends, particularly his sons, Amos and Eban, and foster children, Kriss, Arthur and Terrence. I close by joining with many other members in acknowledging the extraordinary life and contribution of Archie Roach, in recognising his remarkable talent and in thanking him for the truth-telling and the message of hope that he sent to Indigenous Australians and that he sent to all Australians.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning, in preparation for this speech, I read the lyrics of 'Took the Children Away'. It's a song I know well—as I know that most people in this place and around our country know well—but, as I started reading it this morning, of course I started crying. Such is the power of Archie Roach's work, that a song so well known, so often played and heard, still moves me to tears, and I know I would not be alone in that.

Archie Roach was a powerful storyteller and musician. He told his story, and in doing so he also told our country parts of its story that we too often wanted to ignore. He did this with beauty, with dignity and with vulnerability. He invited all of us to share not just the sorrow and the horror but also the strength and the opportunity of that story. To be able to put together that life—which included a lot of pain and suffering being inflicted upon him—with the opportunity to also see the strength, dignity and opportunity for change is such a remarkable combination and achievement. It takes a remarkable man to be able to use that trauma as the starting point for strength, outreach and, ultimately, change. Coming back to where I began, the last words of 'Took the Children Away' are: 'The children came back. Yes, I came back.' They are words of hope, words of strength, words of a potential future—a way forward for our country from the hurt and from the trauma. They speak also to the importance for Archie Roach of his community, of his country, of his people and of coming back to those people and to that country. Archie Roach was a proud Gunditjmara and Bundjalung man, and I extend my deepest sympathies to all of his family and his community mourning his passing. Please know that our country grieves with you and that we feel privileged that we were also able to share his story, to hear his music and also, through him, to be moved to work for change.

I had the privilege of seeing Archie Roach perform a number of times, including performances with his great love, Ruby Hunter. And every single one of those performances was a special occasion. You always knew that when Archie had his guitar, when he was on a stage, that something beautiful was about to come, that something moving was about to come and that something powerful was about to come. One of the reasons I was privileged enough to see Archie Roach perform so many times is because his and Ruby's story was also very much a Victorian and a Melbourne story. So much of it was set around Fitzroy and, as the title of Archie's album makes clear, Charcoal Lane. He wrote about the places where his life happened. He wrote about his country, but he also wrote about the Melbourne streets where his story played out. And I also know from many of the tributes that have been paid to him, that him telling that story about what his life was like on those Melbourne streets has helped many a young First Nations person in Melbourne and Victoria to understand where their strength lies and to understand what a better future can look like for them. That is a remarkable legacy.

Archie Roach's impact on Australian music is clear from the many tributes he has received from our musicians. From Paul Kelly, who he performed with, to more recent musicians such as Briggs, who in his tribute rightly said:

Being the greatest means you transcended the genre, and what you do impacts culture. You change culture around the world. You change the discussion.

This is what Archie Roach did. He changed culture and he changed lives. It is a remarkable gift and a remarkable legacy. Thank you Archie Roach, for sharing your story, your gift and your life with us. We will all miss you, but we are so grateful for having had you.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I never had the honour of meeting Archie Roach—musician, storyteller and a voice for Indigenous people. However, Archie Roach grew up and spent a significant part of his young life in Casey, and today I want to pay tribute to Archie, and share more of his story in Casey.

Archie Roach was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2020 after 30 years on the Australian music scene. He had a profound impact on our country that goes well beyond the power of his music. As a member of the stolen generations, Roach put his deeply personal stories to music, and became an advocate for Indigenous Australians—giving a voice to others who had experienced the same pain of being removed from family and country.

The Gunditjmara-Bundjalung senior elder was born in Mooroopna, near Shepparton in Victoria, but was removed from his family when he was three. He experienced several years of unstable foster conditions until being settled with his foster parents, Alex and Dulcie Cox, a family of Scottish immigrants living in Mount Evelyn and later in Mooroolbark in my electorate of Casey. His foster sister, Mary Cox, would sing church hymns and taught Archie guitar and piano Archie's love of music was inspired by Alex's collection of Scottish music. Archie once said about his foster father:

He was a big influence on me—a good influence. I'll love him to the day I die.

In an interview with our local paper, the Star Mail, last May in the lead-up to the tour for his memoir, Tell Me Why, Roach spoke of his early years growing up in Casey. He spent holidays in his foster family's shack in the gum forests of Mount Evelyn, a beautiful and inspiring place. He later lived in Mooroolbark and attended Lilydale High School, a place of which he had fond memories. He said that he had great friends at Lilydale High, friends he really cared about. I like to think about him finding joy in the same place I spent many happy times in childhood. The environment is beautiful, as are the people.

In 1970, while in class at Lilydale High, Roach received a letter from his sister, Myrtle, informing him that his biological mother, Nellie, had died. It was this letter that sent him on a journey to find the truth about his origins and life as an Aboriginal man, leading to some of his most poignant and well-known songs, such as 'Took the Children Away'. Archie Roach will be remembered for his unwavering desire to share the stories of Aboriginal people, his iconic voice, and his musical capabilities. Roach was meant to perform in Healesville this weekend. His music will live on in the many communities he made better, including ours in Casey. I would like to share, as everyone has, my condolences to his family and friends—in particular his sons, Amos and Eban.

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