The late singer-songwriters Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, partners in both life and music, are to be honoured with a statue in Fitzroy next year.
The statue, which has yet to be commissioned and designed, will be overseen by members of Roach and Hunter’s families, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Council and Yarra city council.
The Victorian government will contribute $287,000 for the sculpture, which will be unveiled in 2023.
Roach, a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung man, died earlier this year at the age of 66, having lived for years with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Hunter, of the Ngarrindjeri, Kukatha and Pitjantjatjara nations, died aged 54 in 2010.
Both Roach and Hunter were members of the stolen generations. They first met in Adelaide as teenagers, when both were searching for information about their families, and remained together all their lives.
Roach would become one of Australia’s most beloved and respected musicians, with his 1990 song Took the Children Away becoming an anthemic ode for the stolen generations. Hunter was the first female First Nations artist to release a solo album, 1994’s Thoughts Within.
Both had a long history with Fitzroy. Roach’s debut album, Charcoal Lane, was named for the Fitzroy home of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, first established on Gertrude Street in 1973. The health service was a sanctuary for Aboriginal people, especially the “parkies” – a young Roach among them – who were living on the nearby streets, many having gravitated to inner-city Melbourne to try to trace their families after years spent on reserves and missions.
Hunter travelled from Adelaide to reunite with Roach, and the pair lived on the streets of Melbourne for many years. Down City Streets, a song on Roach’s first album, was written by Hunter about that time.
In 2020, Roach was named Victorian of the Year. In August this year, Roach’s funeral procession passed through Collingwood and Fitzroy on its way to Gunditjmara country for a private ceremony.
“I remember good times with my dear baby brother Archie in Fitzroy and Collingwood and Ruby right beside him. We shared many good times here together as a family,” Myrtle Evans, Roach’s sister, said. “Being back here reminds me of those times. I miss those times now. May the spirit of dear Archie and Ruby always be here.”
Wurundjeri elder Uncle Colin Hunter said he hoped the statue would “elevate these two Aboriginal legends to their rightful place in Australian musical history, right on top.”
“Uncle Archie’s and Aunty Ruby’s passion for their people inspired these gifted songwriters. They produced lyrics that not only touched the hearts of millions but educated a nation on the stolen generations,” Hunter said.
“Their songs will endure, and their community work and kindness changed lives – through this sculpture we’re ensuring that legacy lasts for generations,” said Victoria’s minister for creative industries, Steve Dimopoulos.
