Crowds farewell Archie Roach on rumbling last ride through Melbourne streets

At each stop on the route through Melbourne, people gathered to farewell beloved Gunditjmara Bundjalung songman Archie Roach, who died last month aged 66. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

The roar of motorcycles was a loud and proud final escort for an otherwise quiet man.

The beloved Gunditjmara Bundjalung songman Archie Roach, who died last month aged 66, took his last ride down the Melbourne city streets he knew so well on Monday morning, in a black Chrysler valiant hearse with the Aboriginal flag on the side. He was accompanied by the Southern Warriors Aboriginal motorcycle club.

They drove through the streets of Collingwood, Fitzroy and St Kilda, stopping at places Roach immortalised in songs like Charcoal Lane, Down City Streets, and the heartbreaking F-Troop, a song about the first time he met his brother, at the age of 16, by accident.

I was only sixteen years, when I met my brother
He looked at me, and his face lit up with joy
After the tears, he talked about our mother
Held me close and whispered ‘Butter Boy’

The hearse carrying Archie Roach travelled up Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne and stopped for a minute’s silence outside Charcoal Lane. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

The cortege stopped on the corner of Smith and Gertrude streets near where the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service opened in 1973. It was an important part of Roach’s life and music.

I remember sitting in the laneway with my brother
Sharing cigarettes and company
Drinking with some friends we knew
Who said they knew our father
Sitting in the laneway, my brother and me

The health service was a safe space for Aboriginal people, especially the “parkies” who, including a young Roach, were living on the streets of Fitzroy.

A photo of Archie and Ruby Roach taken in 2009 by James Penlidis. Roach died last month aged 66. Photograph: Supplied by Archie Roach via Simon & Schuster

Aboriginal people who had survived missions, reserves and other government horrors, or who were forcibly taken from their families as part of the stolen generations, gravitated to inner-city Melbourne at the time, hoping to trace their families.

A street behind a nearby factory was a meeting and drinking place known as Charcoal Lane.

Crowds gathered on the streets of Melbourne to say goodbye to Archie Roach as he took his last ride through the city streets. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

At each point on Monday’s route, crowds gathered to say goodbye. Many stood with their fists raised and heads bowed in a respectful black power salute. A sign on a pole in Gertrude Street said: “Uncle Archie Roach. Rest in paradise. Thank you for everything.”

The cortege then left Melbourne for Warrnambool, where Roach will be laid to rest in a private ceremony.