Warning: This story contains the names and images of deceased Indigenous people.
It all started with a coin toss.
A teenage Archie Roach was standing on the side of the Sturt Highway in 1973 deciding which direction to hitch a ride.
Heads meant Adelaide, and off he travelled to the destination where he would meet a young Ruby Hunter – the woman who would become his partner in life, love and music.
Five decades later, the couple are now a permanent fixture of Melbourne’s streetscape after a brass statue of the much-loved duo was unveiled on Saturday afternoon in Atherton Gardens, Fitzroy.
Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter are now a permanent fixture of Fitzroy.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Ceremonies, song, dance, food, laughter and conversation filled the day, as more than 100 attendees huddled under umbrellas to see the statue, which was created by artist Darien Pullen.
Taungurung man, musician and broadcaster Grant Hansen thanked the crowd for coming to celebrate the “two icons of Indigenous music”.
“My story of Archie and Ruby goes back more than 35 years now,” he said.
Hansen first met Archie when he was working at a local homeless shelter, and watched his musical career progress, from humble beginnings to global stardom.
“Ruby was the one who encouraged Archie to write songs,” he said.
Hansen was present when Archie first played the historic track Took The Children Away at the Aborigines Advancement League in the late 1980s to a stunned crowd. “You could hear a pin drop.”
A photo of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter on display during the launch of their statue in Fitzroy on Saturday. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
The song would reverberate around the world, moving audiences with the powerful lyrics that laid bare the horrors of the stolen generation.
The track was part of the album Charcoal Lane, named after the street opposite where the statue stands in Fitzroy – which was long the centre of Aboriginal services in Melbourne.
Minister for Treaty and First Peoples Natalie Hutchins described Roach and Hunter as “two of the most powerful voices in the music scene” and “guardians of history, a history that needed to be told”.
She said Took The Children Away had “challenged the nation to reckon with its past [and had a] profound impact on both Australians and around the world”.
‘Mum and dad would really love this. I couldn’t be more happy or proud.’
Amos Roach
“They were a powerful partnership, not just as artists but in their fights for justice,” she said.
Emotions were running high at the unveiling, when the couple’s son Amos Roach addressed the crowd. “Mum and dad would really love this,” he said. “I couldn’t be more happy or proud.”
On the sidelines, Roach’s niece Tracey Evans told stories of growing up in Collingwood – playing with family as a child, then later, as an adult, drinking in the Builders Arms pub down the road in Fitzroy.
It was in the Atherton Gardens, to the backdrop of Fitzroy’s public housing towers, where families were reunited, cultures shared, memories made, and protest movements born.
Amos Roach, son of the late Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, at the unveiling of a bronze statue in their honour by Darien Pullen.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“The very fabric of Fitzroy belongs to Aboriginal people,” Evans said. “This area is in our blood.”
Evans said her aunty and uncle “had great love for each other”.
“They were inseparable. They were always together. They were fun, fun to be around.”
It was this partnership that saw them through tough times to become a defining voice of a generation, bringing the dark reality of Australian history to the mainstream and advocating for Aboriginal rights.
A toothy smile flashed across friend of the family Jenny Munro’s face on Saturday when she reflected on the love between Roach and Hunter. “Even when they fought it was good. They were wonderful. I think it was magic,” she said.
The statue now breathes fresh life into the final line of Roach’s seminal song: “Yes, I came back.”
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