Weeping in the forest as Archie Roach mourned by Australian arts community, aged 66

With nine well-chosen words, it was apt that fellow singer-songwriter Paul Kelly came closest to capturing the incalculable loss of one of his peers at the weekend.

Singer-songwriter Archie Roach in 2021. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

With nine well-chosen words, it was apt that another of Australia’s greatest singer-songwriters came closest to capturing the incalculable loss of one of his peers at the weekend.

“Archie Roach. Big tree down. Weeping in the forest,” wrote musician Paul Kelly on social media on Sunday morning, in tribute to his beloved friend, colleague and collaborator, who died at Warrnambool Base Hospital after a long illness, aged 66.

The pioneering Indigenous Australian folk artist’s death was announced by his longtime record label Mushroom on Saturday night, with Roach’s sons Amos and Eban giving permission for his name, image and music to be used so that it might continue to inspire.

Since emerging with his debut album Charcoal Lane in 1990, when the singer-songwriter was aged 34, Roach’s stirring, soulful voice had told stories of himself and his people.

His signature song Took the Children Away artfully and succinctly captured the deep hurt of he and his fellow Stolen Generations members better than any history textbook could.

Fittingly, the five-minute song continues to be taught in Australian classrooms as an essential pillar of understanding one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history, when Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian government.

“Our country has lost a brilliant talent, a powerful and prolific national truth teller,” wrote Anthony Albanese on social media on Saturday night.

“Archie’s music drew from a well of trauma and pain, but it flowed with a beauty and a resonance that moved us all,” wrote the Prime Minister.

“We grieve for his death, we honour his life and we hold to the hope that his words, his music and his indomitable spirit will live on to guide us and inspire us.”

A softly spoken man, both on stage and off, Roach was the sort of artist who preferred to let his art speak for itself.

True enough, listening to the plain-spoken contents of his songwriting catalogue – collected in an anthology titled My Songs: 1989-2021, released by Mushroom earlier this year – is the best way to understand who he was, where he came from, and what he hoped for the future.

His brilliantly written 2019 memoir Tell Me Why – subtitled The Story of My Life and My Music – is a fine companion piece.

Just like his songs, the book was written with empathy as its impetus, and that intent shone through on every page. It is a phenomenal work by one of the most articulate and recognisable members of the Stolen Generations, and like his music, it will be read, studied and discussed for many years to come.

Behind the scenes of Roach’s significant output as a recording and performing artist, a woman named Jill Shelton managed his career since 2006.

Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach in 1995. Picture: Gerald Jenkins

When Roach’s wife Ruby Hunter died suddenly in 2010, plunging the devastated musician into ill health, Shelton became a mix of carer, confidante, friend and manager that she maintained for 16 years.

Shelton is not a public person, but as Roach noted in his memoir, it was her strength, courage and determination that helped to bring him back to a position of strong health and redoubtable leadership.

Her endless compassion and respect for Roach and his abundant talents steered him through the final 16 years of his life, which bloomed with projects including album releases, tours, his landmark memoir and the Archie Roach Foundation.

As news of his death spread across the weekend, the arts community mourned as one. The man himself was an optimist, and it was apt that green shoots of hope were already beginning to sprout.

Fellow singer-songwriter Shane Howard neatly tied Saturday’s sad news to the process of reconciliation that Mr Albanese had outlined at the weekend at Garma Festival in northeast Arnhem Land.

“Let our brother’s passing bring us together and strengthen our resolve to embrace the Uluru Statement from the Heart and bring to reality the healing and justice in this country that Archie yearned for, in his songs and his big spirit,” wrote the Goanna frontman on social media.