The body of Archie Roach, the Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal activist, often referred to as “Uncle Archie”, was taken home by his family on Monday.
Crowds lined the streets of Melbourne as the hearse was escorted by the Southern Warriors Aboriginal Motorcycle Club on one last journey through the streets of Collingwood, Fitzroy and St Kilda, where Archie spent his youth.
The ABC reported that after touring the suburbs he once walked Archie’s cortege made its way back to Gunditjmara country in south-west Victoria.
Blessed this morning to honour Archie Roach as his family bring him home, escorted by Southern Warriors Aboriginal Motorcycle Club on Smith St, Collingwood, Naarm as he journeys home to Country. Vale pic.twitter.com/tkwdykRaip
— Lowitja Institute (@LowitjaInstitut) August 21, 2022
Archie grew up at the Framlingham mission and died on country in Warrnambool two weeks ago at the age of 66.
He passed away surrounded by his family and loved ones after a long illness, his sons Amos and Eban Roach said.
“We are so proud of everything our dad achieved in his remarkable life,” the pair said.
“He was a healer and unifying force. His music brought people together.”
Roach rose to prominence with the release of his debut single Took the Children Away in 1990 and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2020.
The song reflected his experience as a member of the Stolen Generation and earned him ARIA nominations for breakthrough artist and an award for best new talent at the 1991 awards.
It was added to the National Film and Sound Archive in 2013.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney described him as a giant of the industry.
“For many Australians, Archie was their first exposure to the horrors of the Stolen Generations,” she said in a statement after his death.
“His voice, his music and his story came out of trauma and pain.
“His powerful songs also brought people together. They provided strength and still serve as a source of healing – putting into words what was unspeakable.”
Reconciliation Australia said Roach shone a light on history, the present and future, while Olympic gold medal winner Cathy Freeman passed on her condolences.
“(He was) such a champion for First Nations people and all humanity,” she wrote on Twitter.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia had lost a “brilliant talent, a powerful and prolific national truth teller”.
“Archie’s music drew from a well of trauma and pain, but it flowed with a beauty and a resonance that moved us all,” Mr Albanese said in a social media post.
“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.”
Roach toured globally and was in 2013 given an Indigenous ‘Deadly Award’ for a lifetime contribution to healing the Stolen Generation.
-with wires
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