Statues of Archie Roach AC AM and Ruby Hunter

This public artwork celebrates Aboriginal music legends and community leaders, Aunty Ruby Hunter Ngarrindjeri/Kokatha/Pitjantjatjara, and Uncle Archie Roach AC AM Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung)/Bundjalung.

Archie was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2015 for his lifetime contributions to music and activism. His music won numerous Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) awards and he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2020. He was posthumously appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2023 for his services to the performing arts, Indigenous rights and reconciliation, and for supporting First Nations artists.

Ruby was a singer, songwriter, and performer who used her talents to champion the rights of her people. She was the first Australian Aboriginal woman to sign with a major record label and to release a solo album, Thoughts Within, which was nominated for an ARIA award in 1994. In 2020, she was inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.

Archie and Ruby loved Fitzroy. They resided in Atherton Gardens  where they regularly gathered with community in the park. Many of their songs celebrate the streets of Fitzroy and the Aboriginal heartbeat of this suburb. Fitzroy has always been, and continues to be, a very important place for Victorian Aboriginal communities.

Archie and Ruby were both Stolen Generations survivors. It was in Fitzroy that Archie found his brothers and sisters, and was reunited with family and reconnected to Culture. These statues are a testament to Aboriginal strength, resilience, and self-determination.

Mapping Country, the winding pathway traces Archie and Ruby’s journey through the tribal lands of the Bundjalung and Gunditjmara peoples of Victoria; and the Ngarrindjeri, Kokatha, and Pitjantjatjara peoples of South Australia to Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country here in Fitzroy. Imprints of Archie and Ruby’s spirit totems are embedded into the path that leads up to the memorial: the Wedge-tailed Eagle and the Red-bellied Black Snake connect Archie; and for Ruby the Pelican, which is now resting at her feet. Other spirit totems featured in the pathway include: the Crow, the Murray Cod, the Wombat, the Black Swan and the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo who have shared their journey with Archie and Ruby since birth.

On the rise at the top of the pathway, these statues of Archie and Ruby stand proud on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country, forever watching over their ‘Meeting Place’.