Archie Roach, musician, storyteller and a voice for Aboriginal people, has died aged 66 surrounded by family and friends at Warrnambool Base Hospital.
Having battled lung cancer for many years, performing with the assistance of an oxygen tube, Roach’s health had deteriorated.
The Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung), Bundjalung Senior Elder was born in Mooroopna but spent time with his foster parents, Alex and Dulcie Cox, living in both Mount Evelyn and Mooroolbark.
In an interview with Star News last May, in the lead up to his memoir tour Tell Me Why, Roach spoke of his early years growing up in the eastern suburbs.
Regularly making holiday trips to Mount Evelyn, Roach described his foster father’s house as a ‘shack’ “nestled among gum trees. There was a fish filled creek nearby that I’d throw a line into. I loved that Mt Evelyn place.”
Eventually moving to the shack when times got tough financially, Roach said “while in Mt Evelyn, Mum and Dad Cox’s health declined even further. We were there a year before moving to nearby Mooroolbark.“
As a teenager, Roach enrolled at Lilydale High School, a place where he had fond memories of his friendships.
“Although there were limits to the social standing of a ’black bastard’ in high school, I had great friends at my new school Lilydale High, friends I really cared about.
“There was a Dutch kid named Hank, an independent soul who refused to compete in anything and spoke with a creamy accent, a girl with cerebral palsy who had callipers on her legs, and another slight, very smart boy who we called The Brain.
“It was only with these friends that I would stand up for myself. I couldn’t bear seeing these good kids disappear into themselves after a barrage of insults and cackles.”
In 1970 while in class at Lilydale High, Roach received a letter from his sister Myrtle informing him his biological mother, Nellie, had died.
It was this letter that sent him on a journey to find the truth about his origins and life as an Aboriginal man, leading to some of his most poignant and well-known songs like Took The Children Away.
Archie Roach will be remembered for his unwavering desire to share the stories of Aboriginal people, his iconic voice and his musical capabilities.
Roach was meant to perform in Healesville on Saturday 6 August.
