Archie Roach collection

The powerful songs of Archie Roach (1956–2022) tell his story of heartbreaking loss, love and healing through music.

He is a Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung), Bundjalung Senior Elder and was born in Mooroopna, Victoria.

A musician, author and human rights campaigner, Archie was also a member of the Stolen Generations. He was forcibly separated from his family when he was two years old, placed into foster care and told he was an orphan.

To coincide with the release of Archie's autobiography and companion album Tell Me Why (2019), the NFSA honoured Archie's four-decade career with two curated collections filled with rare footage, live recordings, photographs, documents, home movies and excerpts from an online-exclusive interview.

This collection explores Archie's life and musical history – from falling in love with gospel and country music, surviving homelessness and alcoholism, to recording his ARIA award-winning debut album Charcoal Lane (1990), and his subsequent career right up to one of his latest songs, 'Place of Fire' (2019).

Learn more about his collaboration with partner Ruby Hunter in the Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter collection, which includes behind-the-scenes home movie footage, photographs and rare interviews.

WARNING: this collection contains names, images or voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.