Ruby Hunter

Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (31 October 195517 February 2010), also known as Aunty Ruby, was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the wife and musical partner of Archie Roach.

Early life Ruby Hunter was born on 31 October 1955 on Goat Island, near Renmark in South Australia. Her parents had come to the Riverland to find work after the Swan Reach mission had closed in 1946, and at the time, Aboriginal women were not allowed access to the local hospital to give birth. Hunter was a Ngarrindjeri, Kokatha, and Pitjantjatjara woman.

As a child Hunter lived with her brothers, Wally, Jeffrey and Robert, and sister Iris, with their grandmother and grandfather at the Aboriginal reserve at Point McLeay (later called Raukkan) on Lake Alexandrina in the Coorong region of South Australia. Wally was taken off the street by government officials, and then the men took the rest of the children from their home, under the pretext that they were being taken to the circus. Thereafter Ruby lived in institutions and foster care, as one of the Stolen Generations. Hunter was placed in Seaforth Children's Home and later with a foster family.

Hunter met her partner for life, Archie Roach, at the age of 16, while both were homeless teenagers, It was Roach who inspired Hunter to learn to play the guitar and write her own music. In 1990, she wrote the autobiographical "Down City Streets", which was performed by Roach on his debut solo album Charcoal Lane. The album launched her career as a performer and songwriter.

In 2001 Hunter made her acting debut in the award-winning feature fiction film One Night the Moon, directed by Rachel Perkins and starring Paul Kelly.

With Roach, Paul Grabowsky and his Australian Art Orchestra (AAO), she wrote and performed the concert Ruby's Story, which tells her life story through song and spoken word. The production debuted at the Message Sticks Festival at the Sydney Opera House in June 2004, to good reviews. The soundtrack was released as an album on CD and as a digital download in 2005.

In October 2004 a new concert, once again a collaboration with Roach, Grabowsky and the AAO, entitled Kura Tungar – Songs from the River, premiered at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, which was directed by Robyn Archer that year. The concert, which was directed by Patrick Nolan, told stories from the two performers' lives, and featured songs about the Murray River and Ngarrindjeri Country, Ruby's home. The music used Roach and Hunter's lyrics and chords combined with Grabowsky and the AAO's contemporary jazz orchestration. It played to full houses which gave standing ovations and was later performed at the Sydney Opera House and Adelaide Festival Centre. In 2005 Kura Tungar won the Helpmann Award for the Best Contemporary Australian Concert at the 5th Helpmann Awards. Her partner Archie Roach established Ruby's Foundation to help continue her legacy. The foundation is dedicated to creating opportunities for Aboriginal people through the promotion, celebration and support of Aboriginal arts and culture.

At the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards, Hunter was inducted into its Hall of Fame.

Wash My Soul in the River's Flow (2021), written and directed by Philippa Bateman and produced by Bateman, Kate Hodges and Archie Roach, is a feature-length documentary based on the 2004 concert Kura Tungar-Songs from the River, featuring Roach, Hunter, Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra, The film also tells of the love story between Hunter and Roach, and is interspersed with vision of The Coorong. Hunter is featured wearing pelican feathers, with Roach explaining that she was a pelican in the Dreamtime and that her spirit has returned to being a pelican. The film had its world premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in October 2021 and was an official selection for the Sydney Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival in December 2021.

In 2022, two side-by-side pillar-shaped monuments were erected on the shores of Lake Bonney at Barmera, in homage to Hunter and Roach. Glass mosaic artwork on the front side of each monument, designed by Hunter's sister-in-law, Rosslyn Richards, depict Hunter's Ngarrindjeri totem, the pelican and Roach's totem, the eagle.

In 2023, the Roach- and Hunter-authored book Songs from the Kitchen Table was released, including lyrics, stories, photographs.

In 2024, a statue of Hunter and Roach was erected at Atherton Gardens in Fitzroy.

A process to have Hunter's birthplace, Goat Island, The Land of Little Kings (2000) ), with Roach, Took the Children Away (2010), a children's book created from the song; 30th anniversary edition shortlisted in 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards, Australian Book of the Year for Younger Children

Co-author, with Roach, Butcher paper, texta, black board and chalk (2012), a children's song-book which features Aboriginal songs about land, health and life. Many of the songs were written through songwriting and music workshops held by Hunter and Roach with children across Cape York in Queensland. 1995 Thoughts Within Best Indigenous Release 2000 Feeling Good Best Blues & Roots Album

Australian Women in Music Awards The Australian Women in Music Awards is an annual event that honours women for their contributions to the Australian music industry. They were first awarded in 2018. 2025 Ruby Hunter Lifetime Achievement Award The Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1995 to 2013. 2000 Hunter Female Artist of the Year

National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians from throughout Australia. They commenced in 2004.