Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (31 October 1955 – 17 February 2010), also known as Aunty Ruby, was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the life and musical partner of Archie Roach.
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.[5] One day, when Ruby was eight years old,[6] 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.[5] Hunter was placed in Seaforth Children's Home[3] in the Adelaide seaside suburb of Somerton Park,[7] and later with a foster family.[3] After having an argument with her foster brother, she was placed at Vaughan House, which was a 'home for wayward girls' in the northern Adelaide suburb of Enfield.[8]
Hunter first performed in public in 1988 during a festival at Bondi Pavilion in Sydney, where she performed "Proud, Proud Woman," the first song she had written.[10] In 1990, she wrote the autobiographical "Down City Streets", which was performed by Roach on his debut solo album Charcoal Lane.[10] In 1994, Hunter became the first Indigenous Australian woman to record a solo rock album, and the first Aboriginal woman signed to a major record label, when she released her debut album Thoughts Within.[11][12] The album launched her career as a performer and songwriter.[1]
Thereafter, she toured with Roach, both within Australian and overseas, releasing her second album Feeling Good in May 2000. Also in that year, Hunter appeared in a feature-length documentary film, Land of the Little Kings, which told the stories of Indigenous children affected by being forcibly removed from their families.[1] The name of the film derives from a song by Paul Kelly, which is sung by Roach in the film. In the film, Hunter returns to her childhood home for the first time, and relates the story of her childhood. The film won a Human Rights Award in the television category in 2000.[13]
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.[3][14]
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,[19] which was directed by Robyn Archer that year.[20] 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.[19]
In 2005, Hunter was invited by Deborah Conway to take part in the Broad Festival project, with three other Australian female artists, where they performed their own and each other's songs.[21][3] With Hunter and Conway were Sara Storer, Katie Noonan and Clare Bowditch.[22][3]
Personal life
Hunter and Roach had a close and lifelong bond from the moment of their meeting, sharing a deep love that nourished both of them. They had two sons and officially fostered three children.[5] They also mentored teenagers in the family home; unofficially, Roach estimated around 15 to 20 further children over the years.[23]
Hunter said that her proudest achievement was keeping her family together as a stable unit.[3]
Death and legacy
Hunter died of a heart attack on 17 February 2010, aged 54.[24] 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.[25] As of March 2022[update] the Ruby Hunter Foundation has a Facebook page, but no website or other presence.[26]
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,[19] in which Hunter and Roach sing about the Murray River and Ngarrindjeri lands.[28][29] 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.[23] The film had its world premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in October 2021[30] and was an official selection for the Sydney Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival in December 2021.[31][32]
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 (nori) and Roach's totem, the eagle, respectively.[33]
In 2023, the Roach and Hunter authored book Songs from the Kitchen Table was released, including lyrics, stories, photographs.[34]
Hunter continues to be known affectionately as Aunty Ruby.[2][26]
Publications
"A Change is Gonna Come", poem (1995), published in the journal Republica[1]
Co-author (illustrator[35]), 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[1][36]
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.[1]
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. The ran from 1995 to 2013.
The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001.[39]
Kura Tungar: Songs from the River (with Archie Roach)
Best Australian Contemporary Concert
Won
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.[41][42][27]
The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards commenced in 1984 and recognise outstanding achievements in dance, drama, comedy, music, opera, circus and puppetry.
