WARNING: This article contains an image of an Aboriginal person who has passed.
Memorialised at home, monuments to Uncle Archie Roach and Aunty Ruby Hunter were unveiled in the South Australian Barmera Riverland. Riverland.
Lovers in life, and icons of music, Aunty Ruby, a Ngarrindjeri and Erawirung woman, and Uncle Archie, a Gunditjimara and Bundjalung man, gave much to the Riverland community whilst they called it home.
Now, two monuments stand on the edge of Barmera’s Lake Bonney honouring their legacy in the region and shining a light for those going navigating tough times.
“Let their lives shine the beacon of healing and hope and restoration to anyone out there who’s tossing up lost, alone,” said Aunty Ruby’s nephew James Love told ABC News.
Mr Love said the duo were a “prime example for coming through brokenness” and draws strength from them in his own healing journey.
The monument consists of two concrete pillars decorated in a mosaic artwork designed by Aunty Ruby’s sister-in-law, Aunty Rosslyn Richards.
Members of the Hunter Roach Monument Committee with both pillars at the unveiling Source: Berri Barmera Council
Both Aunty Ruby and Uncle Archie’s totems, the eagle and the pelican, feature in mosaics.
"One Ruby's best sayings was 'the nori has landed'," Aunty Rosslyn told ABC News.
"So anytime she used to travel anywhere, she used to ring up all hours of the night to let us know 'the nori has landed'.”
Local member, Tim Whetstone was at the unveiling, and told NITV News the monument was a "small but significant tribute" to the pair.
“Both Archie and Ruby have strong connection to the Riverland and their story is an important piece of our regions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history.”
For Mr Love, the monument is a place that not only pays tribute to the pair but serves as an inspiration to young Aboriginal people.
Archie Roach and his late wife Aunty Ruby Hunter athe 1991 ARIA Awards. Source: Tony Mott
“I want them to be walking with their heads held high knowing that they are home," he said.
"I want them to know they're not alone in the struggle. These old ones before us, they beckon us home and they want us to make the right choices so that we too can go home to them."
