"Took the Children Away" is a song written and recorded by Australian singer

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Abori ...

. The song was released in September 1990 as his debut single. The song was included on Roach's debut studio album ''

Charcoal Lane ''Charcoal Lane'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer song writer Archie Roach, released in 1990. Name From the 1960s through to the 1980s, the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy was a meeting place for Aboriginal people who had ...

''. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1991 The Fifth Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 25 March 1991 at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney. International host Bob Geldof was as ...

, the song was nominated for

ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Single The ARIA Music Award for Breakthrough Artist – Single was an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards. It was presented from 1989 through to 2009 and 2011. This, and the ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist – Album was merged in 2012 t ...

. In 1991, "Took the Children Away" won Roach the Human Rights Achievement Award, the first time that the award had been bestowed on a songwriter. In 2013, the song was added to the

Sounds of Australia The Sounds of Australia, formerly the National Registry of Recorded Sound, is the National Film and Sound Archive's selection of sound recordings which are deemed to have cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance for Australi ...

registry in the National Film and Sound Archive.

Background and release

Roach was a part of the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

, generations subject to a policy that ran from about 1905 until the 1970s where

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

children were forcibly removed from their family by Australian government agencies, and placed in

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

s. Roach wrote "Took the Children Away" about this experience in 1988. He performed the track on a community radio station in Melbourne and on an Indigenous current affairs program. Australian musician Paul Kelly invited Roach to open his concert early in 1989, where he performed "Took the Children Away". His performance was met with stunned silence, followed by shattering applause. The song became significant as it was released at a time when there was increasing public focus on the Stolen Generations.

Track listing

Release history

References

{{Archie Roach Archie Roach songs Mushroom Records singles 1988 songs 1990 debut singles ARIA Award winners Songs about children Songs about Australia Songs based on actual events