Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (1955 - 2010)

Born 31 Oct 1955 in River Murray, South Australia, Australia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died 17 Feb 2010 at age 54 in Victoria, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Margaret Silva [send private message]

Biography

Ruby Hunter is an Indigenous Australian.

Ruby Hunter is Notable.

Born in 1955, on the banks of the Murray River in South Australia's Ngarrindjeri Country, Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter was a Ngarrindjeri, Barngarla and Pitjantjatjara woman, and award winning singer, songwriter and musician, who used music to champion the rights of Aboriginal women and children.^[1][2]

The fifth child of Jeffrey Hunter and Irene Richards,^[1] Ruby was three years old when her mother died as a result of pneumonia.^[3][4] Following her mother's untimely demise, Ruby and her siblings were raised by her maternal grandparents, at the Meningie 7 Mile Camp, a fringe camp situated seven miles from Meningie, on the southern side of Lake Albert. So named because these camps were dotted on the outskirts of towns, they were inhabited by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as legislation did not permit them to live in white settlements. Fringe camps allowed their inhabitants to remain close enough to a town for the mandatory schooling of their children, to find work, and the close proximity to extended family members provided support and maintained connections to Country.^[5]

Ruby was eight years old when she and her siblings were removed by government officials from their family, after being lured by the false promise of a visit to a circus. The children were never returned to their family; instead they were separated and fostered into different white families, unbeknown to one another.^[2] Years later they would be acknowledged as the Stolen Generations. Grandmother Ruby's health declined after the children were taken, and she died a short time later.^[4][6]

At 16 years of age Ruby was released. Left without support and nowhere to go, Ruby found herself homeless on the streets of Adelaide. There she met her future husband Archie Roach, another member of the Stolen Generations, and as they lived together homeless, they bonded for the rest of Ruby's life. Ruby supported Archie to overcome his pain-induced alcohol dependency. They went on to have two sons together and fostered other homeless children, as they translated their harrowing childhood experiences into music.^[2][7][8]

Ruby worked for a time at the Margaret Tucker Hostel in Fairfield, Victoria, which provided supported accommodation for homeless Aboriginal girls and women. She and Archie cared for up to 14 children at a time in a family group home run by the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency in Thornbury. Later she and Archie made their own home a welcoming haven for homeless and disadvantaged young people. Ruby was also a tireless worker on behalf of the Winja Ulupna Women's Recovery Centre, a rehabilitation service for Aboriginal women in St Kilda.^[2]

Ruby's music career took off when Archie included her song Down City Streets on his first album, Charcoal Lane, in 1990. This saw Ruby offered her own recording contract, becoming the first Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander woman to sign with a major recording label. In 1994 Ruby released her first album, Thoughts Within. Her second album, Feeling Good, earned her the Best Female Performer of the Year at the Deadly Awards in 2000, an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. In 2003 Ruby was recognised for her outstanding contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.^[2][9] Her songs spoke of the experiences of many First Nations people, particularly those of the Stolen Generations and young women.^[10]

In 2004 Ruby and Archie collaborated with Paul Grabowsky on the production of Ruby’s Story, which won the Deadly Award for excellence in film and theatrical score.^[11] Ruby was also a driving force behind the formation of Black Arm Band, a company of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal performers from around Australia. Black Arm Band tours and presents contemporary Aboriginal performances at major festivals in capital cities and in remote Australian communities.^[2]

Despite the pressures of successful musical careers, Ruby and Archie continued to give back to the community. They toured remote Indigenous communities to present song writing workshops in schools.^[2] With the Mothers Milk Bank charity, Ruby worked to ensure safe donor breast milk would be available to mothers who experience diabetes mellitus during their pregnancy.^[12]

Ruby died at her home in western Victoria, aged 55, of a heart attack in 2010.^[1][8][13]

In 2020 Ruby was posthumously inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.^[14][15]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Death Notice for Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter (The Weekly Times Now, https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/tributes/notice/death-notices/hunter-ruby-charlotte-margaret/3574477/ : accessed 16 Jan 2021) first published in Herald Sun 25 Feb 2010.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} Ruby Hunter. A Powerful Voice for the Vulnerable. (Aboriginal Victoria, https://www.aboriginalvictoria.vic.gov.au/ruby-hunter, archived at Wayback Machine : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
3. ↑ South Australia Deaths 1842-1972 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com : accessed 13 January 2021) database entry for Hunter, Irene Dell (Death Date: 23 June 1959, Marital Status: Married, Age: 22y, Relative: Jeffrey Owen Hunter (Widower), Residence: Winkie, Death Place: Barmera) Reference: District: Murray, Book/Page: 893/4219.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Hughes, Karen, "Reading Resistant Landscapes in Ngarrindjeri Country: The Photographic Legacy of Aunty Charlotte Richards", in Reading the Country: 30 Years On, eds. Philip Morrissey & Chris Healy (UTS ePress, 2018), 254-271. (Google Books, https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8tT7DwAAQBAJ : accessed 13 Jan 2021)
5. ↑ Hughes, Karen & Trevorrow, Aunty Ellen. Circle of Family. Ngarrindjeri Photography from the Twentieth Century. Page 7. ISBN 987-1-925761-29-0 (Swinburne Research Bank, https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/home.do : accessed 13 Jan 2021)
6. ↑ South Australia Deaths 1842-1972 (FindMyPast, https://www.findmypast.com : accessed 13 January 2021) database entry for Richards, Ruby Agnus (Death Date: 7 July 1965, Marital Status: Widowed, Age: 75y, Relative: Walter Richards (Deceased husband), Residence: Kingston, Death Place: Kingston) Reference: District: Robe, Book/Page: 993/4359.
7. ↑ Ruby Hunter. (ArchieRoach.com, https://www.archieroach.com/ruby-hunter : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Ruby Hunter (1955-2010). (National Portrait Gallery, https://www.portrait.gov.au/people/ruby-hunter-1955 : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
9. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Deadly Awards," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deadly_Awards&oldid=997096129 (accessed January 16, 2021).
10. ↑ Roach, Archie. A Tribute to Ruby Hunter - Live at the Wireless on Double J. (Archie Roach's Blog, https://www.archieroach.com/blog/2020/2/19/a-tribute-to-ruby-hunter-live-at-the-wireless-on-double-j, : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
11. ↑ Ruby's Story. (Sydney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/, published 7 Jun 2004, archived at Wayback Machine : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
12. ↑ The Ruby Hunter Project (Mothers Milk Bank Charity, https://www.mothersmilkbank.com.au/the-ruby-hunter-project : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
13. ↑ Singer Ruby Hunter Dies. (ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-18/singer-ruby-hunter-dies/335438, published 18 Feb 2010 : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
14. ↑ Ruby Hunter Honoured as Baker Boy Cleans Up. (Koori Mail, https://koorimail.com/ruby-hunter-honoured-as-baker-boy-cleans-up/ : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
15. ↑ Ruby Hunter to be posthumously inducted into NIMAs Hall of Fame (Industry Observer, https://theindustryobserver.thebrag.com/ruby-hunter-posthumous-induction-nimas-hall-of-fame/, published 7 Aug 2020 : accessed 16 Jan 2021)

See also:

• Wikipedia contributors, "Ruby Hunter," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruby_Hunter&oldid=995365059 (accessed January 16, 2021).
• Wikidata: Item Q531666, en:Wikipedia
• Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter (National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/archie-roach-and-ruby-hunter : accessed 16 Jan 2021)
• Ruby Hunter Final Tribute at Youtube
• Let My Children Be by Ruby Hunter
• Kurongk boy, Kurongk girl by Ruby Hunter