Aaah, the great and wonderful Australian national treasures, Archie Roach and his late wife, Ms Hunter!! Both very special people in Oz.

I love his Charcoal Lane album, which I've been listening to since it came out 25 years ago. I bought the 25th year anniversary copy last year too too - just to celebrate.

Mr Roach has a way with words. He can cram so much experience into deceptively simple lyrics and melodies.

His song called Took the Children Away started a cultural revolution in Oz. It tells in personal terms about the white Australian practice of taking Indigenous/Aboriginal children away from their families - "for their own good" - and placing them in Christian mission homes or adopting them out to white families. (Sometimes I am so ashamed to be white in this country.)

One of my favourite Archie Roach songs is called I Lied. It's a love song, or a love-gone-wrong song. It's beautiful.

I could go on and on. If you can go to the Fringe to see him, do it! If not, look him up on the 'net, watch the videos, buy the CD's.

Helen