Archie Roach’s There is a Garden stands, to my ears, as a contemporary spiritual masterpiece. It is a song so stark and hauntingly simple in its arrangement, yet it’s precisely the absence of embellishment that makes it feel timeless, almost hymn-like. Archie’s plaintive, yearning voice set against the mournful undertone of the string, penetrates with amazing emotional effect. Quite simply this is one of my most cherished Australian songs.
David Bridie, who is my favourite Australian singer-songwriter and a recurring presence on this blog with well over twenty appearances – was the producer of Jamu Dreaming (1993), the album that gave us There is a Garden. Bridie’s minimalist, atmospheric touch accentuated Roach’s voice rather than burying it.
Born in Mooroopna, Victoria in 1956, Australian – aboriginal Archie Roach was taken from his family as a child – a victim of the government’s assimilation policies that created what is now called the Stolen Generations. This act of removal and cultural severance haunted him all his life, and became the raw material of his artistry starting with his debut album, Charcoal Lane (1990). There is a Garden though less celebrated than Took the Children Away, reflects the same deep scar while also revealing how hope can still emerge. The Garden becomes a space where healing might occur, if not in the current life, then in the next. Death is not seen as an end according to Aboriginal spiritual beliefs rather a transition; a journey back to the Dreaming from which all life originates.
When former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a national apology in 2008, it marked a moment of reckoning for the policies that uprooted Archie and thousands like him. Archie Roach passed away in 2022. Through songs like There is a Garden, he integrated Indigenous history into contemporary Australian music. More importantly, his work reached beyond the cultural sphere into politics and the public conscience, helping to begin the process of reconciliation.
When all the trees have gone
And all the rivers dried
Don’t despair, when all the flowers have died
For I have heard that there’s a garden, somewhere
When you hear the children cry
When you see them die
And mother can’t sing a lullaby
I can smell, blessed, warm spring rain
We are young, we are old
Although what we have, can’t be bought or sold
And we are paying for your crimes
Oh but every day, in every way
We get better all the time
And when everything is gone
And you’ve lost all hope
And you have come to the end of your road
Well I believe that the flowers will bloom again
We are young, we are old
Although what we have, can’t be bought or sold
And we are paying for your crimes
Oh but every day, in every way, we get better all the time
Yes everyday, in every way, we get better all the time
Yes everyday, in every way, we get better all the time
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Wow, I have to agree with you, Matt, “There is a Garden” by Archie Roach is a pretty powerful song. And, yes, that sparse arrangement is perfect, accentuating Roach’s vocals and the words. Excellent pick!
I’m elated you also thought so highly of it. It’s a song that has flown under the radar in Australia, when it really shouldn’t have.
Great post..never knew this…