It was centred around Roach's heartbreaking "Took the Child Away," a deeply affecting ballad about his experience as one of the "Stolen Generation" of aboriginal children who were taken from their parents and placed in non-indigenous households. The song resonated throughout the country and received a Human Rights Achievement Award, marking the first time that the honour had been bestowed upon a songwriter. Over the coming decades, Roach and his longtime musical and life partner, Ruby Hunter, would establish themselves as leading lights of Australian folk and aboriginal music.