AustLit

'Archie Roach was about three years old when he was taken from his family. He talks about the value of 'joining the circle' - his metaphor for the recovery that can be achieved by those who have been separated from their families, as they link up again. We meet Jean in Cootamundra who was taken with her four siblings from La Perouse while her mother begged for more time with her children. When Sam Murray was taken as a young boy he was too young to remember his name. Alec Kruger tells stories of the institution he was sent to as a child. His only escape was to join the army.

We meet Archie's partner, Ruby Hunter, also a musician. She returns to her childhood home for the first time and tells the story of how her brothers and sisters were in the care of her grandmother. One day they were offered a trip to the circus by a couple of government officials. Ruby recounts how they were so excited, all dressed up in their Sunday best, expecting to return home to nanna full of wonderful stories. They never returned. Nanna never saw them again and was never told where they went. On her death bed she still cried for her little ones.' (Source: Ronin Films website www.roninfilms.com.au)