"Bob Randall’s Brown Skin Baby, recorded in 1970, was one of the first songs written about the Stolen Generations. The song explores Randall’s own traumatic past of being “stolen”, echoing the voice of his mother as she cries and grieves for her “brown skin baby”. The song’s reception brought the events of the Stolen Generations to national and international audiences. It is not surprising that it quickly became an anthem for Indigenous communities (Barney & Macklinary, 2010).
The song is autobiographical. It begins by discussing Randall’s early life. As a boy, he spent the first years of his life on a farm in the Northern Territory with his family, riding a pony. Aware that he was at risk of being taken, the women in the family would apply mud to his fair skin everyday to darken the pigment (Randall, 2012). However, when he was seven, a policeman and two trackers arrived on the farm, investigating the murder of livestock. The boy was spotted swimming in the river, revealing his fair skin. The men grabbed him, placed him on a camel and took him to an institution in Alice Springs and gave him the name “Bob Randall”. He was forced to wear clothing and sleep on a bed (that reeked of urine), two activities which were completely foreign to him. Randall remained in the government’s care until he turned 20, after which he was banished for questioning the white authorities.
The song concludes as Randall identifies that he was never able to find his family – “upon this earth they never met again”. This is consistent with most stories. Throughout the assimilation policy, no records were kept of the Aboriginal nation, family name, or identity of the Aboriginal children who were stolen. In contrast to many traumatic stories from the Stolen Generations, Randall spent the rest of his life promoting and preserving Indigenous cultures and histories. He became a Yankunytjatjara Elder and a traditional owner of Uluru.
Randall’s choice of title “Brown Skin Baby” is very important in allowing him to reconcile with his own identity. Indigenous Australians have a history of racial oppression since the European colonization. As noted by Brady and Carey (2000), “for numerous Indigenous Australians, there was a sense of unbelonging”. They were “not white enough to be white” and not “black enough to be black either”. During the twentieth century, these Australians were referred to as “half-castes”. But Randall rejected this term and the repressive dualism. Instead, as suggested by Barney and Macklinary (2010), Randall chose his own term, singing about his own “brown” skin.
# # #
Bob Randall: This next song is a story of our experiences of the Stolen Generation. The system came into my life just 150Ks from here to where the sun rises in the east. The policeman arrived on his camel, saw me there with my family, and because I was who I was, I was stolen. This is a song I composed for that time.
[Singing in native language]My brown skin baby, they take him away
As a young preacher I used to ride a quiet pony ’round the countryside
In a native camp I’ll never forget, a young black mother, her cheeks all wet.
My brown skin baby, they take him away
Between her sobs I heard her say, Police been taking my baby away,
From white man was that baby I had. Why he let them take baby away?
My brown skin baby, they take him away
To a children’s home a baby came with new clothes on and a new name
Day and night he would always say, Oh mommy, mommy, why they take me away?
The child grew up and had to go from the mission home that he loved so
To find his mother, he tried in vain. Upon this earth they never met again.
My brown skin baby, they take him away".
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO
These comments are given in chronological order with the oldest published comments given first, except for replies. Numbers are given for referencing purposes only.
1. BIJOTI, 2007
"Beautiful song, its so sad, makes me want to cry for him."
**
2. Jack Moore, 2008
"very sad song, i imagine if i was taken away from my parents
at a young age, or if my kid was taken away from me, it is EXACTLY the same, so
sad, and i guess you would just wonder for what reason it was done?"
**
3. Alzo Satour, 2009
"My GrandMother was taking from her mother into alice
springs, from Napperby Community, My Grandmother has now passed away in year
2000 knowing she had lots brothers and sisters, only meeting a couple off them,
Nana got married worked at the alice hospital for more then 32 years had 10
kids and 42 grand kids and 18 great grand kids helping raising many off me
older cousins when she was alive, Miss You Nana So Much you where the back bone
off our proud Tilmouth Family...."
**
4. mmarlyy, 2010
"Our class was so lucky to get a visit from Bob today. Being
13 and 14 years old, you would think that people had matured enough to
understand the serious case of this, and the horrible things that happened. But
for people to sit there laughing at the movie that was shown, and sitting
laughing through his visit...? Disrespectful and unmature.
I sat with tears in my eyes from the stories that were told,
and the horrible pictures of the documentary Kanyini.
Beautiful song, with a beautiful meaning."
**
5. Pippa Tassie, 2011
"Lest we ever forget the European colonial arrogance! Maybe
we can listen to singers like Bob and learn! Thanks for this video!"
**
6. patacattoday, 2012
"I was taken away, put into a lovely white family, I am lucky in some ways as many where abused in institutions. I miss my history, my family, they stole my language, my stories, by inheritence. This makes me sad, Australia doesnt like me, my own people dont like me, where do I go, The government you really F%^k up
-snip-
This is the way this comment was written in that discussion thread.
**
7. Peter Tseglakof, 2012
"Thank you Bob.
Knowledge is power. Empower us all please."
**
8. adam adrain jeffery, 2012
"what was the name of the movie this song was song in about a
young teen girl and her family ?"
**
Reply
9. Karen Nash, 2019
"The Fringe dwellers"
**
10. watu wombat, 2012
"Ouch, this is a song from the heart of an Elder, dont
disrepect.... who is reminding his people of what happened in the past so
future people remember and dont forget, those of us that this has happened to,
it is hard for these fulla's to forget what happened, at least one of
Australia's Pri-Ministers had the decency to stand up and say sorry...YOUR A
LEGEND JUMUL BOB..."
**
11. Cassandra Mckay, 2012
"my 8 yr old son had to listen to this today at school and
said it was so sad it had some students crying by the end of it"
**
12. Yuri muckraker, 2013
"moves me to tears, the continuting displacement,forcibly adopton aboriginals face is horrific. may the apartheid inflicted on aboriginals and all native people end sooner,rather then later,and now not in decades."
**
13. Mitchell Flynn, 2013
"This song makes me aspire to be a better person #Baby #Brown"
**
14. Philip Thorn, 2015
"I heard this man died today I see the boy returning to his
mother. A beautiful sad song."
**
Reply
15. Peter McGreevy, 2015
" @Philip Thorn Just listened to the song for the first
time,never met his mother again. Sad."
**
16. Phil Walcott, 2015
"May you rest now and forever in peace, Uncle. Thanks for
your wisdom, knowledge, courage, humanity, compassion and love. X"
**
17. Yuri muckraker, 2015
"Rest in Peace Uncle Bob Randall. read this wonderful tribute
John Pilger did for Uncle Bob. what a huge loss to the civil rights movement in
Australia. For all interested and those who've seen Uncle Bob Randall in John
Pilger's films I know he was featured in "The Secret Country: The First
Australians fight back" and "Utopia" then this is a must see
documentary on this extraordinary man . Australia and also the US,Canada, and
New Zealand must dismantle their caste system and decolonize now only then can
they truly call themselves a multicultural society or as Pilger said
"until we give them back their nationhood we can never claim our
own".
https://newmatilda.com/2015/05/15/lets-celebrate-real-australian-heroes-one-weve-just-lost
btw! all of John
Pilger's documentaries on Australia Pilger in Australia, The Secret Country:
The First Australians Fight Back, The Last Dreams: Heroes Unsung, Secrets,
Other People's Wars, Welcome to Australia, and Utopia you can find at
www.johnpilger.com
if you go to videos,
Hard to belive Faith Bandler, Ray Jackson, and now Uncle Bob, warriors in the
pursuit of truth, justice, and its a huge blow to the civil rights movement in
Australia."
**
18. Johnnralph, 2015
"Tjilpi Bob Randall (c. 1934 – 13 May 2015) was a
Yankunytjatjara elder from Australia, member of the Stolen Generations and
NAIDOC's 1999 Person of the Year. He is credited with bringing to light the
issue of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, in 1970.
His song, "My Brown Skin Baby They Take Him Away," written at the
time, is described as an "anthem" for the Stolen Generations. Randall
died in Mutitjulu, Northern Territory, on 13 May 2015,: Source Wikipedia"
**
19. Meymeygwis, 2016
"Dear Uncle Bob, your Spirit lives: you continue to inspire
us, to guide us, to raise us to our best...we love you, we bless you, are
blessed by you."
**
20. Anythya Nagle, 2017
"My great grandmother was one of those children stolen, due
to the forcing "white Australia" movement, i am white, but i hold my
koori heritage proudly in my heart."
**
21. Faze Girl, 2017
"My father used to sing this to me, he's full blood
aboriginal he only sang this because I'm mixed race and he wanted me to feel
how the stolen children felt, every time he finished the song he always told me
how lucky I was that I was born in 2001 and that he didn't have to suffer the
pain they suffered, not to mention I actually cried every time."
**
Catherine Mazzeo, 2021
"Uncle thank you for giving us this song from your
heart. We can hear the cries of the
children and their mothers and fathers who searched in vain to find their
stolen children each and every day. They
never forgot you either. Respect to all
the Stolen Generation children, mothers, fathers and descendants. We say sorry for the pain and suffering."
****
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