Beloved ’80s Home and Away star Justine Clarke ‘busking for change’

Justine Clarke rose to fame in the 1980s on Home and Away playing the iconic character Ruth ‘Roo’ Stewart.

And while the former Play School presenter still appears in films and TV shows on occasion, she has a bigger passion these days – music. 

The 52-year-old is lending her musical skills to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), for which she has been an ambassador for a decade. 

Justine is taking part in this year’s Busking for Change charity initiative from ILF, offering her song, Shordi Krik, for the project. 

The singer penned the track, which combines lyrics in both English and the Indigenous language Kriol. 

According to the official website, Busking for Change is fundraiser developed by Josh Pyke ‘to engage Primary School students in a musical literacy and raise awareness about Indigenous languages.’

Students can learn Shordi Krik, in English or Kriol, an Aboriginal language spoken in the Top End of Australia, and then ‘busk’ or perform the song to raise funds for ILF.

‘It’s come from Baronga, it comes from these kids writing about their experience in their community,’ Justine said about the single. 

‘So to be able to step into the shoes of those kids through singing their song, singing about their local creek and what they do in their local creek, and potentially singing in their common language, Kriol, but even in English, just that experiential kind of learning, which I think is great. I’m really proud of it.’

Justine is an acclaimed actress, having appeared in a wide range of TV shows including A Country Practice and Love My Way. 

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She starred in the 1997 film Blackrock alongside the late Heath Ledger, and branched out into presenting when she joined the cast of ABC’s Play School in 1999.

Justine has also appeared in stage productions with the Sydney Theatre Company, and performed in various bands in the 1990s.

In recent years, she has starred in the films Red Dog: True Blue and A Month of Sundays, as well as the TV series Mr Inbetween.

Her husband Jack Finsterer has had roles in television shows including McLeod’s Daughters, Neighbours, Stingers, and Blue Heelers. 

The couple share three children together, Josef, 23, Nina, 21, and Max, 14 and live in Sydney’s Drummoyne.