A good book keeps the reader entertained with lively prose, interesting characters and an intriguing plot. A great book does all this but also conveys information and facts, encourages discussion and provides readers the opportunity to learn something or to see the world from a new perspective. SISTERS IN ARMS: Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Kathie Cochran and the battle for the 1967 Referendum (AndAlso Books 2026) does all of this and more. For author Sarah Cochrane Ridout, this part historical, part reimagined fictional tale is the culmination of over 10 years of research, and most importantly, has received the consultation, approval and blessing of the First Nations members of Noonuccal’s family and descendants.
The author’s grandmother, Kathie Cochran, and (then) Kath Walker, the famous Indigenous poet and writer, aka Oodgeroo Noonuccal, shared a close friendship, meeting as young women and continuing their relationship throughout their lives. The author remembers meeting Oodgeroo Noonuccal as a child. An activist herself, Ridout long sort a way into this story of the friendship between the two grandmothers and their astounding and determined activism towards persuading the Australian government to hold the 1967 Referendum (to include Aboriginals in the census and allow them to vote and to encourage the general public to vote yes).
The most obvious stumbling block was how could a white woman of privilege and relative power write about a First Nations hero? Did she have the authority? Could she channel the voices of those long gone? The question of appropriation so many writers must face.
Sarah Cochrane Ridout – over 10 long years – finally found the answer to this question. She writes from the perspective of her own grandmother, Kathie Cochrane. She includes (with permission) sections of an unpublished biography Noonuccal’s son Vivian (Kabul) Walker was in the process of writing before he died. She references OODGEROO, the biography published by her grandmother. She includes many first-hand sources such as ASIO files, newspaper clippings and historical records. She reproduces Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s own words, poems and statements. There is a foreword of support by Raymond Walker, Oodgeroo’s grandson, along with a hand drawn diagram of his relationship to the author by Skin Lore. Author Rodney Hall (twice winner of the Miles Franklin Award and closely involved with both Kath and Kathie during their activist years) contributes his recollections of that time. In short, the author has left no stone unturned in her devotion to correct historical fact and has asked and received the permission and blessings of everyone she could in relation to telling this story. As such, it reads as a highly informative account of that turbulent time in Australia, as well as a charming story of the friendship of two young, resilient women.
The book includes many acronyms, but one of the most important is QCAATSI – the Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Kathie Cochrane and her husband Bob were members of this organisation and were the first to approach (then) Kath Walker to ask her to join them in fighting against discrimination. (What an idea! To ask an Indigenous person to become involved in activism against racism!) It seems incredible now, but at the time, the main organisers were white people, mostly religious do-gooders, with a handful of regular people (like the Cochranes) who were genuinely shocked and saddened by the plight of Aboriginal people at the time, not only their inability to vote (or indeed, the fact they were counted as ‘flora and fauna’), but the terrible living conditions, the control of the missions, the unequal or non-existent wages, the taking of children, the lack of education available to Indigenous people, the poor working conditions, the problem with bootleg alcohol and the injustice of dark-skinned Australians unable to enter cafes or swimming pools. So many important issues.
Of course, (then) Kath Walker was already speaking out through her poetry, but had not yet been published. Later she would go on to become one of Australia’s most beloved poets and truth-tellers. But it was her decision to join with the Cochranes and others in a more formal and organised way of protest that ignited the fire of change.
Some parts of this book are difficult to read, because it covers the appalling treatment of Aboriginal people throughout the history of invasion and colonisation. The author uses the language of the time when using direct dialogue, and this jars with what we might feel appropriate today. But that only highlights the trauma and atrocity conducted on Australian soil for so many years.
Although this is a story of activism, and the fight for the Referendum, it is primarily an account of the friendship between these two remarkable women. As such, the author has necessarily reimagined their conversations, drawing on as many sources as were available. I believe she’s done an extraordinary job of recreating what that friendship might have looked like, how the women connected (over family, issues, ambitions, community) and how they are depicted. I think she has been very careful to do this with respect and the authority of intense research and the asking and receiving of permissions.
But beyond being a tale of the 1967 Referendum, this is also a pacy and compelling story. We all know the Referendum was successful, with over 90% voting yes, and yet I was engaged until the last pages, tense with anticipation as I waited to read what I already knew.
The many appendixes include a helpful timeline of major events, a list of people (characters), and other forewords and afterwords that put into perspective the story within these pages.
As I said at the beginning, SISTERS IN ARMS is an engaging and well-written story, but it is also an important story, one that all Australians (especially white Australians) should read. It details a crucial time of flux and change in our history, providing the broader picture whilst peopling it with specific individuals who played a vital role in the progress that gradually occurred. I commend this as a book of great historical value and a beautiful human-interest story.