Katie Noonan is the latest guest on Making Music, Making Ends Meet, a series focused on Australian and New Zealand musicians during the cost-of-living crisis.
From her time in George to her work as a soloist, Noonan is one of Australian music’s most enduring singer-songwriters, but even she isn’t immune to the perils of the music industry.
In the wide-ranging conversation, Noonan opened up about how being a mother has impacted her career.
“When I started, it was incredibly difficult,” she confessed. “There were very few women I could talk to. Deborah Conway, Claire Bowditch — a small handful. And if you look at the generation before those women — Chrissie Amphlett, Renée Geyer, Carol Lloyd – none of them were mothers. Joni Mitchell’s ‘Little Green’ was about having to give up her child for adoption because it was impossible to be a single mother and an artist.
“And it was also a legal issue. In Australia, it was illegal to be a mother and work — or to be married and have a job — until 1968. Those legal structures stopped a lot of women from being mothers and anything else. That was only about 60 years ago. It takes generations to undo those things.”
Noonan continued: “Merle Thornton — Sigrid Thornton’s mum — and the women of the second-wave feminist movement in the ’60s helped negate those archaic laws. Merle was working for the ABC, was married, didn’t wear a wedding ring, tried to conceal her pregnancy — and the moment they realised, she was immediately sacked. She came to Brisbane and discovered women weren’t even allowed to drink in the bar areas of pubs.
“She was doing the first-ever gender studies degree at UQ, and all the men would go to the pub to discuss the legal issues they were studying, and the women weren’t allowed to join. There was a line of women with children waiting in cars outside, so she chained herself to the bar at the Regatta Hotel.
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“That was deep Joh Bjelke-Petersen-era Queensland — very dark days for feminism and equality. But it was women like her who changed things for people like me.”
As her career progressed into the ’00s, there was still lots to improve.
“[…] I’d have to explain to lovely young promo women that I’m the food source, so yes, I do need to breastfeed every three hours,” Noonan recalled. “That’s not negotiable. But in a lot of ways, the music industry is actually surprisingly family-friendly if you can call the shots.
“You can turn your backstage into a little crèche. If you’ve got a partner or a team who’ll help, you can breastfeed in the set breaks. My kids came everywhere with us — but it was expensive. Once they were two, I had to pay for four tickets on the plane, not just one.
“And this is a job with no maternity leave, no sick leave, no superannuation. Having a child is a genuine financial investment — you will lose money. That’s just a fact.”
Noonan added: “Since becoming a mum, I’ve prioritised creating a safe space for women, for working mums, for pregnant mums, for mums with babies. When I was music director for the Commonwealth Games soundtrack — an all-female band celebrating great Commonwealth female singer-songwriters — the recording studio was essentially a crèche. One musician was breastfeeding, one was pregnant, there were toddlers running around. It was awesome.”
Read her full feature here.
Noonan will release her new album — her 30th, showing remarkable consistency — Alone but all one later this month — pre-order here.
The ARIA Award-winning artist says the album “is for anyone who’s gone through a life shift — not just separation, but grief, uncertainty, or quiet reinvention. It’s music for sitting with things. For remembering we’re not alone, even in solitude. It’s personal, but I hope it will resonate in a way that becomes collective.”
Noonan will embark on an Australian tour in celebration of Alone but all one next month — check out her tour dates here.
