A Story of Two Families

In 1981 Lady Phyllis Cilento, author, pioneering medical practitioner and contributor to public health, won the award of ‘Queenslander of the Year’. Another nominee for the award was Kath Walker, MBE, poet and Aboriginal activist (she later changed her name to Oodgeroo Noonuccal). Journalists reported on the award, but what none of them unearthed was the fact that in 1951 Kath had worked as housekeeper to the Cilento family (one member of that well-connected family, Diane Cilento, had married actor Sean Connery) and, in 1953, she had given birth to a son, Vivian, who had been fathered by Lady Cilento’s son Dr Raff Cilento Jnr, who never publicly acknowledged his paternity. On her deathbed, Kath still longed to know whether Lady Cilento knew she was grandmother to Kath’s child.

A new book, This Accidental Present: A Story of Two Families (the title comes from one of Kath’s poems), by Ross Wilson and published by AndAlso Books, tells the story of the two families, one part of the badly treated Aboriginal community of Australia in the 1950s, with the fight for decent human rights and equal opportunities, and the other a wealthy Queensland white family, with powerful connections and yet also with a desire to bring about change. Vivian, a blending of those two worlds, made a name for himself as a dancer and choreographer, was open about his homosexuality and adored his mother, although his relationship with his father was cool and sporadic. In 1970, he won the first Aboriginal scholarship to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Vivian died from Aids in 1991, and his mother never got over her son’s death.

This fascinating new book shows the intersecting lives of Cilentos and Walkers, highlights the appalling abuses of Aboriginal people, and contrasts the lives of privileged white people with young men with black mothers remaining unacknowledged by white fathers. I enjoy Oodgeroo’s poetry, and quotes from her poems are included in the book, highlighting their autobiographical inspiration. I learned a lot about a brave and resilient woman and also about Australian history from reading this book, which I can recommend.