The student midwife with a plan to make a difference

It was in high school that Sophie Martin, a Sydney-born woman living on Dharug country, started to explore her family connections with the Meru people of the Riverland region in South Australia. Spurred by an Indigenous study unit at Oakhill College, where she did her senior schooling, she dug deeper into her Aboriginal ancestry.

“We were looking at health within certain Indigenous groups and how much it’s lacking, and that inspired me to do more research into my own background and connections in South Australia,” says Sophie, who lives in Seven Hills and graduated from Oakhill College, an independent Catholic school, in 2022. 

“My family doesn’t know a lot about my tribe, the Meru people, just because there’s very limited information out there. But going through that process prompted me to form a stronger bond with my background and culture, and to look more closely at issues around Indigenous health.”  

At the time, Sophie had already earmarked a career in healthcare, with a focus on women’s wellbeing. As she neared the end of year 12, she had a pathways interview with an Indigenous lecturer at Yalbalinga, the on-campus hub for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at ACU’s Blacktown Campus. 

“When I came across the pathway of studying midwifery at ACU in Blacktown, it just instantly clicked in my head,” she says. “I knew 100 per cent that it was the right path for me because it would allow me to follow my passions, so I fought for it and was accepted in the course.” 

As part of ACU’s Bachelor of Midwifery, students undertake a unit in Indigenous health and culture, examining the historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health, contemporary issues in healthcare provision, and Indigenous peoples’ ways of knowing, being and 
doing.

“It’s definitely an eye-opener to explore the reasons behind the inequality that Indigenous people face,” says Sophie, who started her degree in early 2023. “We’ve looked broadly at things like racism and how that plays into the healthcare system, and the importance of cultural competence, and it’s all information you wouldn’t necessarily come across unless you did research into it.”  

Along with her Meru ancestry, Sophie has community connections with the Dharug people of Greater Western Sydney, undertaking regular volunteer work with women and children in the region. 

In the future, she plans to work in rural and remote areas of the Northern Territory, where there is a high demand for culturally-competent midwives, including those of Indigenous background. While babies born to Indigenous mothers account for around five per cent of all births in Australia, only 1.4 per cent of midwives and nurses identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

Meanwhile, towards the end of the first semester of her midwifery degree, Sophie did her first work placement with the midwives at Blacktown Hospital, in her own local community.

“It’s great to get hands-on experience in a big city hospital, where there’s hundreds of things going on at once, and I think that experience will really help down the track when I’m working in other types of communities.”   

Looking ahead, Sophie is open to the prospect of volunteering further afield as her career path unfolds. 

“Once I start my midwifery career and have a bit of experience and feel confident enough, I have this idea to take a gap year and do volunteer work in Indigenous towns, focusing on the health of women and children,” she says. 

“If I can use the skills and knowledge that I’m picking up right now to make a difference in the future, filling in some of those gaps in healthcare and focusing on the areas that are lacking, that would be something I’d really love to achieve.”  
 
Keen to make a difference and pursue a career in midwifery at ACU? Explore the options.