'You can't turn off being Filipina': How losing a mother led a musician to rediscover identity

In 2025, after the loss of a mother, Hemlock Wilde began searching for connection and meaning. Memories of childhood in Mildura, including Filipino gatherings and shared meals, resurfaced and offered a bridge back to a once-distant Filipino identity.

Hemlock Wilde is a rising, whimsical indie-folk singer-songwriter from Ballarat, Australia, Credit: Supplied by Hemlock Wilde

KEY POINTS

• Hemlock Wilde grew up in Mildura, Victoria, surrounded by vivid memories of Filipino gatherings.
• Hemlock Wilde, a Ballarat-based singer and songwriter, draws on personal and cultural experiences in their music.
• Through meeting Filipina-Australian Katrina Baraquiel in Ballarat, Hemlock Wilde began a new chapter of remembrance and cultural reconnection.

I remember eating rice with lime or calamansi and soy sauce drizzled on top (toyo and rice). You can’t turn off being Filipina, no matter how much you want to assimilate.

Hemlock Wilde, Fil-Aussie musician

Hemlock Wilde with Filipina mother. Credit: Supplied by Hemlock Wilde

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