Vale Katherine Cunningham – June 26th 1970 – May 4th 2026
Katherine was a wonderful human who made a deep and lasting contribution to the Earthworker project, and to the people she cooperated with for a better world.
Katherine first connected with Earthworker by coming to a public working bee at the Earthworker Energy Manufacturing Co-op factory in 2017. Katherine arrived out of the blue, with bright warmth and zest, to volunteer in helping prepare a dilapidated old factory building for a new worker cooperative to start operating in.
With a passion for cooperatives, Katherine volunteered further support, and eventually took on a formal role as ‘Start-up Coordinator’ for the burgeoning manufacturing cooperative. In this role, Katherine was critical in setting up much of the early systems and business infrastructure that the co-op still uses today, and managed much of the co-op’s essential admin and finance tasks.
Whatever work Katherine took on in the co-op (for a small start-up, there’s no shortage in diversity or volume of tasks!), she always maintained a passionate focus and celebration on the ‘human’ centre of cooperation. And she was not afraid to stand up for these values when she felt it necessary.
Katherine’s belief in building co-ops saw her take on a board role in the Earthworker Cooperative – the central cooperative Katherine aptly named the ‘mothership’, a name that has since stuck.
She identified a need and an opportunity for further education on the ‘what, why and how’ of worker cooperatives, and developed a detailed and extensive worker-cooperative curriculum with Redgum co-founder El. A number of iterations of this curriculum were delivered in a number of different settings – in partnership with Jesuit Social Services, Borderlands, and neighbourhood houses. Multiple alumni of these courses since became members of various Earthworker worker-cooperatives, and Katherine kindly made all course materials available to Earthworker for collective use and benefit.
Katherine also played an important role as an Earthworker representative in Friends of the Earth, where she was also enlisted further on the committee of management and as treasurer.
Beyond Earthworker, Katherine passionately carried her values and wisdom cooperative into ventures far and wide, across her diverse interests and activities – as an author, activist, artist, mother, comrade and friend to many.
Katherine’s attention to the importance of people, culture, communication and love in our striving to build better worlds, is a gift to keep honouring.
Thank you Katherine, Comrade Witch