She rose to fame in 2004 with her debut album Headway, which came after years of prolific performances around Sydney's inner-city venues, where she developed a dedicated following.

[3] Bertie is the daughter of late, renowned Australian artist Charles Blackman, and grew up in the eastern Sydney suburbs of Bondi and Paddington.

[4] After forming a new band with Neal Sutherland, Evan Mannell and Cameron Deyell, she made her second album Black (2006) and received positive reviews and high rotation on Triple J[5] and demonstrated Blackman's move away from folk music to a focus on rock.

Musicians involved included Neal Sutherland, Evan Mannell and Ben Hauptmann, with producers Lee Groves (Goldfrapp, Gwen Stefani) and Francois Tetaz (Architecture in Helsinki, Gotye)[7] Her first single from the album, "Heart," was released on 10 April 2009.

In 2022 she published a memoir, Bohemian Negligence, about her childhood experiences growing up with her father Charles Blackman, the Australian artist.