The Weekly reported last week that the state government will be part of a national apology for forced adoptions, where single parents were forced to relinquish their children.
A Senate committee inquiry has estimated as many as 250,000 babies were taken between the 1950s and ’70s, mostly from young and single mothers.
Bacchus Marsh resident “David” was one of those given away, back in 1955.
“It’s like the stolen generation, in its own way,” David said.
He met his mother for the first time at the age of 44.
“I’ve heard there were 167,000 babies given away in Victoria in 1955. How many others are out there who don’t realise they’re not quite who they think they are?”
David said his mother had been drugged after his birth and later was told he’d been stillborn.
He only discovered the truth after going through paperwork after the deaths of who he thought had been his natural parents.
“I was a bit lost,” he said. “I sat down and thought about my life. I had different traits, I looked different to my parents.
“Some would have been devastated, but it didn’t really worry me. They were all dead, so what could you do?”
David put off meeting his birth mother for years, until his partner talked him into writing a letter. When that was ignored, David bravely picked up the phone.
“I told her it was my birthday and asked if that meant anything to her,” David said. “She said, ‘Oh, my god, I thought you were dead’.”
The truth was David had unknowingly crossed paths with his mother, and even two uncles, many times before. She was living in Elsternwick and he drifted around the Port Melbourne and Prahran areas, so “we were never really far apart”.
“I actually did a business deal with a man I didn’t realise was my uncle,” David said.
“I also worked for a bloke who was my uncle.”
The theory that the apple never falls far from the tree was proven true when David met with his mother in a Bendigo pub more than a decade ago.
“I have funny eating habits,” David says.
“I remember that day I went to the bar and ordered a mixed grill with no chops. I sat down with my mother and when the waiter brought a plate of mixed grill over we argued over whose order it was. We’d both ordered the same thing.”
David welcomed the government apology but said he would like to see the past left there.
“They’ll never get to the bottom of it,” he said.
“Too many people have passed on who were involved. I don’t think they’ll ever open the files; it’ll ruin too many lives.”
People directly affected by forced adoption practices are being asked for their views on what the national apology should say through the federal government’s Forced Adoption Apology Reference Group.
“It’s important that the people who have been directly affected by forced adoption have the opportunity to have their say about the apology,” Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said.
“I can’t even begin to imagine what these mothers, fathers and their now-adult children have endured, but what I can do is provide an opportunity for them to have a say in how the government frames the apology.”
Suggestions can be made by emailing forcedadoptionsapology@ag.gov.au
