Between 1959 and the late 1980’s more than 250,000 Australian babies were surrendered for adoption – most of them illegally stolen at birth from young, vulnerable unmarried mothers.

Now, with a campaign underway to expose the dark truth behind the crimes Australia tried to hide, veteran Gold Coast radio personality, Moyra Major and award-winning author, Megan Norris, launch a controversial new true crime podcast highlighting the horrors of the illegal forced adoption practices of past governments which ruined the lives of thousands of mothers, adoptees and their wider families.

Major and Norris bring a wealth of print and broadcasting experience to the podcast.

They have spent the past year researching and interviewing the survivors of an atrocity once described by prominent Australian adoption expert, Dr Geoffrey Rickarby, as the ‘single mother’s holocaust.’

Furthermore, Origins CEO Lily Arthur, whose newborn son was stolen from her in 1967 describes the issue of forced adoption as follows:

Somebody's Daughter

Synopsis

“Forced Adoption remains one of the biggest human rights issues in Australian contemporary history, yet despite the 2012 National Apology from then Prime Minister Julia Gillard there has only been limited redress and nobody has ever been held accountable for what they did to us.

“That’s why this podcast series is so unique – it gives a voice to casualties like myself and other mothers and adoptees, who were shamed into silence for years, in effect protecting the perpetrators of these crimes.”

Arthur, who also lives on the Gold Coast, has taken the fight for justice which is currently before the Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

Join Moyra and Megan as they interview the brave women and adoptees details their stories and their journey of understanding the impact that such crimes had on their lives.

In the first episode, veteran Gold Coast personality Moyra Major and and award-winning author, Megan Norris explain this shocking chapter in Australian history in detail, and how they came to be involved in the project. Episode website

Episodes

1. Introducing:

"Somebody's Daughter"

2. Lily Arthur

3. Linda Davis

"My newborn daughter was stolen from me. She returned to steal my life.”

In 1973, new mum Linda Davis, woke from a caesarean to discover that her newborn daughter was missing Today, more than fifty years later, Linda, 70, shares her horror story on a new true crime podcast aimed at shedding new light on the crimes Australia tried to hide. Although Linda reunited with her adopted daughter as an adult, Linda later discovered her first born had embarked on an illicit affair with her husband. Linda immediately packed her bags and left, whilst reliving her loss all over again. Episode website

4. Dianne Wells

5. Sophia Fletcher

6. Rosalie Wilson

Lily Arthur was 17 when her newborn son was stolen from her. He was earmarked for adoption before he was even born. As a newborn he waited in his crib for eight-days without anyone to console him and without Lily being able to hold or nurse him.

In this episode, Megan Norris and Moyra Major speak at length with Lily about her experience. Lily recalls how she went on to search for her son, against the odds and why she decided to sue the State of Queensland. Episode Website

In 1969, Queensland teenager Dianne Wells’ dream of a happy new life with her first boyfriend came crashing down when the sixteen-year-old discovered she was pregnant out of wedlock.

Abandoned by her partner, and shamed by both families, Dianne was sent to live with strangers in another town where she found herself at the mercy of a system which sanctioned the theft of more than 150,000 newborn babies – all callously and systematically taken from young, vulnerable unmarried mothers under the Government’s forced adoption practices of the era. Episode Website

Megan & Moyra are joined by Sophia Fletcher, who was forcibly adopted during this period.

Born in Brisbane in 1962, she was removed from her birth mother - who she has never found despite 40 years of searching. She speculates that her mother may have been an illegitimate child herself, making it incredibly difficult to connect the lines of her family history.

Sophia shares her subsequent experience with adoptive parents, and how the sequence of events has affected her relationship with her own child. Episode Website

Rosalie Wilson shares her own unique experience, firstly living in a home where her mother adopted other children. She recalls how her mother had given birth to two girls (herself & her sister) but instead wanted boys - so she simply decided to adopt one she liked from the public hospital in Melbourne.

Rosalie then goes on to describe the twist of fate that led to her being forced to adopt out her own child as an unwed, teenage mother. Episode Website

7. Hon Justice Mushin

In the final episode of the season, Megan and Moyra are joined by the Honorable Naheem Mushin, former Family Court Justice of 21 years, who was appointed by the Attorney General to head the committee investigating the practice of forced adoption and the claims being made by so many women, children and extended families.

He travelled the country multiple times over 2 years to hear submissions in person, and to then write the apology that was ultimately delivered by the then prime minister Julia Gillard in 2013.

He does not hold back revealing his findings and expressing his criticism of a dark chapter in Australian history. Episode Website