Love Child is an Australian television series created by Sarah Lambert.
Season 1 premiered on the Nine Network in 2014.
It is available on DVD.
Love Child takes place in Sydney in 1969 and follows the lives of staff and residents of the fictional King’s Cross Hospital and Stanton House.
While the series is fictional, it is based on true events, a dark chapter of Australian history, known today as the time of the forced adoptions (see more below).
The cast includes the following:
The staff of King’s Cross Hospital and Stanton House
** Midwife Sister Joan Millar – played by Jessica Marais
** Dr Patrick McNaughton – played by Jonathan LaPaglia
** Matron Frances Bolton – played by Mandy McElhinney
Residents of Stanton House
** Shirley Ryan – played by Ella Scott Lynch
** Viv Maguire – played by Sophie Hensser
** Annie Carmichael – played by Gracie Gilbert
** Patricia Saunders – played by Harriet Dyer
** Martha Tennant – played by Miranda Tapsell
Other characters
** Barman (and draft resister) Johnny Lowry – played by Ryan Corr
** Lawyer Philip Paige – played by Ryan Johnson
** Jim Millar (father of Joan Millar) – played by Andrew McFarlane
** A female singer in the Blue Moon bar – played by Emma Birdsall
Jonathan LaPaglia is the brother of Anthony LaPaglia, also an actor, who is famous for his role in the US television series Without a Trace. The two brothers look so much alike!
Andrew McFarlane is famous for his role in the long-running Australian series Flying Doctors.
The background
The time of the forced adoptions refers to a program implemented by Australian authorities during the second half of the 20th century.
When teenage girls became pregnant, their parents would in many cases send them to a special home where they would stay for several months until they had given birth.
Once the baby was born, the mother was forced to give it up for adoption. After giving birth to a child, the teenager would return to her family.
She would be told to forget the whole thing and the family would pretend that nothing had happened.
In most cases, the teenage father would not be punished in any way.
The adoption was sealed. This means the mother would not know the identity of the adoptive parents, and the child would not know the identity of its biological parents.
This program was established in order to save the parents of the pregnant girl from the shame and embarrassment of having an unwed mother in the family.
At the time the social stigma was serious. But the teenage parents and their children paid a high price for this program.
In 2013, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard offered a formal apology to those who were affected by this program.
For the record: I do not think teenage pregnancy is a good thing. But once it has happened, there is more than one way to deal with the situation.
The system of forced adoptions was hardly the best solution. If the authorities wished to interfere, they could and should have found a better way to do so.
The drama
Joan Millar arrives at King’s Cross Hospital to work as a midwife. She is shocked when she discovers the truth about what is going on with the teenage mothers.
She tries to help them, but she is up against her superiors (the doctor and the matron) as well as the law. In addition, she has to think about her own career.
In the series, we see how she tries to help the girls as much as she can.
She calls on lawyer Philip Paige, a former boyfriend, to help her with the legal aspects of this issue.
While the forced adoptions are the starting point and the main issue of this series, other relevant topics are covered as well.
# 1. The Vietnam War
Australia fought in this war on the side of the US. The Australian involvement lasted for ten years (1962-1972) and involved ca. 60,000 soldiers.
In the series, we see anti-war demonstrators confronting the police; we see Australian soldiers and sailors confronting civilians who question the war.
Johnny Lowry is an anti-war demonstrator and a draft resister. We get to see how the different characters cope with this issue.
# 2. Social and economic relations
The teenage girls came from all walks of life. In this series, we have girls whose families are poor, middle-class and rich.
Shirley Ryan is from a poor family, Annie Carmichael is from a middle-class family, while Patricia Saunders is from a rich family. We get to see how the girls cope with this issue.
(3) Race relations
Some teenage mothers were white, while others were Aboriginals. In this series, most girls are white, but Martha Tennant is an Aboriginal.
Martha was taken from her mother when she was a child. She is the victim of a program which was established to “save” the children of Aboriginals and to make them “more white.”
This is another dark chapter of Australian history, known today as the case of the Stolen Generations.
In 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology to the indigenous people affected by this policy. In the series, we get to see how the different characters deal with this issue.
When we look back at these events, it is easy to be outraged. We have the benefit of hindsight. But the politicians who were responsible for these programs - the case of the forced adoptions and the case of the Stolen Generations – can hardly be described as evil.
They had good intentions. They meant well. But good intentions do not guarantee good results. These programs were misguided (to put it mildly).
The politicians who made the laws and the officials who implemented them forgot to ask the people concerned what they thought about these projects.
The victims of these policies had no choice. These people were forced into this, against their will. The negative consequences were serious and long-lasting.
We may well ask: why did it take so long for the Australian government to issue a formal apology for a policy that was clearly wrong?
On the other hand, we also have to say: a late apology is better than to apology at all.
Historical accuracy
The producers of Love Child have tried to re-create the world of Sydney in 1969, and I think they have been quite successful.
The decade of the 1960s is expressed with fashion - the clothes people wear, the style of their hair - and with popular music.
In some cases, music from the period is played in the background. But occasionally, music is a part of the story. This happens when Annie Carmichael sings These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ in the Blue Moon bar.
This song was a hit for Nancy Sinatra in 1966.
Real historical events are closely intertwined with the fictional story. Here are some examples:
** We have the first landing on the moon, which took place in July 1969; the girls are watching the moon landing on television.
** We have Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, who arrived in Sydney in July 1969; some of the girls (almost) meet Mick Jagger while he gives an interview to the media.
** We have Australia’s controversial involvement in the Vietnam War.
Authenticity and credibility
In many television series, the good characters are totally good, while the bad characters are totally bad, even though this is not very realistic.
Love Child does not follow this simple pattern.
In this series, the good characters have flaws and they will occasionally do something that they should not do.
Similarly, the bad characters are not entirely bad; they will sometimes surprise us and do the right thing, which shows us that they do have a conscience.
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone, but without revealing too much I will offer a few details about two characters in order to illustrate this point:
** Midwife Joan Millar is a moral crusader who fights for the girls, but there is at least one occasion when she does something which she later regrets.
** In the first episodes, matron Frances Bolton is mean and nasty to the girls, but later on we discover that she does in fact have a heart, and towards the end of season one we learn something about her which may cause us to see her character in a different light.
I will not say more than this. I will stop before I reveal too much.
In short, the main characters of this series are not cast in black-and-white. The good guys have flaws and the bad guys are not completely bad.
If you ask me, this is a good thing, because it makes the characters more realistic, more believable, and gives the story more authenticity, more credibility, and a greater impact.
Conclusion
Love Child is a fascinating series about an important chapter of Australia’s recent history.
Why?
** The script is well-written and the actors play their roles very well
** The story is dramatic and captivating
Season one offers some emotional stories:
You may have to cry when a teenage mother cries, because her new born baby is taken away from her.
She is not allowed to hold her baby.
She is not even allowed to know if it is a boy or a girl.
You will probably be outraged and feel the same indignation as Joan Millar feels when she tries to fight the system that is so unfair and so unjust to the girls.
This series is about life and death, about right and wrong, about truth and justice.
It shows the law is not always right; sometimes the law is wrong and should be changed or simply abolished.
This series will make a big impression on you and give you something to think about long after the viewing is done.
When you have watched the last episode of season one, I am sure you will look forward to watching the first episode of season two.
PS # 1. The title song of the series is Love Child by Diana Ross and the Supremes, which was a single hit for them and the title track of their album Love Child.
It is well-chosen and fits the time frame of the series very well. It was released on vinyl in 1968. A remastered version of the album was released on a CD in 2013.
PS # 2. Here is an overview of the series:
** Season 1 (2014) – 8 episodes
** Season 2 (2015) – 8 episodes
** Season 3 (2016) – 10 episodes
** Season 4 (2017) – 10 episodes
PS # 3. The policy of forced adoption was used in several western countries. Not only in Australia. It was also used in the United States and Canada where this dark chapter of history is known as the Baby Scoop Era.
Here are some references:
Gone to an Aunt’s: Remembering Canada’s Homes for Unwed Mothers
By Anne Petrie
(1998) (1999)
Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion, and Welfare in the United States
By Rickie Solinger
(2001) (2002)
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade
By Ann Fessler
(2006) (2007)
Silent Violence:
Australia’s White Stolen Children
By Merryl Moor
(2006)
This PhD dissertation is available online (PDF)
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
The Baby Scoop Era:
Unwed Mothers, Infant Adoption, Forced Surrender
By Karen Wilson-Buterbaugh
(2017)
White Unwed Mother:
The Adoption Mandate in Postwar Canada
By Valerie J. Andrews
(2018)
American Baby:
A Mother, A Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption
By Gabrielle Glaser
(2021) (2022)
*****
Love Child
An Australian television series
which ran for four seasons
(2014-2017)
*****
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