The suitcase baby by Tanya Bretherton
Hachette, 2018. ISBN 9780733639227
(Age: senior secondary to adult) Recommended. Themes: Murder, Post
natal depression, Migration, Sydney, Australia 1920's. Paralleling
the escalating love of crime fiction is an intense interest in real
life crime, and The suitcase baby falls into this realm, a
non fiction book telling a story of a horrible crime, but at the
same time showing the background that led to this murder and others
like it. In the 1920's Sydney was experiencing an increase in the
number of dead babies found in places like train stations and in the
sea. This particular one, found in a suitcase in Sydney Harbour in
1923, set in place investigations, here described in detail, until
the murderer, the child's mother was found and detained.
The media at the time was enthralled with the detecting that led to
the arrest and eventual trial of the mother, Sarah Boyd. But nothing
is that simple, as Sarah and her friend, Jean Olliver were embroiled
in the court case.
Bretherton delves into society's attitudes to women at the time,
with no women on the jury, able to offer a more sympathetic ear to
the proceedings, and the medical profession holding some very odd
ideas about post natal depression. Chapters on the immigration of
these desperate women from the poverty of Ireland and Scotland gives
the reader an insight into the difficulties they faced. Often
physically smaller from malnutrition, they were treated with scant
attention, few finding the jobs they expected and having to live in
sub standard conditions with little hope of climbing out of the
poverty they knew so well. Little wonder that many turned to alcohol
and prostitution.
Politicians then used them to further their own ambitions and Sara
Boyd was a victim of political expediency and sentenced to death, an
unexpected verdict as most women were given light sentences at that
time.
Sociologist Tanya Bretherton tells us the story of Sarah, just one
of many women coming to Australia for a new life early in the
twentieth century, but finding themselves in straightened
circumstances. This situation led to an increase in the number of
babies abandoned and killed, and this was instrumental in developing
ideas about adoption as a policy in Australia.
Tanya Bretherton has a PhD in sociology and is particularly
interested in social history, working at the University of Sydney
where she published a book about the conditions of modern nursing.
In 2016 she published a book about families living below the poverty
line in Australia, and her association with organisations such as
Mission Australia, The Smith Family and Adopt Change saw her publish
Journeys to Permanency telling real stories of foster
children and adoption in modern Australia.
Mark Knight