- Liberal leader's speech reveals father's own tale of separation
- By John Lyons
- The Australian
- 14/02/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 27 articles in 2008 )
DURING his response to the Prime Minister's formal apology yesterday, Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson made a reference in passing to his own family history.
Revealing a trauma suffered by his father, Desmond, Dr Nelson said: "However, from my life as a family doctor, and knowing the impact of my own father's removal from his unmarried teenaged mother, not knowing who you are is the source of deep, scarring sorrows the real meaning of which can be known only to those who have endured it."
After his speech to parliament Dr Nelson said through a spokesman he preferred not to talk about that chapter in his family history.
His father, Desmond, died in 2004. Brendan's mother, Patricia, lives in Adelaide.
Desmond was adopted out because in the 1930s children were often taken from mothers who were unmarried teenagers.
But a year after Desmond was adopted, his natural father married his natural mother.
Desmond decided to search for his biological mother and found where she had lived four years after she died.
He discovered he had a biological sister living only two suburbs away from him in Launceston. He had lived in Launceston for 12 years without knowing.
Revealing a trauma suffered by his father, Desmond, Dr Nelson said: "However, from my life as a family doctor, and knowing the impact of my own father's removal from his unmarried teenaged mother, not knowing who you are is the source of deep, scarring sorrows the real meaning of which can be known only to those who have endured it."
After his speech to parliament Dr Nelson said through a spokesman he preferred not to talk about that chapter in his family history.
His father, Desmond, died in 2004. Brendan's mother, Patricia, lives in Adelaide.
Desmond was adopted out because in the 1930s children were often taken from mothers who were unmarried teenagers.
But a year after Desmond was adopted, his natural father married his natural mother.
Desmond decided to search for his biological mother and found where she had lived four years after she died.
He discovered he had a biological sister living only two suburbs away from him in Launceston. He had lived in Launceston for 12 years without knowing.
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