"...Swain and Renate's findings are far-reaching and immediate." Patricia A. Washington, Jrnl of San Diego History
"...thorough account of single motherhood in Australia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.... ...Swain brings a sophisticated understanding of `lived experience' to her interpretations of the oral histories. She deftly situates interview data within a wealth of original quantitative data specific to Victoria and generates it for the purposes of this study...." Nancy D. Campbell, Journal of Women's History
"This book combines good history with impassioned political advocacy." Pacific Affairs
"...a useful, and, at times, powerful and moving contribution to our knowledge of the history of sexuality, motherhood and family life." Elizabeth Yeoman, Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering
Product Description
This is a powerful and moving history of single motherhood in Australia. It tells the story of these women and their children and the lives they constructed. The book covers the period from the 1850s, when abandonment and infanticide were not uncommon, to 1975, when the legal status of illegitimacy was abolished. While tracing profound changes over this period, the authors find much continuity. The book covers issues of baby farming, infanticide, abortion, sex education, birth control, adoption and marriage, in effect becoming a history of sexual practice in Australia.
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