Notification of illegitimate births under the Maintenance Act (GRG29/79)

This series contains notifications of illegitimate births from various hospitals and nursing homes to the Children's Welfare and Public Relief Department.

These notices were made under Regulation 142 and 143 of the Maintenance Act ,1926-1952. Illegitimate children, i.e. born to a mother not lawfully married to the child's father, could be placed under the supervision of the Department until they were seven years old, and their homes could be inspected at any time. Hospitals were required to notify the Department of all illegitimate births within 36 hours and were required to notify within 24 hours the discharge from the hospital of an illegitimate child.

The notification of an illegitimate birth form includes the child's date of birth, gender and name (if named), and mother's full name and address.

As well as the notification of an illegitimate birth, some papers also include a 'disposal of illegitimate child' form and/or a description of the child's mother. The disposal or illegitimate child form includes: the child's date of birth; sex; name; mother's name; address; with whom child left home; date child left; address; and the signature of the licensee. Some note if the child left with their mother or if they were adopted or fostered. The description of the mother includes a physical description (height, hair colour, eye colour, skin tone, nose shape) as well as her name, age, occupation and ethnicity.

The notifications have been bound together by hospital and each bundle was numbered (1 - 16), but they are not in chronological order and there are date overlaps between bundles. For example, Queen Victoria Hospital notifications for 1953 - 1955 are in bundles 1, 5 and 10 (Bundle 10 also includes births up to 1956). There are some discrepancies with the date ranges too - most are arranged by the child's birth year, but some children remained in the hospital until they were over a year old and their papers have been bundled with children born in the year that they left, not the other children born the same year. Each bundle has a green card on the front listing the hospital name and year range, but the year range is often incorrect.

Bundles 1 - 11 are arranged by individual hospital: Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital; Wyld Maternity Hospital (Home for Babies); McBride Hospital; St Joseph's Refuge; and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The Queen Victoria Hospital was a maternity hospital for both married and unmarried women by the 1950s; the Wyld Maternity Hospital was attached to the Kate Cocks' Babies Home and was run by the Methodist Church; the McBride Hospital was a maternity hospital run by the Salvation Army and unmarried mothers had to stay until their baby was three months old; St Joseph's Refuge was a Catholic-run home for women and mothers were able to stay until their child was three years old; and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital was a general hospital.

Bundles 12 - 16 cover 'miscellaneous' hospitals - the smaller hospitals that did not have as many illegitimate births. Some of these notifications do not give a hospital name, just an address, and were presumably from small, private maternity homes, or private homes. Some bundles are arranged by country, city or suburban but others are not. The hospitals include:

Angaston (District); Ardrossan; Ashford; Balaklava Soldiers' Memorial; Berri District; Blackwood and District Community Blyth; Bush Church Aid Society (Wudinna); Calvary (North Adelaide); Clare and District; Elliston; Gawler (Hutchison Hospital); Gladstone; Glenelg District Community; Hawker; Henley Private; Hindmarsh (Methodist) Memorial; Jamestown District; Kapunda; Karoonda District; Keith and District; Kingscote (Kangaroo Island); Kingswood Private; Lameroo District; Loxton; Mallala; Mannum District; Memorial (North Adelaide); Mile End (Emergency); Monreith (Toorak Gardens); Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial; Mount Gambier; Muray Bay District; Murray Bridge Soldiers' Memorial; Naracoorte; Northern Community Hospital; Nurse Waters (Glanville); Park Terrace (Parkside); Penola District; Penong Memorial; Peterborough Soldiers' Memorial; Pinnaroo Soldiers' Memorial; Port Augusta; Port Lincoln; Port Pirie; Queen Elizabeth (Woodville); Renmark District; Riverton; Salisbury; South Coast District (Victor Harbor); Southern Yorke Peninsula (Yorketown); St Joseph's Refuge (Fullarton);Strathalbyn Soldiers' Memorial (District); Tailem Bend District; Tatiara Soldiers' Memorial (Bordertown); Terowie; Thyne Memorial (Millicent); Tumby Bay; Waikerie District; Wallaroo; Whyalla District; and Williza Nursing Home.

Tsf. 7.