After giving birth, I never got to hold my baby. I didn't even get to find out the sex. My baby was taken and I was left alone, lying on a table in the hospital.

I remember trembling with cold, fear and helplessness. Even now, when I think back to that day in the 1970s, I still become cold and start shivering uncontrollably. As I lay there bleeding, crying and shivering, a doctor went past the doorway.

He asked if I was alright and I shook my head between sobs. I remember him stepping out of the doorway and shouting down the corridor for someone to come and clean me up. That was the only care or kindness I remember.

Months before, I had experienced my first love. I'd gone to British Columbia in Canada to work as an au pair. The family had horses, so I was also tasked with looking after the horses, exercising them and mucking out stables.

The property next door had a track I could use when I was riding the horses. The family had a son who was quite a bit older than me, and we started a relationship. Source: Supplied When he was in California I went to visit him and was late returning to work.

When I got back my bags were packed, I'd lost my job and my visa, so I decided to go home. I didn't know I was pregnant. Once back in Australia, I started a job working for another family with horses.

When I finally discovered I was pregnant, I felt ashamed, and saw myself as a Catholic girl who had sinned. I didn't tell anyone, not even the doctor who owned the property, and not even my .