Woman Gives Birth in Australian Morgue

Convent Forces Single Mother to Give Up Baby

Della was the only daughter of the six offspring of Grand Master Mason Ambrose Angus. She was pregnant and single in Queensland Australia in 1966, a country town where isolation and secrecy were not difficult.

Della was taken to a single mother's home in the capital and made to work hard during the pregnancy, scrubbing floors and being told daily by nuns what a sin it was to be single and pregnant.

The young women were fed food not fit for a dog and were dressed in rags. They were told God had forsaken them and they now belonged to the devil. They were hit, whipped and treated appallingly.

Medical aid was scant; they were just breeders for other childless Christian families. The least she could do was to pass on the child to a good kind Christian family to raise.When she went into labour, she was not allowed any pain relief and had no help or assistance.

When the time came for the birth Della was whipped down to the morgue and covered by a sheet. So surrounded by death, where others die, the baby was born just after 4 a.m. on the 21st of November 1966 and whisked away from its mother without her ever touching the baby.

Della was a black Scot, a throwback to the times of Black invaders of the highlands of Scotland and the isles. She was a direct descendant of Olaf The Black, King Of Man (isle of Man) and of the Torquil Macleod Linage. Her great, great grandfather was heir to the Macleods of Rassay and Lewis who sold his lands and immigrated to Australia hundreds of years ago.

Her partner was an Irish Rogue, Sydney Leo, short with typical red hair and green Irish eyes. Della gave birth to a daughter, 7 pounds 9 ounces, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Della was taken to an isolated room where she had nuns and workers with her 24 hours a day. She was not given any medication and nothing to dry up her milk supply. She refused to sign adoption papers for two days until they threatened to lock her away in a mental institution and worse.

On the second day nurses came with papers for her to sign, she was told they were papers to sign for her care in the hospital. They were not; they were adoption papers. When she demanded again to see the baby the next day, she was told it was too late and that she had willingly signed the papers. She was then heavily medicated before being sent home.

Over the next few months Della heard the baby was in Wollongong and left home to find her, but she was caught by the police and locked away for six months in a mental hospital. By that time it was too late, the final adoption papers had be signed and sealed by the courts.