Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester today unveiled a memorial to provide a place of reflection for those whose lives were impacted by forced adoption policies of the past. The memorial, entitled Cherished Mother and Child, has been installed in Victoria Park in Marley Street, Sale. Representing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Chester unveiled the memorial on behalf of Independent Regional Mothers of Victoria.“I am both honoured and humbled to be asked to unveil this moving memorial,” Mr Chester said. “The national and state parliamentary apologies do not signal the end of the story or the end of the suffering for the people impacted so profoundly by these policies of the past. “We cannot pretend the apologies and this memorial will take away the pain or suffering they have endured, but we can learn from mistakes of the past and made sure such tragedies are never repeated. In 2012, a Senate committee inquiry found forced adoptions were widespread in Australia during the 1950s to the 1970s, with potentially up to 250,000 babies taken from their mostly young and single mothers. Cherished Mother and Child was sculpted by Melbourne’s Andrew Poppleton and cast by Meridian Sculptures.
