Australian Adoption Podcast - My Unknown Truth

Hi Listeners, 

In this episode I sit down with Jim Moginie. We had an amazing conversation over zoom from his home in Ireland and I was fortunate to meet him for the launch of his new book earlier this year.   

For 50 years, Jim was a driving force behind one of Australia’s most iconic bands Midnight Oil. 

He grew up in Sydney’s northern suburbs and attended high school in the city, where he befriended drummer Rob Hirst. Together with another friend, Andrew James, they formed the band FARM before recruiting singer Peter Garrett and Martin Rotsey and changing their name to Midnight Oil. Jim is best known as a songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist for the band, and has explored other creative adventures during his career such as playing traditional Irish music and collaborating with prominent artists such as silverchair, sarah blasko, the warumpi band, the living end, kasey chambers, neil finn and the Australian chamber orchestra. 

 In addition to his musical talents, Jim recently released his book titled- The Silver River; a memoir of family, lost made and found. We learn that Jim found out he was adopted when he was 11. His mum broke the news very matter of factly as the family returned by sea from a holiday in Tasmania. Endless questions quickly began to race through Jim’s mind. 

Why did people give me away? Was there something wrong with me? Did they give me away without a fight? Wasn’t I good enough for them? I probably deserved to be abandoned. He states “I felt like a fake, a mistake. My aunt wasn’t really my aunt, my cousins weren’t my cousins. My brother wasn’t my brother and my parents weren’t my parents. No questions were asked by me or explanations offered by my parents then, or for many of the years that followed. All I knew was that I had to get onboard with the new paradigm.” 

 By the time Jim hit high school he had discovered his love for the Beatles and a passion for music which he clung to. Teaching himself how to play and record music and aquiring many musical instruments helped him make sense of the world. Music became his refuge and a language he wanted to express himself with. 

 When Midnight oil was juggling chart success, political activism and global tours, the initial wave of stardom and limelight felt different for Jim, difficult even and unexpected and whilst at times he struggled to find meaning behind it all, he realised something fundamental was missing. 

 At the height of his career Jim began his quest to find his birth family that led him in many different directions, to the quiet suburbs of Canberra and across the rivers and rolling hills of rural Ireland, he talks about his career and being in the band, interweaving his journey of adoption and finding his roots. Jim craved information about his family background and began to fill in the gaps of his identity, sourcing medical records and electoral rolls. He confronted his infant trauma while in therapy and learned how this shaped his behaviour in adult life. Finally he writes about finding his birth family and sharing deeply emotional reunions with long lost relatives. 

You don’t want to miss this episode. 

Here is Jim’s story. 

Jims Memoir contains vivid recollections of childhood, behind the scenes stories of band life and fascinating insights into the creative process that produced some of this country’s most beloved songs, The Silver River is at once a lyrical coming of age story, a heart-warming family chronicle and a must read for anyone interested in the history of Australian music.  

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Hey guys, 

Today I’m speaking with Denna. 

Denna is an intercountry adopted person, born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 1979. She grew up in Mclaren Vale, South Australia, and an organisation, formerly known as ASIAC organised her adoption from Yayasan Ibu Sayap. At 4 months of age, Denna took her first international plane trip, and since then has travelled extensively around the globe in both career and personal life. 

Denna views her adoption experience as being a positive one, she has dabbled in searching for her birth mother and learning more about her origins over the years. But In hindsight, Denna wishes she started this search earlier. She realised she had been avoiding her feelings. Her curiosity and desire grew when she had 3 children but the experience of mothering also brought unpleasant feelings that was laying dormant. from never feeling enough to rejection and abandonment issues.  feelings that are similar to other inter country adoptees she has encountered. Over the years she has faced struggles with her marriage and her relationships.

She is yet to find more about her biological family but remains positive, and looks upon her journey as a lifelong quest. 

Denna is a former travel consultant, business development manager, and online business mentor, Denna has "adopted" her life mantras into her business endeavours which are “Make a Difference. Collaborate, Travel. Inspire and Grow." 

Her latest emerging passion project: a podcast called My Adoptive Heart is for the inter country adoptee community. She wants to help build a supportive community for others so hearts can heal and to help guide her through her own self discovery. 

If you would like to connect with Denna her You can contact at: www.denna.com.au/my-links

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Welcome to today's podcast. 

My guest is Alyson, an Australian adoptee from the Baby Scoop Era of the 1970s. Alyson holds a Bachelor's degree in Naturopathy and is certified in a wide array of modalities through her business, “Your Authentic Self.” Her expertise includes Homeopathy, Sanum Therapy, Herbal Medicine, Nutrition, Nutrigenomics, Applied Kinesiology, Touch for Health, Brain Gym, the Biology of Trauma, Somatic Healing and Creatrix transformology. 

Alyson's journey of healing is deeply personal. She considered herself a lucky adoptee until she turned 50 as life began to unravel. This period of self-discovery and self-healing led her to completely transform her approach. At one point, a lack of self-worth and self-value caused her to leave her beloved profession and become a Domino’s franchisee. However, she eventually found her way back to her true passions. 

Now, Alyson focuses on healing the heart before healing the body, using the Creatrix Method designed specifically for the female brain to release generational trauma. 

She describes herself as a "woo-woo pathology-loving Naturopath," and shares her experiences as an adoptee through epigenetic predispositions. Alyson uses her experiences and knowledge to support healing ranging from self-esteem issues to complex inflammatory health conditions. She is dedicated to uncovering root causes of our ailments and designs individualized healing plans as a specialised adoptee health consultant.

Alyson's unique journey has enriched her approach to health and healing. Our conversation shows the powerful intersection of personal and professional transformation. 

Here we go! 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Today I will be speaking to an international adoptee from Chicago, Julie who is also a author–memoirist, essayist, and columnist– who writes about finding out who you are, where you come from, and making sense of it. 

At 48, julie was sent for a breast biopsy. This incident highlighted what closed adoption prevented her from knowing: her birth circumstances, family medical history, and genealogy. The subsequent search for her “personal story” that consumed five years. She chronicles this journey in her debut, award-winning memoir Twice a Daughter: A Search for Family, Identity, and Belonging 

We talk on Her newly released book Belonging Matters: Conversations on Adoption, Family & Kinship  serves as a companion piece to Twice a Daughter. It is meant to support the adoption community and to create a conversation with those not touched by adoption.

Besides being a writer, she is a mother, grandmother, and an identical twin. Life has provided her many roles to play and experiences to share. For as long as she can remember, Julie has been filling up journals and binders with stories and reminiscences. 

Her wish is that you stay here, linger, and find a section from this podcast that resonates. Upon leaving, she hopes you take with you a fresh new idea, perspective, or topic to share with others.

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Today’s guest, Lisa was born in England in 1970 and was adopted at six weeks of age into a family who had already adopted a son.

Lisa’s family moved to Australia when she was two years old and the family grew to include a biological daughter. 

Lisa’s story of reunion spans decades, two continents and is a testament to her determination, resilience and courage. 

And having the belief and hope that a NO would not always stay a no.

Here is Lisa's story. 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Jo is a late discovery adoptee who discovered at the age of 46 that everything that she had known to be true about her identity and family was no longer, it was like a sudden and tragic death. The information that blew her world apart was a diary kept by her recently deceased maternal grandmother “Nanny” that spanned the years 1960-1965. Jo immediately filed for her paperwork with DoCS to obtain her original birth certificate and find her birth mother.

The story that unfolded was nothing like the hopes she had of hearing about a forbidden teenage love affair. Today Jo touches on her journey and how kinesiology and Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) gave insight around her conception which at the time of hearing did not make sense, but everything fell into place when knowing of her adoption. 

Here is her story. 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

When Brendan was eight years old, his parents told him he was adopted. In his late twenties, he found out the identity of his birth mother – but she wanted nothing to do with him.

 For thirty years there was only limited communication with his birth mother, and he knew nothing about his birth father. It wasn’t until 2018, a DNA test led him to the truth: 

'After decades of searching, Brendan discovered that his birth parents were a Catholic priest and a nun.

His ‘Memoir which was released in August 2023  titled “Tell No One' explores the questions, anxieties and reflections arising from this hidden past..

Brendan is the son of a missionary priest. His father had studied in a Trappist monastery in Ireland, had a career as a house builder, was a Bondi Lifesaver, a trophy-winning ballroom dancer, was a landscape painter, met Mother Teresa and toured the world. 

Take a listen to this interview I did with Brendan in November last year. .

 Brendans memoir is an astounding story full of scandal, deception and coercion which had been uncovered over decades, it was a truth that must be told. 

If you would like to know more about Brendan and access his book head to brendanwatkins.com.au 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Jo is an adopted person, born in Adelaide in 1969. She lives with her family in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Creativity has been a constant in her life and she worked in advertising, marketing and design for many years, but is now quietly forging a new path as a yoga teacher after feeling its transformative effects in her own life. I first met Jo at a yoga training retreat in Bali earlier this year.

 Jo was forcibly removed from her mother immediately after her birth at Queen Victoria Hospital in SA whose adoption agency enforced a policy based on the ‘clean break theory’ where no contact or attachment was permitted between mother and child. Jo says that for many adoptees the affect of this inhumane practice is a profound loss of self and a lifetime of trauma. Today she is an advocate for truth telling around forced adoptions and for redress schemes.  

 There were about 150,000 adoptions in Australia from the 1950s to the early 1980s when unmarried women were routinely shamed and coerced into surrendering their babies. Ten years on from the historic apology made by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard to those affected by the forced adoptions era, survivors like Jo are still pushing for support. “Little has been done to help us overcome the significant challenges we face.” In addition to redress schemes she also believes there should be appropriate memorials in locations where forced adoptions occurred to commemorate and acknowledge the injustices. “No good will come of sweeping this under the carpet,” she says.

Here is Jo's story. 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Today I am interviewing a gentleman by the name of Rowan Dent in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

Rowan is a father of one who has been impacted by adoption and has seen first hand, the joy and love adoption has played in his life. 

Rowan attributes his successes in business and sport to the fundamental values that were given to him by his adopted mother and uncle. 

This is a story of love, sacrifice, and loyalty that has impacted the current generation and will likely impact generations to come. 

Here is Rowan's story. 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!

Hi everyone, 

Today I will be speaking with Toni Moon.

Toni Moon is a bird nerd, word nerd and adopted person breaking out of the fog.

She is a journalist who writes about her own adoption journey amongst other things.

Her personal writing reflects a desire for self determination as she uncovers her own past and builds the road ahead for her and her family’s future.  

Here is her story. 

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram or find me on Facebook or Twitter.
The Australian Adoption Podcast with host Nadia Levett!