Nellie's Baby

If you're after another podcast about the search for family members, the new RNZ podcast The Sound Of My Father is for you. When documentary maker Rita Attwood discovers a cassette tape with a 60-year-old, unheard recording on it, she sets out to help John Court, her step-dad, on a journey of self-discovery. Born to a US Marine and a wahine Māori who fell in love in World War II, John's search also reveals a hidden New Zealand history.

Listen to the first episode of The Sound Of My Father, The Forgotten Cassette, and hear the rest of the series on the RNZ website or on your favourite podcast app.

The Sound Of My Father on RNZ Podcasts

See more about The Sound Of My Father on the RNZ website here.

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Host of Nellie's Baby, Kirsty Johnston, introduces you to your next binge listen - RNZ podcast The Lodge. What began as a promising sanctuary for healing in one of New Zealand’s most beautiful locations, became the epicentre of a double tragedy, a cautionary tale that goes straight to the heart of the modern wellness industry. Join host Phil Vine as he reopens the file on a mysterious cult that operated from a 1960s hunting lodge near Te Anau.

Listen to the first episode of The Lodge, Distant Bells, and hear the rest of the series in your favourite podcast app.

The Lodge on RNZ Podcasts.

Read more about The Lodge on the RNZ website here.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The last of the so-called 'lunatic asylums' closed only 20 years ago. They were founded on ideas of paternalism and social progress and survived on the basis they offered safety. In this special crossover with the Black Sheep podcast, William Ray and Kirsty Johnston look into their origins.

The last of the so-called 'lunatic asylums' closed only 20 years ago. They were founded on ideas of paternalism and social progress and survived on the basis they offered safety. In this special crossover with the Black Sheep podcast, William Ray and Kirsty Johnston look into their origins.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Kirsty tries to find out if Nellie did have another baby, and where that baby might be, but gets stuck in a kafkaesque nightmare of bureaucracy. Sarah reflects on her journey to find Nellie. We talk to a disability expert about what Nellie's story really means, and if things are better now.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

The Coronial file brings us back to the question: Is there a sibling for Sarah out there somewhere?

Kirsty tries to find out if Nellie did have another baby, and where that baby might be, but gets stuck in a kafkaesque nightmare of bureaucracy.

Sarah reflects on her journey to find Nellie. We talk to a disability expert about what Nellie's story really means, and if things are better now.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Nellie's coronial file reveals more about her death - and her life. There are badly healed broken bones, a skin graft, evidence of a fall three days before she died in which she broke her nose. Was her death malicious? Or was it just neglect?

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

Nellie's coronial file reveals more about her death - and her life.

There are badly healed broken bones, a skin graft, evidence of a fall three days before she died in which she broke her nose. Was her death malicious? Or was it just neglect?

When she died, the doctors didn't even know what drugs Nellie was on. Who should be accountable?

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Kirsty and Sarah go to see Mavis, Nellie's sister, who tells them that she thinks Nellie was raped, which led to her breakdown and incarceration. Mavis tells Sarah about the day she was born, and how the family wanted to keep her but couldn't.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

"I want justice for Nellie, because if something happened and they covered it up, I want to know." - Mavis

While Sarah was delighted to meet Gordon, questions about Nellie's life and death remain.

Kirsty and Sarah go to see Mavis, Nellie's sister, who tells them that she thinks Nellie was raped, which led to her breakdown and incarceration.

Mavis tells Sarah about the day she was born, and how the family wanted to keep her but couldn't. She is amazed to hear that Sarah's middle name, Annemarie, is the name Nellie gave her.

She describes Nellie's care after Porirua closed, and how the care homes treated her terribly.

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Sarah goes to meet Gordon. We learn that he can remember Nellie, and remembers being caught with her in the bushes. Gordon tells us about his time at the asylum, and Sarah takes him on an outing where they spend time together.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

"I'm just so happy for Gordon, this is the most excited I've seen him in a long while." - Sharon

Sarah goes to meet Gordon. He is delighted to meet her, and gives her a gift of a tiny sailboat preserved in perspex.

We learn that Gordon can remember Nellie, and remembers being caught with her in the bushes. Sex for the patients was off-limits, despite them having many other freedoms.

Gordon tells us about his time at the asylum, and Sarah takes him on an outing where they spend time together.

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The mystery relative turns out to be Sharon, her father's sister. She decides to fly to Australia to meet her newly-discovered niece. Sharon tells us how her family was extremely poor and her mother, Thelma had all her children taken from her. Gordon, Sarah's dad, was one of those kids.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

"He liked the hospital. But he didn't like the shock therapy. ... He said the name of the doctor. He liked doing it." - Sharon

The mystery relative turns out to be Sharon, Sarah's aunt and her father's sister.

She decides to come to New Zealand from Australia and meet her newly-discovered niece. Sarah is nervous, and keen to find out more of her father's backstory.

Sharon tells us how her family was extremely poor and her mother, Thelma, had all her children taken from her. Gordon, Sarah's dad, was one of those kids. He ended up in foster care, and, aged 18, tried to kill himself.

He was left brain-damaged and that's how he ended up in Porirua. Sarah and Sharon meet for the first time, and take a tour of Porirua psychiatric hospital, which is both eye-opening and disturbing.

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Sarah and Kirsty call in the big guns: DNA. A strong match comes up: a woman who shares 28% of Sarah's DNA. Is it Nellie's first child? Eventually, Fran, the genealogist, suggests the match could be an aunt, and Sarah works up the courage to send a message to this mystery relative.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

"To know that I have two people who did really want me - if he's mentally disabled and she was, they probably wanted me but they just couldn't - for the first time I feel like I belong properly." - Sarah

Sarah and Kirsty call in the big guns: DNA. Working with a genealogist, they dig through ancestry records to try to find Sarah's relatives.

A strong match comes up: a woman who shares 28% of Sarah's DNA. Is it Nellie's first child? But the woman's profile is private and all of Sarah's insecurities surface - do her family want nothing to do with her?

Eventually, Fran, the genealogist, suggests the match could be an aunt, and Sarah works up the courage to send a message to this mystery relative.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Kirsty and Sarah start investigating from opposite sides of the world. We learn what it was like to live at Porirua, and fight through red tape to get Sarah's adoption records, which reveal more about Nellie's background.

To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.

"I feel like they've got control of the narrative - if it's one of several men they say were my father why don't they name them? Are they leaving that out to protect me?" - Sarah

How did Nellie end up incarcerated as a teenager? Kirsty and Sarah start investigating from opposite sides of the world - Sarah lives in the UK and won't be back in New Zealand for another month.

We learn what it was like to live at Porirua, and fight through red tape to get Sarah's adoption records, which reveal more about Nellie's background.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details