15 March 2008
In Search of Edna Lavilla
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The 2007 Walkley Award for radio documentary frankly tells the story of abortion in the terrible days when it was a lethal backyard crime.
In 1942 Edna Lavilla Haynes died suddenly at 35. Afterwards her name was never mentioned by her family of five children. The youngest daughter had no photos and no memories of her mother -- only the recollection of a newspaper being hidden away and an aura of family shame.
More than sixty years later Edna's grand-daughter, Eurydice, looks for clues -- a search that takes us through police files and government records, down Sydney's back alleys of the 1940s -- to find what really happened to Edna. The Walkley jury commended the feature with these words: 'A fantastic piece in a style that's a dying art in Australian radio.'
Sound: Steven Tilley and Russell Stapleton
Presenter
Brent Clough
Producer
Sharon Davis and Eurydice Aroney
