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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Steve Thomas, the producer and director of the film, interviewing his mother, who polishes the silver tea service that she and her husband were given by their children for their 25th wedding anniversary in the 1960s. His mother laments that she and her husband felt that they could not have a party to celebrate that anniversary because their unmarried teenage daughter, Val, had been sent away to have her baby, and people would want to know where she was. This footage is intercut with an interview with Val, in which she relates her version of the same events. The clip ends with Steve’s mother saying that Val’s mail was redirected in order to avert suspicion about her whereabouts.

Educational value points

• The clip illustrates how the unplanned pregnancies of unmarried women were commonly dealt with in the 1960s. The title of the film, Least Said, Soonest Mended, reflects the attitude of Val’s mother as well as that of many of her generation at the time. In the 1960s, it was common for young unmarried, pregnant women to be sent away by their parents for the duration of their pregnancy and the birth of their baby, and for the baby to be put up for adoption. Many young women who were pressured or forced to give up their babies for adoption in this period suffered enormously, often in isolation, because of the stigma that was associated with pregnancy out of wedlock.

• Since the 1960s, teenage pregnancies in Australia have declined significantly. In the early 1990s, 20 out of every 1,000 births were to teenage mothers, well below the peak of 55.5 per 1,000 births in 1971 (Australian Bureau of Statistics: Births Australia 1993). Teenage mothers are more likely to be found in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Today, the highest rate of teenage births is among Indigenous Australian women.

• The rate of adoptions in Australia was at its highest during the 1960s, prior to the introduction of the contraceptive pill, sex education in schools and the legalisation of abortion. Since that time, young people have held increasingly liberal views about sex. Very few babies in Australia are now given up for adoption.

• The personal relationship between Steve Thomas and his mother and sister lends gravitas and empathy to his roles as both filmmaker and interviewer. This relationship may also add to the intimacy portrayed in these scenes, of ordinary people reflecting on difficult moments in their family lives, and the consequences of secret adoptions.

• The documentary was directed by Australian filmmaker Steve Thomas, who has written, directed and produced many successful Australian films, including Welcome to Woomera (2004). Least Said, Soonest Mended was the winner of the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award 2000 in the category of 'Increasing Awareness and Understanding of Women’s Rights and Issues’.

This clip starts approximately 10 minutes into the documentary.

This clip shows Steve Thomas, the producer and director of the film, interviewing his mother, who polishes the silver tea service. This footage is inter-cut with an interview with Val, in which she relates her version of the same events.
Val’s mother I always wanted a silver tea service.
Steve How come?
Val’s Mother Don’t know. I just like silver. I used to say, “Well, you can buy us a silver tea service for our 25th wedding anniversary.” So you all did. We’d have probably had a sort of a party and had a couple of friends as well in, but as it was we just did it on our own.
Steve So why couldn’t you have a party?
Val’s mother They’d want to know where Val was, wouldn’t they. It would seem very strange to other people to say she was down with her aunt and uncle and couldn’t get up here for our silver wedding anniversary. Right? But that didn’t matter against her getting over it all and everything else.

Steve interviews Val.
Steve Did they visit you there?
Val Once. And I’m – you know, that’s what I remember. I can only say what I remember. If it was more than once, it was twice. But once I do remember they came on a Sunday. It was after their 25th wedding anniversary, and Mother put a blanket out and we had a picnic, and then she opened the back of this traveler car and there’s all this silver, silver plates, silver teapots, silver this, silver that, and she pulled out the plate and she said, “This is what you gave me, and it’s got your name on it.” And I was told in no uncertain terms that they’d been waiting for their 25th wedding anniversary all their lives and they were going to have a big party, but of course they couldn’t have a big party because I couldn’t be invited and everybody would want to know where Val was. So I was, you know, told very vehemently that it was my fault they couldn’t have a party.

Steve continues talking to to Val’s mother as she polishes the silver.
Val’s mother She sent us cards, you know.
Steve But when she wrote, it would come through Auntie Wynn
Val’s mother Yeah.
Steve Because Muggins here might spot the postmark?
Val’s mother Yeah, and say, “What’s that? What’s going on? You have to think of all these things, you see. If you were going to just simply keep it quiet, much easier. You thought she was with Auntie Wynn and Uncle Jack, so that’s where her letters came from.