Mia Dyson – Jesse

Mary-Ellen and Jesse as a baby at Sea World, a photo by Images @ Melonpopzdropz on Flickr.

by John Hardaker

ARIA nominee Mia Dyson is shining a light on a dark corner of Australia’s history, the practice of forced adoptions, brought to the forefront with the Victorian government’s recent apology to victims.

Her latest single “Jesse” was written last year for her new album The Moment (which is vying for an ARIA Award later this month) after fan Lesley Pearse approached her after a show to ask whether she could write a song about her plight.

“Lesley’s story had a profound effect on me,” said Dyson. “As an unwed mother in the early 70′s, she was sent to live out her pregnancy away from family and friends, told she was an unfit parent and coerced by social workers into signing papers to hand her baby over under immense pressure.”

“I was shamed into giving up my baby and told that if I loved the child I would do what was ‘right’ – relinquish my baby to a married couple,” explained Lesley Pearse. “I was told I would ‘never be able to have any contact with my baby again’.”

“The idea that this was not just a one-off, but a systemic atrocity that has affected both mothers and their children for decades after really shocked me,” said Dyson. “I was driven to write Jesse as I think that understanding and sharing their story is the best tribute we can give to these brave women as we move towards a national apology in 2013.”

‘Jesse’ is the third single from Mia’s acclaimed fourth album The Moment which has been labelled as a “career defining record” (Herald Sun) and “an epic piece of work” (Rhythms).

Via Flickr:
We stayed at my Uncles Fishing Shack at Tweed Heads and took Jesse everywhere for a holiday. Jesse was six months old in 1989.