DR PENNY MACKIESON SWAPPED at birth

THE ADOPTEE'S LIFE WAS DRAMATICALLY TURNED UPSIDE DOWN AFTER A DNA TEST

- Sara Tapia

Dr Penny Mackieson can’t remember a time she didn’t know she was adopted. Growing up in a very small rural community in East Gippsland, she admits it would’ve been hard to keep people from asking questions about her and her adopted brother’s emergence. “People would have noticed these two babies arriving,” she tells WHO.

But despite her adopted mum being very interested in family genealogy – an interest she seems to have passed on to her social worker and author daughter – it wasn’t until her twenties that Penny decided to look into her biological family history. “I was always curious, but it didn’t really kick in until I got married in 1989,” she explains. “Because we were planning to have children, I thought, ‘OK, now’s the time to at least find out my medical history and search for that.’ So I applied in 1989 to the Victorian government’s Adoption Information Service for my adoption records.”

While she was able to get the name of her biological mother, it wasn’t until years later – and following a devastating loss – that Penny felt the pull to seek her out. “In 1997, I was pregnant with twins … they were born very prematurely and died,” she shares. “That was the moment I thought, ‘I’ve got to meet my mother. I’ve got to reconnect with my family.’ It was the most devastating event of my life and I just felt I needed to do that.”