Sally Bastow searches for birth mum 42 years after being abandoned in Shepparton toilet

A woman abandoned as a day-old baby in a public toilet near Shepparton is searching for her birth mum 42 years after she was wrapped in a sheet and left.

Sally Bastow learned from her adoption records that she had been found abandoned in a toilet block near Shepparton when she was a day old in 1978. Picture: Supplied

A woman’s search for answers about her past has reignited a decades-old mystery, after her adoption records revealed she had been found, as a day-old baby, wrapped in a sheet and left abandoned in a public toilet near Shepparton.

Sally Bastow, 42, last year applied for copies of her adoption papers, hoping she might be able to track down her birth parents.

But when bureaucrats handed over the records on Wednesday, her birth certificate showed the identities of her parents were unknown, and a yellowed 1978 newspaper clipping included in the archived documents showed she had been found, a day old, in a toilet block on McLennan St, Mooroopna, across the Goulburn River from Shepparton.

Now a mother of three, Ms Bastow was raised in a loving home at Doncaster, and said she still held out hope of finding her birth mother.

Sally Bastow's adoption records showed she was found, a day old, abandoned in a public toilet near Shepparton. Picture: Supplied

Sally Bastow is now hoping to find her birth mother. Picture: Supplied

“The only time I had been to Shepparton was when I was 16, for a basketball tournament, and my (adoptive) mum said, ‘that’s where you were born’,” Ms Bastow said.

She said the release of her records, months after she first applied to access them, came as a shock.

“I looked at (my birth certificate) and it just said, ‘unknown, unknown, unknown’, and I thought ‘OK, where to from here?”

“My heart broke for the person, because I’m a mum of three kids and I can’t imagine the pain of giving a child up,” she said.

A police investigation into Ms Bastow’s abandonment fizzled out, with the Shepparton News reporting at the time that the strongest lead came when an unknown woman rang a local radio station, 3SR, and broke down in tears following a news segment about the abandoned baby.

Ms Bastow said the photo from the front page of the newspaper is the only baby photo she has of herself.

Ms Bastow said she had no ill-will towards her birth parents.

“I just hope someone sees it and says, ‘now’s the time’,” she said.

“The person who gave me up … they gave me a better life.”

Ms Bastow said she has had an outpouring of support from people in Shepparton, and the questions now playing on her mind about her parents are simple ones.

“Where are they? What are they doing? And on the flip side, if they’re wondering, I could tell them how their kid’s life turned out.”