Michael Davis

The Baby Photo That Tells Two Stories

Shared at a Dubbo Slide Night

Q: Can you describe this photo?
This is a seven-month-old baby, born in December 1970, smiling because he just won a baby contest. He’s clutching a teddy bear—his prize. I still have that teddy somewhere.

Q: Why did you choose this photo?
It’s both happy and sad. That day, I won “Most Photogenic Baby,” which was a big deal back then. But my mum wasn’t there—she was in hospital in Sydney with breast cancer. She passed away two months later.
She was overjoyed to hear the news though, and that makes me happy. After she died, her best friend took me in and raised me as her own until I was three. She became the lady I called “Mum.” We were close until she passed away too.

Q: How does it make you feel now?
Happy, because it’s proof my real mum had joy in her final days. Sad, because I didn’t know her. But grateful—for the people who stepped up and shaped my life.