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About the book

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'In the matter of Arthur v Queensland, this case is dismissed'. Lily Arthur looked straight into the face of the judge that spoke these words and vowed that she would pursue justice for the crimes that were committed against her, a child, and a prisoner of the state. 

Lily Arthur was a young 17 year old caught between an era of women's liberation and the draconian ideology that young women should be punished for stepping outside of the 'moral codes' of society. Unfortunately for Lily, the draconian ideologies were the ones that controlled her life. 

For the 'crime' of being pregnant, Lily was forcibly taken away from the man she loved and planned to marry. 

Taken from her bed in the middle of the night to the Brisbane Watchhouse, she was incarcerated by the state to work indefinitely in a notorious Magdalene laundry in Brisbane. 

Locked away and hidden, the child of her first love was taken from her in the labour ward of a Brisbane Hospital, and eventually given away to strangers.

In the few minutes she was allowed to see him through the window, she made him the promise, 'I will see you again, little one. I will see you again'.

A true story from the war-torn ravages of East End London to the far north of Queensland, Australia, Dirty Laundry exposes the cruelty that challenged the notion of a decent society. Follow Lily as she tells of her journey that took her, and a movement of women like herself, on a lifelong battle for justice. 

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