Baby Found At Tip, Farewelled

An abandoned newborn baby found in the Sydney tip in Australia brought tears to the eyes of dozen. Many people came to pay their respects, police officers, mothers, grandfathers and tip workers.

There was no family or memories that attended the infant’s funeral.

A simple message on a card was placed on his coffin reading: “Sleep well 'lil child, the Lord holds thee now.”

The baby had been named Nicholas after the patron saint of children by the Officer of the State Coroner, he had organised the infant’s funeral after the parents had failed to come forward.

The newborn baby’s body was found wrapped in a blanket 10 weeks ago on a conveyor belt at a waste facility on the city’s south-western outskirts.

Baptist minister the Reverend Peter Kilkeary told the 30-40 mourners at the non-denominational Christian service, that "I wonder about a mother who has abandoned her baby and whether she has the support of family and friends or whether she has had to bear grief alone. I feel for her."

He had said that the funeral had helped people affected by the death to regain some of their humanity and urged the mother to contact the coroner’s office.

Teary-eyed mothers carrying babies and pushing prams, placed flowers, toys and teddy bears on the white coffin as it was lowered into the grave.

Baby Nicholas is being buried safely among hundreds of other newborns in a special section of the cemetery called the baby lawn.

Some parents are still trying to trace their children’s graves through Freedom of Information requests.