From birth, the Sara Quads were big news – world famous before they even left the hospital. The first surviving quadruplets born in Australia (and only the fourth in the world), they came as a surprise to everyone, including their mother: Betty Sara only learnt she was having quads when she went into labour.
“We weren’t expected to live,” says firstborn Alison Houssenloge. “They thought it would be too much of a shock for her.”
The births were a shock and an ordeal nonetheless. Betty’s labour, which lasted 64 hours, was written up in medical journals. The quads were born between August 17-19, 1950, at a tiny hospital in Bellingen, NSW, where their father Percy was superintendent of the ambulance service. Betty was treated with aspirin, phenacetin (an analgesic) and caffeine. Unusually for multiple births, she