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 carried
