The student residents of a share house in Herston in inner Brisbane were shocked to find a baby on their verandah on Sunday afternoon and tried to comfort the three-month-old with cartoons… before finding she wasn’t really interested.
Officers were called to the Herston Road address just after noon on Sunday after the infant was found.
Long Nguyen, the student who found the baby, was on his way to university when he came across the three-month-old on his front verandah reports Seven News.
“I was quite shocked,” he said.
“I really didn’t know what was going on, and it took me a few minutes to calm myself.”
He said after he took her inside she began to cry.
“She woke up and started crying and I tried to calm her down, I turned on the TV and let her watch some cartoons, but well, that didn’t really help.”
The student says he then called police and the three-month-old was taken to hospital.
Later police located a 41-year-old woman - believed to be the child's mother - with a two-year-old toddler at Brisbane Airport.
The woman and her two children were reported missing by her husband early on Sunday morning, according to Seven News. They had not been seen for more than 24 hours.
The Courier Mail reports police found the mother wandering the car park of the international airport , but it is unclear whether she was intending to travel.
Investigators say they don't know how long the baby was left outside. She was taken to the Prince Charles Hospital for a health assessment where she was found to be unharmed.
Officers from the Brisbane City Child Protection Investigation Unit are investigating the incident and say they don't know if they will press charges at this stage.
The department of child safety is also investigating.
For help: Lifeline 13 11 14.