WATCH: Adopted Aussie meets half-sister in Shropshire for first time aged 82
It’s a reunion that has been more than 80 years in the making.
But now a man who was adopted and taken to Australia as a young boy has travelled to south Shropshire to meet his half-sister for the first time.
Trevor Austin spent decades trying to trace members of his birth family and last November was delighted to find out he had relatives in Church Stretton.
He and his daughter Alex Cowie made the long journey to the county to meet his 71-year-old half-sister Gerry Bennett.
WATCH: Emotional reunion in Church Stretton
The pair have spent the last week catching up, meeting extended family and touring the county.
“It’s been terrific,” he said.
“Gerry and her family have been so nice to us. I can’t believe it – it just keeps getting better and better.
“I’m 82 and led a quiet life until all of a sudden these new people arrive in my life. I’m very happy.
“And I think we picked the right week because the weather has been glorious. I didn’t expect it to be so hot.”
Adopted
Mr Austin, originally from Leeds, was adopted at the age of four and taken to Australia 10 years later.
Alex, his only child, said: “He tried to find his mother but had no luck because her name had changed.
“We tried hard but never managed to find any blood relatives.
“Now it is much easier because you can do so much online, so last year he did a DNA test and amazingly it matched with one of his other half-sisters in Wiltshire.”
The trip to Church Stretton is the third leg of a three-week trip for Mr Austin and Alex as they have also visited family in Wiltshire and Birmingham.
Alex said: “It’s been an amazing experience and we have been really well received. It feels like we have known them all our lives.
“It’s been nice for me because I’m an only child and now I have this whole new family I never knew about.
“All of these cousins have been coming to meet us.”
Mrs Bennett said she first found out about her half-brother 25 years ago but was unable to track him down.
“A family member just so happened to slip it out,” she said.
“But by this point our mother was in a nursing home and couldn’t tell me anything about Trevor.
“To meet him now after all these years has been quite emotional. I tried to trace him but never managed to get anywhere but it’s better late than never.”
Mr Austin flies back home to Sydney on Saturday but the pair won’t be apart again for too long as his half-sister is already planning a trip to Australia for them to meet again.
