SO good to see you, dad: Roseanne Davenport-West is reunited with father Albert.

AN AUSTRALIAN mum jetted over 10,000 miles for a surprise reunion with the father she has not seen for 50 years. Roseanne Davenport-West turned up at Albert Davenport’s home after a desperate search for him carried out with the help of the Advertiser. The 53-year-old had not seen her father, from Buttermere Road in Ashton, since he left Australia after splitting up with his Australian wife in the early 1950s.


AN AUSTRALIAN mum jetted over 10,000 miles for a surprise reunion with the father she has not seen for 50 years.

Roseanne Davenport-West turned up at Albert Davenport’s home after a desperate search for him carried out with the help of the Advertiser.

The 53-year-old had not seen her father, from Buttermere Road in Ashton, since he left Australia after splitting up with his Australian wife in the early 1950s. Last month, she contacted the Advertiser and we helped her track him down to his new home in the Midlands town of Rugby.

An emotional Roseanne, who cried when she found out her 88-year-old father had been keeping a picture of her in his wallet, said: "When I discovered where he lived I decided to come over and speak to him face to face. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.

"I just knocked at the door and when he answered, I knew it was him. I told him who I was and smiled at him. He looked at me and said ‘you had better come in.’

"This is like a dream come true for me. I have been searching for my father for so long. We have so much to catch up on and it’s just so wonderful that we have finally found each other after all this time.

"Dad was really shocked and didn’t sleep that night. He and I are just so alike. We have not been together for over 50 years – but our personalities are the same."

Roseanne was just three when government authorities in Tasmania decided her Aborigine mother was unable to care for her and she was made a ward of state. She spent six months in an orphanage before being fostered to a couple in Melbourne, where she endured a miserable upbringing until she left aged 19.

In 1985, she asked the government for her file – containing all the records of her life – but was devastated to be told it had been destroyed in a fire.

But she was told recently that her file had been found and read letters from her father begging the Australian authorities to allow him to bring his little girl back to his home in Ashton.

Roseanne, whose mother is dead and buried in an unmarked grave, decided she would try and trace her father.

Roseanne, who has two children Amanda, 30, and Andrew, 19, plus a grandson Tye, four, added: "We had a long talk. Dad has been carrying a photo of me in his wallet all these years, he says he has always loved me. I have got to keep on pinching myself – is it real or is it a dream? I have met his family over here and they are all very excited. My two children are coming over from Australia in a couple of weeks to meet him. He’s such a gorgeous man. I am just so glad I came here and knocked at the door. I had to take the plunge and come over. If you want something so bad, you have to go out and get it. I have never been out of Australia before now. I have told Dad I am not going back to Australia for a while. I want to stay with him now.  I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped us come together – thanks to all the interested people who phoned up about the appeal. Thanks to those in Australia who have helped me and thank you to the Tameside Advertiser for helping me track my dad down."

Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk