A 60-year search for his mum uncovered siblings one man never knew he had
Wanting to know more about his long-lost biological mother, Robert Smith turned to a Facebook group where strangers help reunite family and friends.
In the early 1960s, Robert Smith and his younger brother Ken were taken away from their parents by social services. They were later adopted by a couple who only kept them for a short time due to their harsh upbringing. As they grew older, they learned that their birth certificates revealed they came from different fathers - one was a gangster in jail and the other his mother was an alcoholic.
It wasn't until 1990, when adoption laws changed, that Robert could access his full birth certificate and began searching for answers. He discovered his mother's maiden name was Rita May Spackman, and she was born in Harden, New South Wales. Robert reached out to her relatives using a phone book, eventually connecting with a great-aunt who was over 90 years old.
He learned his mother had three sisters and was likely somewhere in Queensland. Robert also placed an ad in a Sydney newspaper, hoping someone would reach out. His brother Ken, unbeknownst to him, was also William's son. William provided some stories about his criminal past, but Robert learned little about his family. In the late 1990s, a call came from a distant cousin who informed him Rita had passed away in 1994.
Despite his efforts, Robert couldn't find any more information and returned home. It wasn't until he started watching a television series about reuniting long-lost family members that he decided to search again using social media. He joined a Facebook group with over 50,000 members, where a woman identified one of his siblings.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
