This post is adapted from a contribution to the September 2, 2015 edition of the Walpole Weekly by Julie Benson, as told to her by the Peaceful Bay man in the story.
This is an amazing story.
When you read it you will question its authenticity but I swear it is all true.
My friends—long-time residents of Peaceful Bay—recently went on a trip to a place near Darwin.
They were planning on staying for a few weeks but things were not quite as they expected, so they left.
One day they decided to set up camp earlier than they normally would—at Mary Pool, which is about 70kms from Fitzroy Crossing.
They were enjoying a few cleansing ales when a young gentleman arrived and set up camp beside them.
They got to chatting and the young man asked where they had lived before moving to the Bay.
“Donnybrook,” they said.
The young gentleman asked if they knew a certain man and what they thought of him.
A bit taken back, my friend replied: “You had better ask my wife what she thinks of him.”
She said: “You had better ask him yourself; you’re talking to him!”
The young gentleman got out his driver’s licence, and asked my friend if this was how his first name was spelled.
My friend affirmed that it was and the young man gave him a hug and said: “Hello Dad.”
After 47 years the final piece of a jigsaw had fallen into place.
My Peaceful Bay friend had two sons to a lady he married when he was young.
She left him when this young man was only six months old.
Trying to maintain contact proved impossible.
She remarried and the boys took her new husband’s surname.
With the truth outed the young camper immediately started calling my friend’s wife of 43 years “mum”.
He told them that they have a 20 year old granddaughter and is keen to meet his younger half-brother.
This is such a bizarre story as there are so many things that could have happened which meant they may never have met.
The young gentleman had intended to camp in Fitzroy Crossing but found it too expensive so he moved on to Mary Pool.
Mary Pool is a large camping area so he could have chosen to camp anywhere but he chose a spot right next to my friends.
And if all had worked out as planned near Darwin my friends would not have even been there!
