When Byford resident Olive Busby’s mother died in 2007 she took with her a 100-year-old secret to the grave.
It was only in April of last year Ms Busby, 77, found out that secret – she has an 89-year-old sister living in the United Kingdom.
Ms Busby met her sister for the first time in October last year and has been preparing to welcome her to the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale on August 27.
Ms Busby said she was dumbstruck when she found out she had a biological sister.
“Mary was born in 1928,” she said.
“My mother was unmarried at the time and the baby was taken away, that’s what it was like in those days.”
Ms Busby said when the Adoption and Children Act 2002 was implemented in 2005 and replaced the outdated Adoption Act of 1976 in the UK her sister was able to find out the name of her birth mother.
“That was how Mary found us,” she said.
“She contacted one of my older brother’s in England who told her we had immigrated to Australia.”
Originally from the south of England Ms Busby has lived in Byford for more than 20 years.
She said she never really bonded with her mother but has finally understood why.
“She always had time for my brothers but not me,” she said.
“Now I think I’m beginning to understand about that because I suppose whenever she saw me she thought of the little girl she had to give up.”
Ms Busby said she felt sick an hour before she first met her sister because she was scared about what she would be like but over the months they have formed a close bond.
“She is absolutely gorgeous,” she said.
“A wonderful person, so lovely.
“Her daughter said to me, hello Aunty Olive, and it was great because I’d never been called an aunty before.
“I just wish my husband and daughter who have both passed away knew I was okay, that I’ve got family and I’m not alone.”
