REUNION AFTER 46 YEARS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21356, 26 December 1934, Page 7

REUNION AFTER 46 YEARS

BROTHERS FIND EACH OTHER BROUGHT TOGETHER BY ADVERTISEMENT (PROM OUR OWK CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, December 21. Two brothers who parted as youths and met as grandfathers had a happy reunion in Brisbane recently. A tiny advertisement hidden in an obscure corner of a magazine played a large part in this little romance. It brought together Messrs William and Charles Elder, who had not seen each other for 46 years. Mr W. Elder is a retired master baker living in Perth, Western Australia, and his brother is a retired railway employee, who lives in South Brisbane, Queensland. Mr W. Elder was the eldest of the family and came out from his home in Londondery, Ireland, in 1887. His brother and sister followed in the next year, but they were not together long before William left for Rockhampton to become apprenticed to a baker. It was on a Sunday, 46 years ago, in South Brisbane, that the two brothers parted. The elder one was in Rockhampton 12 years before he went to Western Australia.

His brother, Charles, wandered round Australia, working in all states, and was in the Queensland railway service tor 30 years before retiring about four years ago. The two brothers lost touch with each other during the years, and although Mr W. Elder went to Brisbane three years ago and searched the city tor his brother, he could not find him He thought his brother was dead. However, the other side of the family had not given up hopes, and a small advertisement was inserted in a weekly magazine in the- hope that it might catch the eye of the long-lost brother. It did with the result that, a fortnight later, Mr C. Elder received a letter, and his brother followed it a month or two later. The only flaw in the romance is that their sister's whereabout is unknown. It is many years since the brothers had seen her or heard of her.